What are the Main Challenges of Implementing Technology in Design and Construction

This past October, our founder Pardis Mirmalek gave a keynote presentation at the 5th Annual Computation Building Design Conference titled Outlining the Computation Roadmap from Hiring & Establishing a Team to the Grand Future Vision of Building Design. As we are passionate about overcoming the obstacles in the design and construction industries by using AI, we feel that it’s crucial to address the challenges that come with implementing smarter tech solutions with other leaders in our industry. With all the inefficiencies in design and construction, there is tremendous opportunity to improve our productivity and save billions of dollars globally. Now is the time to plan out how we want to use technology to help reach our full potential.  

Before we delve into the technologies that will carry design and construction into the future, it is important to mention as it pertains to this article AI and technology fall under the umbrella of “computation,” which can be described as the action of mathematical calculation, or, more pertinent to this topic, using computers instead of humans to perform certain tasks. At Desanoia, we believe that by automating as much of the design process as possible, we can maximize human creativity and problem-solving. Computation is not an avenue of replacing human ingenuity; rather, it exists to enhance it by using technology to optimize all the mundane tasks that get in the way of designing and building. 

While many tend to look at this with a black-and-white mentality that a company is either computation savvy or not, being savvy in this space falls more on a spectrum. Companies can fall anywhere between being highly tech-driven or completely traditional. Therefore they each require individual evaluation to determine where they are today and where they are planning to be in the next years and identify what the custom solution tailored to their specific needs is that can make this happen.

Without full understanding of the benefits that computation can bring, some may hesitate to implement new systems. However, when you look at the data, it becomes clear that the design and construction industries have a productivity challenge. Not to mention how costly construction can be: according to the World Economic Forum, a 1% reduction in construction costs could save $100 billion globally. This makes computation extremely valuable for its potential to increase productivity and reduce costs. 

Given computation’s potential to increase the efficiency of the design and construction industries, it makes you wonder why hasn’t computation taken over yet? The fact of the matter is that computation is not as easy to adopt as it may seem. Firstly, adopting any new technology requires resources—namely time and money—that many firms simply don't want to part with. Researching programs to use, training employees and implementing new software is an intensive process. There’s also the issue of scale: technology promises to streamline day-to-day functions, but if technology is not implemented correctly and comprehensively, then the project simply doesn’t deliver and productivity doesn’t improve either. 

The challenges that we face in adopting new technology can be summarized into five categories: 

Diverse Projects

Designers work on a variety of projects that are very distinct from one another. Each project has its own set of complications that need to be addressed, so the lessons learned from one project won’t necessarily apply to another. While one computation method might have been successful for a specific building, it may not be as relevant for the next assignment. 

Diverse Teams

When it comes to designing and constructing a new building, you need a lot of varying skill sets and expertise to conceptualize and then actualize it. Designers, engineers, and contractors all must come together to figure out what the building will look like to best serve the needs of the client, and what is the best way to go about constructing it. However, each team will have their own work protocol and communication methods which makes it a challenge to introduce new technologies.

Fragmented Technology

Given the varying tasks that a designer must fulfill when working on a new project, there are lots of different software options that they choose from to best serve their needs. As such, it becomes challenging to standardize and integrate these programs and streamline processes to bring efficiency and productivity to projects.

Limited R&D

There’s a lot of room for improvement when it comes to R&D in the construction industry given that it falls far behind other industries in terms of spending. Clearly, innovation is not being prioritized which means that fewer resources are going into introducing new technologies that can prevent budget overruns and cut down on project schedules. 

Outdated Contracts

Adopting new technologies successfully is never possible unless the underlying framework, contract structure and resourcing is updated in support of it as well. Computation and BIM in particular change the project delivery timeline and resources significantly compared to the traditional methods and unless from a contract and legal standpoint these transformations are considered and accounted for, the technology adoption can’t bring the value it seems to be capable of on the surface.

In our next article, we’ll explore solutions that could help us overcome these obstacles in implementing technology in design and construction.