620
Conclusions
621
BENEFITS
621.1
COST CONTROL
621.1.1
First Cost
The Prototype Design developed in this study does not consist of a list of
building products. Rather it provides a framework of coordinated basic
subsystem designs within which the VA and the A/E can derive the
optimum specific design for each program, time and place. process of
trade-offs. The predetermination of interface conditions in advance of any
specific building project and its detailed design problems saves the A/E
time usually spent doing this for each job. This allows him more time for
product selection and cost-benefit analysis.
An example of simplification through a controlled interface is the particular
relation between the ceiling-platform and the structure selected for the
Prototype Design. By limiting the structure to medium spans, a beam and
suspended-ceiling scheme became practical for the establishment of a
horizontally accessible service zone. In typical long-span, deep-truss,
interstitial-space schemes, the ceiling is placed at or near the bottom
chords, forcing a compromise between efficient truss depth and sufficient
service space. But beams and girders can be proportioned to produce a
relatively shallow structure, allowing most of the services to pass below
them. Thus the depths of the structure and the service zone can be
independently optimized.
The organization of component design by general building subsystems
which cut across various trades provides a basis for structuring cost
estimates so that they can be directly related to the performance level of a
functionally related set of components, thus allowing rational cost-
performance trade-offs. The organization of hospital design on the basis
of service modules provides the capability of establishing a construction
budget in terms of per module estimates, as well as the usual per-square-
foot and per-bed figures, thus allowing budgeting adjustments in fairly
large units.
The intent is to avoid the more traditional devices for cost-cutting which
involve reduction in quantity or quality of more or less randomly selected
products, or across-the-board tightening of space standards, without
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