The ideal open building system is a vision that the building industry should aim at. It means a system that

combines the industrial efficiency with the traditional flexibility. Such a system would mean individual designs,

built up with different elements that could be bought from any producer around the world, connected to each

other with connections from different producers. Even more challenging would be to have components that are

flexible, compatible with each other and interchangeable at a later date.

In order for manufacturers of different components to be able to sell their products to a large number of

contractors; flexible, integrated connections are needed, that also are very easy to use during assembly and are

cheap and effective to produce. To make this possible it is necessary to find a way to communicate connection

features and requirements in an easy manner.

The aim of this paper is to show two strategies, i.e. design-based strategy and function-based strategy, analyse

them and to produce guidelines on further development of such strategies. The question is which strategy is best

suited to be used when working with open building systems.

The final output is the idea of the standardisation of information; the Part Request Form with which the

performance of connections in term of specifications could be communicated so that it is understandable for

everyone, from the system owner to the manufacturer of connections.