Value-sensitive construction: Value discovery in building projects

Building projects have a great impact on stakeholder values such as economy, safety, sustainability, urban aesthetics, etc. However, there is neither a formal model for assessing values (what is of worth, merit, utility, or importance to project stakeholders) nor an automated system for measuring how values are impacted by our planning and design decisions. As such, there is a need for a semantic model for values and value measurement. This entails: (1) discovering the values that are significantly impacted by building projects, (2) identifying how to measure the value of buildings to its stakeholders based on those values, (3) integrating such value data with the Building Information Model (BIM) so it becomes part of a dynamic building data/information model throughout the building's life cycle. This paper discusses value discovery and provides a brief overview of a proposed formal, axiological value assessment model and its integration with BIM. The paper also presents a case study about assessing safety values in educational buildings.