Multidisciplinary Design Coordination as a Driver of Building Resilience in Complex Saudi Projects

Abstract

Building resilience is frequently discussed as a property of structure, envelope, mechanical systems, emergency power or digital controls. In practice, however, the building succeeds or fails through their interaction. A compliant component can still contribute to service loss when design assumptions conflict, interfaces remain unresolved, information is inconsistent, substitutions change downstream loads, or operators cannot use the intended recovery mode. Building information modelling can expose geometry and improve information exchange, but a federated model does not by itself establish performance, decision authority or commissioning evidence. This paper asks how multidisciplinary design coordination can be structured so that resilience requirements remain traceable across architecture, structure, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire and life safety, information and communications technology, controls, site works, construction and operations in complex Saudi projects. A purposive integrative review combines peer-reviewed research, ISO information-management standards, commissioning guidance, Saudi building regulation and current national climate sources. The synthesis produces the Resilience-Integrated Design Coordination (RIDC) framework: seven interface families organized through a six-cycle workflow from owner brief to commissioning feedback. RIDC adds service consequence, operating mode, interface ownership and verification evidence to ordinary coordination practice. It proposes role accountabilities, design-gate releases, Saudi climate tailoring and process indicators that distinguish issue closure from actual performance assurance. The framework is conceptual; it reports no survey, simulation or project result and requires empirical testing. Its contribution is to show that coordination becomes a driver of resilience when it manages not only clashes and document exchanges, but also the assumptions, decisions and cross-system behaviors on which safety, habitability, continuity and recovery depend.