A Proposal for a Process Model for Data Collection in Facilities Programming

Abstract

The literature on programming is limited both in absolute terms and compared to the publication record of other fields, domains, and thematic areas. In a period of fifty years, there have been barely more than a dozen core books written on this topic and only a few more tangential ones. Compared to other fields and research domains, journal publications form a very small pool of information. Most papers and book chapters present programming cases and rarely deal with explicating the programming process. This presents a problem in sharing knowledge, developing new knowledge, explicating practice wisdom, and teaching new generations of programmers. In this article, we present a generic process model for data collection in facilities (or architectural) programming. Programming provides information about building (or facility) users. In effect, it is a social science research endeavor. In this paper, we present a process model for collecting facilities programming information. The model is intended to function as a road map for collecting building users’ information for developing design requirements. The process guidance is delimited to the sociocultural aspects of facilities planning and design. The model is created at a high level of abstraction so that it can be applied to many building types and programming situations. This is intended to guide professionals with good social science field research skills who need to be informed about the scope of sociocultural information necessary for programming and design decision making.