Comparative Studies on the Regional Differences of Modularity Design Tendency Between the United States and Japan

Abstract

A standard architectural project comprises multiple interfaces among individual modules of information, components, systems, or players. Each society possesses its own history and background that derives a unique pattern of modules and interfaces. In 2005, Prof. Tomonari Yashiro and Prof. Satoshi Yoshida identified the antagonistic concept of design tendency between modularity and integration. Players from different countries tend to manage projects on different levels of modularity or integration, and create unique work system structures for each. The effects of the difference between modularity and integration were identified, but the mechanism was not demonstrated in visualized or quantified models. This research identifies the United States as the most oriented to modularity and Japan as the country most oriented to integration. The Two countries were the focus of analyses to demonstrate the effect of using the task structure matrix (TSM). The TSM analysis model is a method to visualize and quantify the module pattern and relationship by recording the dependencies of all the elements. This research sought to verify the different pattern of regional modularity between the United States and Japan, as well as offer a quantified understanding to help transnational project players identify the critical paths that are potentially omitted from a project.