110
The Prototype Design: Scope
It performs this function primarily by providing a carefully coordinated set
of guidelines for making certain decisions during the building design
process, and also by providing a common frame of reference for all
components of the larger system.
111.2.3
Variability
Some of the guidelines are so fundamental to the Prototype Design that
they establish what must be considered fixed characteristics of the
system. If any of these characteristics is significantly modified in the
design, construction or alteration of a building, then that building cannot
properly be said to be an application of the particular system described in
the Manual. These fixed characteristics are discussed under the heading
of "Basic Design" at the beginning of each section on the planning
modules and the building subsystems. All other characteristics may be
considered variable and have the force of recommendations.
If the working hypothesis is to have a fair test, a certain degree of caution
must be exercised when introducing variations. One of the underlying
causes of the problems to which the system addresses itself is the lack of
adequate coordination at certain key points in the conventional design and
construction process. The intended beneficial effect of the Prototype
Design in many instances depends more on the high level of internal
coordination between its characteristics than on the particulars of the
characteristics themselves. Thus, when a "variable" characteristic is
altered, there is a danger of inadvertently reintroducing a major causal
factor of the very problem the system is trying to solve. To assure that the
intended level of coordination can be maintained when deviating from any
of the guidelines, a careful check must be made on the implications of the
change for all other characteristics of the specific design under
development.
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