The house-building industry is increasingly recognizing the importance of information, viewing it as key for driving sustainable construction. This acknowledgment highlights that informed decision-making, based on the effective use of information, can enhance all phases of house-building. Sustainable house-building demands an integration of diverse information, technologies, and standards, necessitating the increased use of information to support decision-making. In response, the industry is focusing more on the capture, management, and storage of information. Despite significant investments in these areas, the full potential of this information is not yet realized due to the lack of and poor use of structured information systems. Furthermore, the information produced is often tailored for specific segments, leading to the creation of information silos that isolate data, making it difficult to collaborate across different stakeholder groups. While the benefits of structured information are widely acknowledged, the integration of structured data and information technologies in house building is impeded by unintuitive and fragmented information management practices. Additionally, many current information systems in the industry still emulate paper-based document structures, continuing the use of unstructured and non-standardized data. To address these challenges, this thesis explores the development of information structures that facilitate reusability across house-building projects and explores the integration of visualization techniques into these development methodologies. By employing cross-case analysis as the scientific method, this study evaluates findings from multiple cases to identify common themes and patterns, thereby enhancing the understanding of the observed phenomena by effectively comparing and contrasting findings from individual case studies.

The findings of this thesis underscores the delicate balance required in information structures to effectively blend standardization with project-specific flexibility. Effective reuse in house-building necessitates an equilibrium between these approaches to achieve both widespread applicability and project-specific relevance. The case studies analyzed illustrate how navigating this balance can enhance communication, foster collaboration, and ensure adherence to established procedures. This balance is crucial because information visualization can falter when skewed too far towards either extreme of this spectrum. Over-standardization can hinder the application to specific project nuances, while excessive customization may complicate data collection and visualization, requiring substantial resources to format and prepare. Therefore, developing reusable information structures depends on achieving a middle ground that is neither overly standardized nor excessively tailored.