Design iteration in construction projects - Review and directions

Design phase of any construction project involves several designers who exchange information with each other most often in an unstructured manner throughout the design phase. When these information exchanges happen to occur in cycles/loops, it is termed as design iteration. Iteration is an inherent and unavoidable aspect of any design phase which requires proper planning. Till date, very few researchers have explored the design iteration (“complexity”) in construction sector. Hence, the objective of this paper was to document and review the complexities of iteration during design phase of construction projects for efficient design planning. To achieve this objective, exhaustive literature review on design iteration was done for four sectors - construction, manufacturing, aerospace, and software development. In addition, semi-structured interviews and discussions were done with a few design experts to verify the different dimensions of iteration. Finally, a design iteration framework was presented in this study that facilitates successful planning.