Architectural design of hi-tech industries—analysis and design recommendations

The encounter between the architect and the hi-tech industry occurs when the architect is asked to design a structure for the plant. Communication between the architect and the client is based on an architectural program, that defines the functional requirements (sometimes mentioning required areas and contexts) and esthetic requirements from the structure. But these programmatic requirements are not always clear enough neither to the client nor to the architect. The innovation of hi-tech industry, its deployment over various sectors and the fact that it requires integration of infrastructure and complex technical systems—create a difficulty in defining planning objectives. In addition, since the literature concerned with architectural planning of hi-tech industries, which has been surveyed, is particular and lacks comprehensive planning recommendations, and since these plants have specific requirements—there is significance in research that will fill the gap. This article describes a research carried out in Israel, defining the particular architectural requirements for hi-tech plants in general, and as a function of plant characteristics in particular (1). For this purpose, 23 hi-tech plants from various sectors have been sampled, their architectural plans analyzed, data on them collected and their architectural programs examined. A statistical processing of the data constituted a basis for formulating architectural recommendations presented here. The architectural recommendations refer to structure; appearance; accessibility inside the structure and to it; services for workers built in the structure; structural flexibility and erection of an extension to the plant in a distant place. The importance of four of these parameters (appearance, accessibility, and services for workers and structural flexibility) was made clear. The parameters have different expression as a function of various factors, such as structure ownership, firm size and plant sector.