Harvard University Graduate School of Design
RMJM Program for Research and Education in Integrated Design
The mission of the RMJM Program is the complete integration of design, technology, and business management principles to effectuate improved project delivery for clients and improved viability for design firms by empowering designers to retake their leading role in the construction process. RMJM, the Edinburgh-based architecture firm, is the donor for this program. The RMJM program aims to improve project delivery by enhancing the owner’s decision making with the help of the designer. Acknowledging that the designer handles more of the uncertainty in the process than any other professional, we believe that the designer is best situated to provide economic, social, and technical advice to the owner to meet his/her business objectives. Following this train of thought, the focus of the RMJM program is to empower and elevate the designer, which requires not only a strategic approach but also proper education and training to meet the envisioned role.
The RMJM program studies integration at two levels. The first level encompasses business strategy and management in the design, integrating the designer with the owner/developer. The second level is the integration among design professionals, such as planners, designers, engineers, and other consultants, and contractors, with the owner, towards improving the delivery process. Both aim towards a holistic design, improved project delivery for clients, and enhanced efficiency and economic viability for design firms. The goal of the RMJM program is to conduct original research in the integrated design field and disseminate the results widely within the industry and academia; the resulting knowledge isintended to assist designers in reestablishing their leadership role in the value chain of the design, construction, and development process.
RMJM Program Core Group:
Professor Spiro N. Pollalis supervises the program and works on associated research projects and studio instruction. Contact. Bio.
Brian Kenet is part of the research team and serves as industry liaison. Contact. Bio.
Dr. Andreas Georgoulias works on the research projects and leads a team of students. Contact. Bio.
Dr. Richard W. Jennings, FAIA, works on the research projects and leads a team of students. Contact. Bio.
Aimee Taberner provides an executive function that includes overall program management and administration. Contact.
Student Researchers:
Heather Boesch
Jon Caputo
Vanessa Cheung
Elizabeth Farley
Diego Ibrarra
Masako Ikegami
Jenny Janis
Yannis Kandyliaris
Janna Kauss
Yannis Kitanis
Rohit Manundhane
Betty Ng
Ilias Papageorgiou
Nathan Richardson
Aurora Rotes
Advait Sambhare
Zenovia Toloudi
Mark Watabe
Douglas Wu
Ying Zhang
Current Research Initiatives:
The Creativity Project
Managing creativity in the global design firm towards integrating the designer with the owner/developer
Economics & Strategy of Design Firms
This research project, the first step in the creativity project, will study the economics and strategies of design firms. What are the average revenues, profitability, and growth margins in design firms? Do they vary by size, market segment, and location? Which factors affect profitability in design firms? What are their employee payment and bonus policies? What is a typical balance sheet of a design firm? Can we identify a set of choices, strategies, or cultural characteristics that lead to above-average performance? Where are the differences in large design corporations and boutique, “star” design firms? To what extent are design excellence and superior financial performance mutually exclusive or mutually reinforcing? These and similar questions will be confronted in this research project. Data will be used from publicly available databases (in some European countries, firms are obliged to release their financial data), from original research or through collaboration with other public or private groups who possess relevant proprietary data.
Branding of Design Firms
This research project is directly related to “The Global Firm” project and will examine branding in design firms. How does a design firm create its own unique brand? How long and how costly is the process? Is the brand based on physical elements or could it be expanded to include ideas and a philosophy of design? How can employees create designs that reflect the firm’s brand? Could computation and recent developments in software (algorithms, parametric design, shape grammars) assist in developing branding? These and similar questions will be confronted in this research project.
The Global Firm
This research project will study the characteristics and viability of a large global design firm that excels in design. The advantages of having large design firms and ensuring quality of service are easily comprehended. On the other hand, the design identity of such firms is more difficult to establish. So, as small boutique firms expand, their constituency changes, while large corporate firms who want to excel in design at a global scale face organizational problems in managing creativity and culture. The project, based on field studies, will aim at identifying strategies for establishing design excellence at early stages of a design firm and at the global corporate level. It will examine the various organizational models and their impact on creativity, strategies for competitions, and the impact of growth in the identity of the design firm. Moreover, this research project will examine the role of star knowledge workers in the design industry, and it will try to address how design firms can systematically achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in design by establishing an innovation-focused, creative culture.
From Service to Product
This research project will study the design and delivery of buildings as industrial products. Focusing on housing, the project will question how a design firm can capitalize on the innovative design of high-density, multi-unit housing, focusing on price, ease of assembly, and sustainability. The goal of this research project is to investigate how the designer can be transformed into an integrated provider of services in the manner of an industrialized process, allowing for the delivery of a design product as opposed to being hired for a service. While the development and construction of buildings is beyond the scope of this research, the suggested process developed during this project is intended to proactively integrate business objectives in the design and, question how the designer can be one of the beneficiaries of the created value.
Integrated Practice and Integrated Project Delivery Research
Integration among design professionals, such as planners, designers, engineers and other consultants, and contractors, with the owner towards improving the delivery process.
The process of delivering design services is undergoing profound changes largely because of a) advances in technology, such as parametric object-based software and Building Information Modeling (BIM); and b) increased pressure from owners, clients, and other members of the design and construction industry for improved collaboration, communication, and efficiency among design and construction team members. How can the design services process be transformed to accommodate these pressures? What are the barriers to this transformation? How willing is the design profession to change its existing process? How can the design profession exploit this opportunity and increase its leadership position in the building process? These and similar questions will be confronted in this research project.
This project will also study the integrated design studios at the GSD, in collaboration with the studio instructors. It is expected that such integrated design studios are a microcosm of the integrated practice.
Upcoming Events:
The Second Annual Design Firm Leadership Conference will take place on September 23-25, 2009. Additional information.