Forming core elements for strategic design management: How to define and direct architectural value in an industrialized context

Complexity arising from increasing globalization of the marketplace and computer-based communication and information technology seems to create a growing need for simplicity, control and reliability. At the same time, contemporary consumer culture calls for customized and personalized goods. This evolution also leads to a demand for precise definitions of the values and qualities that can be used as managing tools in common building practice and it puts the traditional architectural design process under pressure. This paper outlines an approach to architectural quality as dealt with in the design process in an industrialized context. It also presents a way to analyse how and to what degree design processes are formed strategically according to specific architectural intentions (values). Through detailed interviews with professional architects, the way in which they manage the design process and how the architectural potentials are realized when dealing with modern industrial processes are examined. To analyse and structure the empirical data, a model was developed consisting of four approaches for action. The approaches are categorized along different dichotomies in order to point out different ways in which the offices can direct their design process (strategies) and reach particular end-results (goals). Two examples from the analysis are discussed according to the dichotomies and subsequently developed into a general classification focusing on strategy. A description is given of how the model was tested in the architectural education at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts—School of Architecture. The overall research project has two aims—to help offices identify the characteristics and specific methods of working with architectural quality in an industrialized context, and to generate a common debate about quality in industrialized architecture. It is hoped that by presenting a way to talk about strategy and architectural value, it will inspire further elaboration of the field of strategic design management.