Why do different teams of designers and subcontractors link and share their models during the design process?
Linking models facilitates collaboration between designers and subcontractors, as they are able to receive and provide steady feedback. If only a final design were shared, subcontractors could have several inputs based on costs or timelines, which would result in designers having to completely overhaul their design if too much is being changed. This ultimately results in extra, unnecessary work for designers. Some disadvantages could include designers and subcontractors making edits without the other party knowing, which would be extremely unprofessional and problematic, and would ultimately result in things having to be changed last minute if they are noticed or things being unknowingly added to projects.
What strategies can design teams use to find and avoid clashes prior to the start of construction?
Besides sharing models digitally, preliminary models, rough sketches, and plenty of brainstorming can be used. By keeping up with these different things prior to construction, the whole design team would be on the same page and not have to make any excessive changes at the last minute.
At what point in the project development process should design coordination start?
While it is never too early to start design coordination, a solid point to start design coordination in my opinion would be after the initial designs are generally created. This could include things such such as a rough sketch, simple model, or a bundle of ideas, but allows for each person in the design group to bring something to the table once design coordination starts. Once design coordination starts, people are more likely to follow similar ideas, but having different ideas from the start and converging from there would be the best point in project development to start design coordination.