Summary: |
Axiology is a theory about values and value measurement. Axiology addresses two key questions: 1) What are the ‘things’ that we value? (What is of worth, merit, utility, or importance?) and 2) How to measure the value of the ‘things’ that we value? Axiology-based construction is defined in this paper as a theoretical-based approach to the planning, design, and construction of buildings and infrastructure systems that accounts for human (clients, stakeholders, etc.) values, in a formalized and holistic way. In this context, ‘value’ is viewed as a complex concept that carries rich and varied meaning depending on the type of value being considered (economic, environmental, social, technological, ideological, etc.) and the assessor of the value. This paper focuses on introducing the theory and method of axiology-based construction of building projects. The approach for axiology-based building construction entails: 1) developing a formal (computer-understandable) axiology for building projects and 2) integrating the axiological model with the building model (the Building Information Model (BIM)). The formal representation, along with the integration with BIM, will facilitate the automation of the value analysis process. The paper starts by discussing the need for formalized and comprehensive solutions for value analysis and follows by introducing axiology in the context of building value representation and measurement. Then, the paper presents a preliminary axiological model for building projects. Finally, the paper discusses the approach for integrating the axiological model and the BIM model. |