Week 8 – Hierarchy

The definition for hierarchy is a simple and easy one. The Australian Oxford Dictionary states that hierarchy is a “system in which grades of status or authority are ranked one above the other” 1. There can be many types of hierarchy being used in companies, but many use the traditional pyramid structure commonly known as “social hierarchy” or “chain of command”.



However this rigid system may be good for some, but many companies are seeing this as being unworkable. The system many use now is whereby people work in smaller teams and then work together to achieve a common purpose and this system is known as creative collaboration. These teams can be small or large in size and usually consists of people having the same or similar disciplines2.

Social hierarchy use of a pyramid structure has an apex at the top of the pyramid with the structure being used by the business community and is also used by churches and the army. At the top of this apex is the most powerful person within an organization and is commonly known as the boss or CEO. The use of this structure is usually questioned by analysis as they consider having power over others doesn’t work and shouldn’t be used as a standard model3.

The level or flow of communication is where the collective power of a company is delegated by a board of directors, and the day to day running is conducted by the managing director or CEO4. Below the CEO, are in some cases known as heads and they provide or give information to a person who is lower than they are, and this information will then go down the line of command until it reaches the bottom person5. As one may realise, this sort of structure is not very ideal for collaboration as one is above another. In my opinion, and the system our team uses, is whereby we are generally all on the same level or tier and this means there is greater teamwork and communication.

By having everyone on the same level, no one is above the next person meaning we are all equal. This type of hierarchy is now being used and goes by the name of a flat organization.

A flat organization is whereby there are no or very few tiers, with management doing little intervening. This type of hierarchy structure states that if all workers are an expert in their chosen field or industry, making it is a lot more democratic, and all employees can be more directly involved in all the decision making, rather than having orders being barked at them or being watched with a fine tooth comb by the many layers of management.

The problem with this system it only works for small organizations or with smaller teams in a large one. If an organization grows, they can keep this structure but it could lead to lower productivity.

This structure promotes greater decision making by all members of the organization and this leads to greater collaboration, as everyone can have their say. This basically means there is a greater need for managers to communication with their employee 6.

As one may realise, one hierarchy style may work for one business but not the other. It all depends on what they feel comfortable using and deciding what style works for them.

References

1.Edited by Bruce Moore, The Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary – Fourth Edition, 1996, Oxford University Press.

2. http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2006/07/human_hierarchy.html, blog entry - Tuesday, July 11, 2006, David Armano viewed on 4th May 2008.

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_hierarchy viewed on 4th May 2008

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchical_organization viewed on 4th May 2008.

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_of_command viewed on 7th May 2008

6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_organisation viewed on 7th May 2008

Image - http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2006/07/human_hierarchy.html

Week 7 Team Question.

What kinds of intentions do sketches (in terms of drawings, ideas and writing) capture well and not so well?

Sketches are seen to be a VERY important part of any architectural project. The intention of sketches is to develop and change any ideas created throughout the design stage of a project. These sketches usually are very rough to begin with and then develop to more detailed sketches during the entire design phase.

These very rough sketches are usually very hard to understand or comprehend (possibly only understood be the designer themselves), but the intention of his/her design is there to see. These sketches show what the designer wants in their design, even though changes will occur, but there intention will always be there. These intentions will be different for every designer and these intentions will also need to reflect what the client wants as well.

Even though all intentions are different, some they all have there own interpretation on universal intentions. They would include:

· Layout
· Exterior/interior design
· Movement
· Lighting?

Sketches are used by designers themselves so they can express there ideas and intention in a pictorial format, rather then boring and mundane words. Designers think and express their ideas as pictures, and sketches are used so they can view their own ideas on paper. Some sketches done by designers can expand a whole sketch book, full of ideas, inspirations and intention they wish to explore in their design. Sketches help to express and communicate these ideas that only pictures can do. We must remember the saying, a picture can tell 1000 words, and this is so true with sketches. One can only image if their we no sketches to express one’s ideas.

Even though sketches are seen as helpful, they can cause problems.

Because sketches are just that, sketches, some people may not be able to understand or comprehend what the intention of the designer is. If I was someone who was seeing a piece of paper with lines or over the place, I would think more then likely they will not understand what the designer is doing. I would compare to to an artwork with lines going everywhere, most people will just look at it and think what’s is going on in this person head, while others will understand what the intention of the artist is, be that an expression of ones self or making a statement. So to are sketches in architecture. Only people with enough training will understand what the intention of the designer is when seeing a sketch for the first time.

But despite this, sketches are very important and are necessary. Without them, no one will understand what the thinking or intention of the designer is.

I know this only scratch the surface of what is a very large topic area and I could go on for ever, but I hope this helps to understand sketches in connection with intent.

Week 7 - Intent

inIntent is seen as having a purpose and be determined to resolve an issue or problem 1. However intent has a slightly different meaning in an architectural sense. In architecture, it is known as design intent, meaning the designers have provided information on the reasons why they made certain decisions on their design and the justification for it but also specify any amendments made to their design. There is a number of different software that use design intent, especially 2D CAD system. These systems allow for a designer to provide information about their design intent easier, through capturing tools. These tools allow for easier communication through improved collaboration, learning and documentation.

Today, designers need to provide more information to their designs. Gone are the days when all they needed to provide was geometric information, but they now need to provide more specific information, such as their design intent, any design constraints along with important and necessary specifications like manufacturing knowledge. The need for additional information means that faster computer systems need to be used as to handle this increase of new information, so critical during the design phase. Major companies and government agencies view these design intent systems as a way to improve all aspects of the design phase such as the development process and current design data, all presented as 2D drawings. These systems need to be consistently upgraded to allow for a greater intelligence to allow for better design intents.

One of the main problems with using 2D drawings for design intent is that it contains limited information, as it only contains graphical information like lines, texts and symbols. Attempts have been made to merge this 2D information into a 3D format, but merging geometric, volumetric and structural, the systems have a lack of understanding of this information and these attempts are done usually during the design stage. Research has taken place in this area, with most results indicating because the geometry can’t be recognized; with only supporting symbols indicating it may work. However, research also indicates that these symbols such as dimensions, arrowheads, hatching lines and text are extremely valuable pieces of information that add intelligence and plays are major role in design intent capture.

With so many different interpretations on the meaning what design intent is, there are some common aspect to the meaning though. These would include the following:

indicates that design intent is more than just geometry
helps to justify decisions made on a design
can be viewed as a historical record for future analyses and processes
it can be modified and evolve our the lifetime of a design
describes what the space in a building is designed for.2

Overall, design intent is indicating to people your intention to a design and what outcomes you want from it.

References

1. Edited by Bruce Moore, The Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary – Fourth Edition, 1996, Oxford University Press.

2. http://www.cadanda.com/CAD_A_3_1-4_28.PDF, Design Intent in 2D CAD: Definition and Survey, Ganeshram R. Iyer and John J. Mills

Week 6 – Knowledge

As the old saying goes, “knowledge is power”, and this statement is true given its definition. The Australian Oxford Dictionary has a number of definitions. They state knowledge as 1 awareness that is gained by experience, 2 a person’s range of information1 and the English Version states knowledge as [1] the expertise and skills that a person has acquired through experience or education and an understanding of a subject, 2 what is known in a particular field or in total or 3 the awareness or familiarity gained through experience. However, these definitions have been of great debate among philosophers.

Knowledge in a business sense is called knowledge management and is seen as a management theory started in the 1990’s. This theory is seen as a way to understand people within organizations through the creation and sharing of knowledge. This theory has produced two models of knowledge, the DIKW model and Nonaka's reformulation of Polanyi's distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge. The DIKW model involves places knowledge, data and information in a pyramid. Both models are under threat as new schools of thought are emerging.

The goal of knowledge management indicates that the right information is received by the right person, so they can execute the correct decision. Recently, management has looked at how knowledge is being flowed and the exchange of knowledge rather than just focusing on knowledge itself [2].

Knowledge management is a multi-billion dollar industry with thousands of books, professional and academic journals and university degrees dedicated to the subject. The objectives are to improve the organisations performance, have a competitive advantage, create innovation, developmental processes, and create greater development of the collaborative process.

It has been acknowledged that knowledge management has always been around, but in the last 10 years, this has been enhanced courtesy of modern technology.

Knowledge management can be seen as being in three stages: before, during, or after knowledge-related activities, however some think it has a life cycle.

An example of knowledge management would be an effective management method in a architectural company. When a project is about to begin, an architect may want to learn and gain knowledge from a past project similar to their current one, gain any information during the design stage when problems arise and finally get information after the design stage or when the project has been completed to get advice on problems arisen from its completion or from any completed activities. Lessons will be learnt during the whole design stage and should be recorded so they can gain knowledge and learn from any mistakes that had arisen from this project [3]

So, this can be seen as an effective way to conduct knowledge within an architectural company. By using knowledge, architects can go back and view and look at buildings from the past and this will provide them with enough knowledge for future designs.

How this works in collaboration will be quite simple. As people work together in a team environment, they will be able to share knowledge and experiences meaning the team will learn from one another, creating a productive environment. In a team environment, the team will be able to view from past projects, to understand and gain knowledge from these past projects, so it can be used on their current project. This way, they won’t make the same mistakes again.

This is currently the case on our team, as not everyone knows 3D modeling, but will all share our skills and knowledge to achieve the final goal. If we didn’t do this, our team will likely fail.

Finally, knowledge is a wonderful thing, and if you use it, be that individually or in a team, it can take you places. Learning from the past, present or from mistakes is very powerful and that is what knowledge is all about.

References:

1. Edited by Bruce Moore, The Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary – Fourth Edition, 1996, Oxford University Press.
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge viewed on 20th April 2008.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Management, viewed on 21st April 2008.

Image - http://www.library.uthscsa.edu/internet/km/

Record – Week 5 task

Record in terms of a business sense is an act of taking down information and notes for everyone to know what’s going on within the business. These would include meetings, conferences, online message boards (such as Grouphub) and general conversations. These conversations could be daily, one/twice a week or once a month.

This form of communication is a very important part of collaboration, as all forms of communication is recorded in a written format be it electric, hand written or from a word processor. This form of communication as with all collaboration is important because communication between all persons within a business environment a vital to the successful running of a business. Without it, communication within the business will fail and so too will the business.

Taking notes is the most important part of any meetings. Either one or two people usually perform this note taking and they keep a record of what is said by all members attending the meeting. The reason why a record must be keep is for a number of reasons. They are:

Required by law
For legal reasons (if any lawsuits occur)

Apart from the legal reason, there are other reasons why records need to be taken during these meetings. They are:

Keep track of the finances
To notify all of the direction in which the business is heading
Goal setting
Notes for the next meeting
To address any problems
Historical (it may be necessary to view meetings notes in years to come on any decision made by the business)

Without any of these recordings, problems will occur. These would include:

Employees will have no idea of what is happening within the business
Will also lead to confusion
Miscommunication
Will lead to legal difficulties and problems
Mistakes
No structure
No guidance

So overall, record is a very important part of collaboration as it keeps everyone focused and it meets all the necessary legal requirements. Everyone needs to keeps these notes and meetings need to be recorded as it they don’t; it will create problems both legally and professionally.

Sounds and pics

site for the sound effects are: http://www.flashkit.com/

and its free

Disiplane 2

The digital architectural model maker is a important person within an organisation. They must model all the designs in a 3D format. While some may consider this to be a job when a design is complete, then you would be mistaken. The digital model makers, like their cousins (the physical model makers), need to work along side the architect, as they must physically build the model in a 3D format, so clients and other specialise within the team can fully understand what is going on.

Not everyone can understand a 2D working drawing , so not only do specialise like engineers and interior designer need the design to be explained more clearly, a 3d digital model can explain the design to them a lot more easier.

The problem with models made in balsa wood is that you can get in the model and explore it as you would if you were inside it. A digital model can allow this to occur.

The digital architectural model maker would not only create the physical 3d digital model and then take certain screenshots, but they would also create a fly-though/animation of the building and the edit it a video editing software. This is handy for the architects as to see their 2d drawings in an animated format. By viewing the animation and screen shots, the architect and their team can discuss if changes are required.

Another advantage that architects will find working along side this model markers is that they both can work on important issues as in lighting. This lighting can be natural or artificial. In regards to natural lighting, an architect can decide by the digital models whether to place any light blockers such as louvers and eaves. By being able to see what they can do, the architect can decide how much light they would like within the building. This can only be done on a 3d modelling program.

In regards to artificial lights, the model marker can work along side not only the architect but also alongside a electrician. A electrician knows everything about artificial lighting and they can help with how much artificial lighting is required to light up a room, whereas an architects may not known everything there is to know about how a room should be lit. By working along side the electrician, the model marker can experiment with lighting on the 3D models.

An interior designer also needs to work with an model marker as they need to know how their design ideas affect the whole feel of a room. By seeing if a chair or table is better in one place then another, a 3D model of a room needs to occur. By seeing a final render of a room, an interior designer can therefore work out, what looks good and what doesn't.

The most important job of a digital architectural model maker is the presentation. They must create a presentation that not only looks good, but must impress the client and show off the wonderful design. In order for this to be achieved, some knowledge of video editing is required. This helps to place all the animation that the model maker has done and put it all together, to make a wonderful marketing tool. The model maker, needs to work along side all team members as they need to make sure they have their design in wonderful light.

Overall, a digital model marker, consider everything in 3d, by taking 2d drawings and making them into beautiful 3d models. They must have a number of different skills and knowledge, from being a lighting engineer, to an interior designer and a architect. Without this knowledge, the model will look pretty ordinary and won't create a realistic look that the design team and the client is asking for.

P.S- Sam can you check the grammer of this blog. Thanks !!