Before talking about how design offices use database, I would like to briefly talk about what Database is. According to the university systems of Georgia, a database is a collection of information organized to provide efficient retrieval. Those information could be in a many formats, including electronic, printed, graphic, audio, and statistical. A data base could be as simple as an alphabetical arrangement of names in an address book, or as complex as a database that provides information in a combination of formats[1].
For design offices, database helps architects or engineers to keep track of everything associated with the projects. It usually includes a collection of drawings, books of specifications, handbooks of standard tables and product catalogs. Thus a well organized database can ensure the efficiency of the office. Usually, the organization of database contains three components: data definition language (DDL), which is the means to define data organization; data manipulation language(DML), which provides the procedural accesses for retrieving records from the structure defined in the DDL; and finally, a set of utilities.
Develop a multi-disciplinary design database is crucial nowadays as a project needs to be accomplished by different professions with different software. A figure below is shown as an example of the sequence of applications supporting structural design and the corresponding databases involved[2].
Today, not only it is important to maintain a useful database in practice for design firms, those database should also be able to anticipate the growth of the industry as nowadays more and more hardware and software are being updated. A database should allow upgrading as new equipment are available.
Reference:
[1]: http://www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/unit04/primer04_01.phtml
[2]: http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2609&context=compsci
Comments:
Dianna Vogel
Jon Swartz
A major benefit about databases are their helpfulness in designing projects. Databases make a lot of important information available through a simple search. Having so much information included in the project database, increases the efficiency on the project because you don’t have to waste time searching for necessary information, such as cost. This efficiency is a huge advantage that encourages more use of databases in design programs as well as encouraging them to improve on the existing databases.
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