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This thesis concerns the highly complex relationship between cost and design decision-making. A theoretical cost function is described by examining the output requirements of the design activity, and the constraints placed on the input to the process by current cost generation procedure. The description takes the form of a set of preferred characteristics or alternatively, criteria on which the potential of a future costing process might best be judged. A particular interpretation of this set of characteristics is described, which produces the tentative specification for a new generation of cost models. An implementation of the specification resulted in the computer-based cost simulation model ACE (Analysis of Construction Economics). This interactive, knowledge-based cost model is used to investigate a series of cost relationships and cost thresholds, both to exemplify its possible applications, and to produce some means of determining the validity of both the general approach, and the particular interpretation which ACE represents.

The study investigated the relationship between design and flexibility. Proposals by designers on how to incorporate the ability of buildings to accommodate changes in the requirements of the activities to be housed in buildings over time has led to a diversity of ideas regarding the relationship between suggested design variables and the achieved flexibility. Though a number of studies have been made on specific organisations and buildings, there has been no overall investigation of the general relationship between design and flexibility. To investigate this relationship it was necessary to: 1. Propose a system of measurement by which the extent of incorporation of the design variables in design proposals could be assessed (Chapters II and III). 2. Propose a system of measurement by which the extent of flexibility of buildings in use could be assessed (Chapter IV). 3. Assess the extent of flexibility achieved by the incorporation of design variables in design proposals by a study of actual buildings in use (Chapters V, VI, VII, and VIII). The study has largely achieved these objectives. It provided methods to enable objective comparison to be made between alternative design proposals in terms of the incorporation of design variables. It provided methods to enable objective comparison to be made between buildings in terms of their flexibility in use. It became apparent that the flexibility of buildings in use was related to only certain aspects of design variables or even to only certain parts of buildings. The study demonstrated that the flexibility of buildings in use is largely predictable from knowledge about their design. It showed that current ideas on flexible designs contain many factors that are redundant to flexibility. It recommends that future proposals of designing for flexibility need to be more refined than those at the present and that will enhance the effectiveness of manipulating the potential flexibility of buildings at the design stage. The main area of further research to emerge was concerned with the operationalisation of other design variables and their testing in various building types utilising the methods defined in this study.

Bringing a building into existence that has never been made and used before is a kind of invention which is made by an architect. Being an architect necessitates the ability to synthesize separated things besides talent. The architect should relate different things such as people's needs and activities, natural features of earth, manufactured products, etc to each other in a systematic way that he or she can produce solutions for design problems and select the most suitable solution to meet people's needs. Thus a building can be imagined as if it physically exists, and as if it is occupied by users. Although, indoor air quality (IAQ) has been discussed for almost thirty years, it is a new subject for architects from the architectural design point of view. Most of the time, the subject is defined as an engineering problem. However anything related to the building should be recognised by architects, as well, so that they can try to find alternative solutions. Examining the Architectural Design Process and IAQ together in the whole Building System enables the architect to think about IAQ systematically, and to search design solutions to prevent or reduce possible indoor air pollution before it occurs. This thesis shows a way of considering IAQ and the building together during the architectural design stage. In this consideration, the building is modelled as a system, the Architectural Design Process is based on The RIBA Plan of Work, IAQ is adapted as a process, the Architectural Design Process and IAQP are examined together, and the Architectural Design Process is evaluated in terms of IAQ.

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Patterns of communication in the decision-making process of Design Team Architects are considered. Variations in the verbal content of Architect and other Design Team member interaction behaviour are analysed over the various stages of the design process. A pilot study building design and a main subject study building design are investigatted on a longditudinal basis. Fourteen other building designs are investigated on a cross sectional basis. The presented results represent a data collection period of approximately eighteen months. Design Team interaction is measured using content analysis. The measurement scales used are largely based upon existing methodologies, although some measurement scales are developed specifically for this research. Quantitative data analysis is by mainframe computer, using analysis programs which are developed specifically for this research. Additional qualitative substantiations are provided by extracts of supportive interview responses. The results show pronounced patterns of variation in the interaction content of Design Team members throughout the design process over a range of design types. The conclusions are of use to Design Team members since they illustrate the likely patterns of future interaction for the future stages of any design process. Potential areas of interaction conflict are presented, together with likely variations in Design Team member preoccupations as the design develops. Reference to the results allow the Designer to design in order to avoid likely design interaction problems associated with long term variations in Design Team interaction behaviour. Results indicate that the Architect becomes less assertive during the middle stages of the design, as does the influence of the initial brief. The Architect is consistently the most creative Design Team member, although cost considerations increasingly influence the decision-making process of the Architect, largely at the expense of aesthetic considerations. The professional Design Team members increasingly form a coalition against the Client Representative, to some extent as a defence against late stage disruptive cost reduction exercises, as construction factors increasingly influence interaction behaviour.

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