Office buildings under the influence of information and construction technologies

Office buildings have undergone many structural and spacial changes over the long period from past to present. It seems that periodical changes which have taken place both in architecture, industry and trade have affected the structure considerably. Especially one of the most prominent features of office buildings is that it has to adapt to changing technology and it has to be designed according to the condition of the times. As a result of this features, office buildings design parameters can be affected from technologies. The developments that have taken place especially in information technology and construction Technologies have led to different aspects of the design of office buildings. These two technologies are considered together in the thesis because they have interdependent processes that affect each other and their effects on office buildings from time to time. As information technology influences especially the way of production, space organization have changed according to these production forms. Access to and processing of information is now faster and more accessible thanks to these technologies, thus bringing flexible spatial constructions in office buildings. The most important design criteria that should be provided in office buildings after the researches are determined as to create appropriate working environment by providing environment conditions with maximum efficiency, employee satisfaction, continuity of conditions for efficient working environment, flexibility to adapt to changing needs and working scenarios. Even though construction technology is a system with many components, it seems that office structures are greatly influenced by the possibilities provided by information technology to produce solutions to ensure the continuity of these conditions. Due to the intelligent building systems and structural high-tech building components that form together with the mechanical solutions, the desired buildings performance and space design can be achieved. These solutions provide a sustainable office structure together with all its components both in the interior and structural sense to prevent any negative situation and to use all the conditions efficiently. We see that the changes in these structural and spatial solutions mentioned are possible not only with information technology or construction technology, but also with construction technology, which is observed to be an increasing influence especially in the development of information technologies and solutions. In addition to the new office buildings resulting from the iflux of information technology on business production, the construction technologies which affect the conditions such as improvement, control and application of all kinds of systems that make up these office buildings affect the present office design criteria significantly. With the integration of information technologies into design and construction processes, there are many new solutions and life scenarios in the construction technology that affect both structural design and the space design. The attemp to decipher these effects was determined as the purpose of thesis. The firts part of the study includes the purpose, scope and method of studying. In the second part of the thesis, the concept of office and the development of office buildings in the historical process are examined and some breaking points leading to the differentiation of the structures have been determined and the factors affecting the design criteria of these structures have been tried to be excluded. As a result of the information reached by these examinations, office buildings became confronted as professionalized structures in the 16th century by insurance and banking comoanies, and by the 19th century, they became spacialized fort he entire business group and started to multiply according to their business types. Office buildings in search of identity have been differentiated both structurally and fictitiously in the architectural World, thanks to their specialized spaces and systems. First of all, according to the type of work done, the office buildings have formed their own structural identity with the effect of differentiation, and they have begun to be separated from other buildings types and then the buildings suitable for their use have been constructed. From the first examples which can be called as the office structure, the most important factor affecting the space construction is the increase of productivity. With the increase in economic development, the expansion of the sector, accordingly, the increase in the number of employees and business volume, brought together the rapidly growing and rising office structures. In response to this rapid growth, both companies' prestige concerns and the need to create a productive office structure have not been solved with some organizational solutions made only indoors. Structural solutions have been introduced to meet these needs. Thus, the spatial design inputs together with the structural components are considered as a whole and the criteria of the office design are determined. However, in the transition from the 19th century to the 20th century, especially as computer technology started to enter the business and production life, the changes in office buildings as well as the changes and variations in construction technologies and structural design became inevitable. Relations in structural and spatial terms have been started to be addressed in different ways and flexible space conventions have been tried to be established with the aim of business efficiency as always using technology as maximum. In the third part of the thesis, the design criteria obtained as a result of the researches in the second part are influenced by the information and construction technologies and the design criteria that effects have changed in the office design are mentioned. Many factors influences the design of office buildings but these factors vary according to the needs of the construction, the possibilities of the period, and the methods of implementation. Especially the developments in technlogy are affecting the current dynamics of office buildings. It is the forefront of these factors that both information technlogies affecting business production and construction technologies as well as changing and diverse interior architecture, supporting working scenarios, design and construction flexibility and sustainability concepts, architectural and structural solutions are possible. As many different components have been used in the design of office buildings day by day, the result of this study is that the concepts of flexibility and sustainability among these design criteria are most affected by the influence of information and construction technologies, and the concept of intelligence which constitutes intelligent building systems which support them is emerging. In particular, office buildings that have become disclocated, such as freedom of operation and sustainable office buildings that provide structural flexibility, produce solutions for their needs and provide energy savings. In this respect, the examples of selected office buildings in the fourth chapter will be examined from the point of view of how the effects of information and construction technologies are evaluated together with these concepts. In this regard, the office structures constructed after the 1980s, when the effects of information technologies began to emerge, will be tried to be resolved through the structural and spatial influences of the information and construction technologies.