Using Design Intent for Interpreting Brand-Name-or-Equal Specifications

This paper focuses on applying that part of the design-process knowledge referred to as “design intent,” which is of essence to material selection and substitution. We have focused on the type of design intent that is related to architectural design. We express design intent in terms of function, user requirements, performance, and physical properties of a design description. This paper shows how design intent can guide the contractor's material selection and substitution when faced with a proprietary brand-name-or-equal specification. In such cases, the designer requires the contractor to use a specified material brand or any other material that is “equal.” However, the conditions of “equal” are usually not explicit. Five algorithms structured in pseudocode terms are provided for such equality interpretation. The paper concludes that a better understanding of design-process knowledge can strengthen the communication between design and construction.