ABSTRACT
Tacit knowledge is generally understood to be that which is embedded in cultural practices—it is knowledge that is difficult for individuals to articulate, because we carry it around in the back of our heads; it is not formally codified in the modern sense. Tacit codes are similar, but should be understood as a subset of tacit knowledge. Tacit building codes are, then, a third-order subset—they are the “rules, procedures, and habits” that discipline how we build, or what Davis refers to as our “building culture.” 1 Although tacit codes of all kinds may be unspoken, they still “frame” acceptable behavior, as we discussed that concept in the previous chapter, and thus regulate what we can and can’t do in predictable ways.
