610
Summary: The Systems Approach
612.6
COST/PERFORMANCE TRADE-OFF
A cost-effective design is one which either provides the highest level of
performance for a given target cost or provides a given level of
performance at the lowest cost. (There is rarely a "cheapest-best"
alternative available.) But the usual cost-benefit analysis concerns itself
simply with a comparison of several subsystem or component alternatives,
whereas actual conditions within a building are the combined effect of
various sets of components which cut across subsystem classification.
The acoustic environment, for example, depends on a high degree of
design coordination between partitions, ceilings, mechanical equipment,
surface materials and service distribution terminals. The theoretical sound
transmission class of a partition is meaningless if the ceiling provides a
flanking path, or if electrical outlets puncture the surface, or if sound
passes readily along ductwork.
Systems analysis and integration include the identification of these
performance-related component sets and the characteristics which must
be balanced to achieve any given criterion. Cost-benefit analysis can then
be more realistically applied to trade-off problems directly in terms of
negotiable levels of performance.
612.7
CONVERGENCE AND FEEDBACK
612.7.1
The process of systems integration must be viewed as continuous, rather
than as terminating at a certain point with a perfected set of components.
New building products are constantly being developed and marketed by
industry. New building techniques are periodically introduced by
engineers or contractors. New performance requirements evolve as the
activities within buildings change. And the evaluation of components in
use invariably reveals unanticipated bugs which should be eliminated from
future protection. This process involves five broad classes of activity:
1. Determination of performance requirements,
2. evaluation of available building products and techniques,
3. design of systems and components,
4. analysis of cost and scheduling implications, and
5. evaluation of buildings utilizing the integrated systems and components.
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