In the early 1980's the Federal Secretary of Construction as well as individual states conducted several studies on how to optimize construction costs. The studies concluded that collaboration between architects and engineers in early stages of project development played a crucial role. The architect's original building plans must include the structural optimization of the construction. The following mentions two examples concerning cost efficient construction. They are related to the single family house and general housing:

· reduction of wall thicknesses to the optimum structural and static limit.

Advantage: Possible floor space gain of up to 8%.

· use of adhesive brick-work with the possibility for thin plaster in place of normal plaster strengths.

Advantage: Large loads possible with slim walls at half the cost of normal plaster