The WLS Process: Information Integration

Ivar Krasinski
Principal - Design Director
Burt Hill
Dubai, UAE

Abstract
The design feedback loop is a known analogy for the iterative cycles of information which focus the project from a broad range of possibilities at the concept phase into ever more detailed conclusions which are eventually manifested in the built realm. Historically, engineers and architects had difficulty arriving at the most optimized solution due to the length of time required to work through each cycle of the information feedback loop, especially when the design time was limited. The difficulty faced by the design professionals was compounded by the nonlinear nature of the feedback mechanism. In fact, when viewed on an interdisciplinary scale, the feedback system is not a loop but actually a web consisting of endlessly interconnected data. BIM is currently most used in the production end of the design process, but its ability to transform modeled information into raw databases means that there is a great benefit in using this technology during the pre-conceptual phase. The challenge for the designers consist of understanding the benefits of using the power of the databases before any decisions are frozen, and identifying new tools which can be developed to quantify known relationships and accelerate the feedback process. The advances made in this field have already been shown to have great benefit in the balancing of Financial, Sociohistorical and Environmental sustainability. The result is an ability to optimize projects in real time for every phase of the design process, starting with the master plan and ending with specifications.