By Wan Nor Suriani Jalal
Serdang, OCT 23 - A researcher from Faculty of Design and Architecture (FRSB), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), developed three innovative product designs which are integrated with information technology (IT).
These innovations by Prof. Rahinah, Spacer Architectonic Building System (SABSystem), Rapid Spatial Planner (RASPER) and IBS-Interface, involving integrated design process to support modular design process and strengthened by Building Information Modeling (BIM).
The first innovation by Prof. Rahinah is the SABSystem, which is the green building technology, generated through the renewable wood sources design process and can be easily installed in archtectonic forms at a construction site.
According to Rahinah, the SABSystem combines the design development with the drawing details development during the design process, to reduce conflict in the components assembly coordination at a construction site.
The SABSystem is an improvement to the Platform Framing System, which uses the general installation techniques, commonly used in North America and Europe. It incorporates bolt-mounted woods in archtectonic forms to construct a building.
"This innovation is a kind of green building technology system that reduces the use of woods in the framing system and does not require heavy equipment for installation purposes," she said.
"All IBS components are in different archtectonic forms so that they can maximize the flexibility of the building designed."
"Spacer components will connect several other components in extending the framing element, reduce the supply of materials used and facilitate the modular components transportation," she said.
According to her, when all components are assembled at a construction site, they would make anarchitect-inspired building. The mamou wood frames are marketed as a framing system in the areas that are affected by earthquakes.
"The idea to come out with the innovation sparked when I was pursuing my doctorate at the Stanford University," said the Best New Innovation (Construction Technology) award winner for "Spacer Architectonic Building System" at the GreenBuild Asia 2012, and the recipient of the Top Research Scientists Malaysia 2012 (TRSM2012 ).
"I want to discover the best methods and approaches to address the loss of knowledge phenomenon in the product design development process. I have found the core of this phenomenon and it led to the Sustainable Design Informatics research which enhanced the theory and application that support integration in design process, " she said.
The research began in 2005, of which has graduated 18 students and it is expected to reach up to 50 years as more researches needed for the development of relevant technologies, theories and applications to address problems caused by the loss of information phenomenon.
The SABSystem is entirely developed by UPM with the support from CIDB and MTIB following the publication of a handbook, Timber Industrialised Building Systems (IBS) Design Guide, with the main reference to the system.
Through her efforts, the SABSystem has been commercialized by Golden Precisions Technologies (M) Sdn. Bhd.
The cost of the system is around RM150-RM350/sq ft, depending on the wood quality.
All three innovations have international intellectual property protection and are registered in several countries in the world.
The second innovation by Prof. Rahinah is the IBS-Interface, that functions to facilitate the building components information flow in 3D mode when the modular design process takes place in an IBS project.
This innovation helps architects to automatically provide the identification code to every IBS component from manufacturers, which will then be used by contractors from as early as the building design process starts.
"Generally, this identification code is provided by manufacturers and different from the original identification code used by architects and engineers."
"The information conflict usually occurs when the IBS components identification codes change as soon as the project documents are going through the next development phase," she added.
The IBS SABSystem digital components are also being used in the ‘serious game’ application development for the purpose of technology transfer training and safety for construction workers. This application is another innovation which will be registered as intellectual property in the near future.
The third innovation by Prof. Rahinah is RASPER, that serves to facilitate architects in communicating with customers to come out with the desired design of a building.
"The focus is to design software application that can be used by customers in arranging floor spaces in their homes," she said.
Prof. Rahinah’sresearches and contributions were recognised when she was crowned as the recipient of the National Academic Awards 2013 for Art and Creativity category.
