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CumInCAD is a Cumulative Index about publications in Computer Aided Architectural Design
supported by the sibling associations ACADIA, CAADRIA, eCAADe, SIGraDi, ASCAAD and CAAD futures

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_id	cf2011_p170
id	cf2011_p170
authors	Barros, Mário; Duarte José, Chaparro Bruno
year	2011
title	Thonet Chairs Design Grammar: a Step Towards the Mass Customization of Furniture
source	Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures 2011 [Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures / ISBN 9782874561429] Liege (Belgium) 4-8 July 2011, pp. 181-200.
summary	The paper presents the first phase of research currently under development that is focused on encoding Thonet design style into a generative design system using a shape grammar. The ultimate goal of the work is the design and production of customizable chairs using computer assisted tools, establishing a feasible practical model of the paradigm of mass customization (Davis, 1987). The current research step encompasses the following three steps: (1) codification of the rules describing Thonet design style into a shape grammar; (2) implementing the grammar into a computer tool as parametric design; and (3) rapid prototyping of customized chair designs within the style. Future phases will address the transformation of the Thonet’s grammar to create a new style and the production of real chair designs in this style using computer aided manufacturing. Beginning in the 1830’s, Austrian furniture designer Michael Thonet began experimenting with forming steam beech, in order to produce lighter furniture using fewer components, when compared with the standards of the time. Using the same construction principles and standardized elements, Thonet produced different chairs designs with a strong formal resemblance, creating his own design language. The kit assembly principle, the reduced number of elements, industrial efficiency, and the modular approach to furniture design as a system of interchangeable elements that may be used to assemble different objects enable him to become a pioneer of mass production (Noblet, 1993). The most paradigmatic example of the described vision of furniture design is the chair No. 14 produced in 1858, composed of six structural elements. Due to its simplicity, lightness, ability to be stored in flat and cubic packaging for individual of collective transportation, respectively, No. 14 became one of the most sold chairs worldwide, and it is still in production nowadays. Iconic examples of mass production are formally studied to provide insights to mass customization studies. The study of the shape grammar for the generation of Thonet chairs aimed to ensure rules that would make possible the reproduction of the selected corpus, as well as allow for the generation of new chairs within the developed grammar. Due to the wide variety of Thonet chairs, six chairs were randomly chosen to infer the grammar and then this was fine tuned by checking whether it could account for the generation of other designs not in the original corpus. Shape grammars (Stiny and Gips, 1972) have been used with sucesss both in the analysis as in the synthesis of designs at different scales, from product design to building and urban design. In particular, the use of shape grammars has been efficient in the characterization of objects’ styles and in the generation of new designs within the analyzed style, and it makes design rules amenable to computers implementation (Duarte, 2005). The literature includes one other example of a grammar for chair design by Knight (1980). In the second step of the current research phase, the outlined shape grammar was implemented into a computer program, to assist the designer in conceiving and producing customized chairs using a digital design process. This implementation was developed in Catia by converting the grammar into an equivalent parametric design model. In the third phase, physical models of existing and new chair designs were produced using rapid prototyping. The paper describes the grammar, its computer implementation as a parametric model, and the rapid prototyping of physical models. The generative potential of the proposed digital process is discussed in the context of enabling the mass customization of furniture. The role of the furniture designer in the new paradigm and ideas for further work also are discussed.
keywords	Thonet; furniture design; chair; digital design process; parametric design; shape grammar
series	CAAD Futures
email	m.barros@ipt.pt
last changed	2012/02/11 18:21

_id	ddss9214
id	ddss9214
authors	Friedman, A.
year	1993
title	A decision-making process for choice of a flexible internal partition option in multi-unit housing using decision theory techniques
source	Timmermans, Harry (Ed.), Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture (Proceedings of a conference held in Mierlo, the Netherlands in July 1992), ISBN 0-7923-2444-7
summary	Recent demographic changes have increased the heterogeneity of user groups in the North American housing market. Smaller households (e.g. elderly, single parent) have non-traditional spatial requirements that cannot be accommodated within the conventional house layout. This has created renewed interest in Demountable/Flexible internal partition systems. However, the process by which designers decide which project or user groups are most suited for the use of these systems is quite often complex, non-linear, uncertain and dynamic, since the decisions involve natural processes and human values that are apparently random. The anonymity of users when mass housing projects are conceptualized, and the uncertainty as to the alternative to be selected by the user, given his/her constantly changing needs, are some contributing factors to this effect. Decision Theory techniques, not commonly used by architects, can facilitate the decision-making process through a systematic evaluation of alternatives by means of quantitative methods in order to reduce uncertainty in probabilistic events or in cases when data is insufficient. The author used Decision Theory in the selection of flexible partition systems. The study involved a multi-unit, privately initiated housing project in Montreal, Canada, where real site conditions and costs were used. In this paper, the author outlines the fundamentals of Decision Theory and demonstrates the use of Expected Monetary Value and Weighted Objective Analysis methods and their outcomes in the design of a Montreal housing project. The study showed that Decision Theory can be used as an effective tool in housing design once the designer knows how to collect basic data.
series	DDSS
last changed	2003/08/07 14:36

_id	c1b6
authors	Ries, R.
year	1999
title	Computational Analysis of the Environmental Impact of Building Designs
source	Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh
summary	Concem for the environmental implications of human activities is becoming increasingly important to society. The concept of current development that does not compromise future generations! abilities to meet their needs is a goal for many communities and individuals (WCED 1987). These concerns require the evaluation and assessment of the potential environmental impact of human activities so that informed choices can be made. Building construction and operation activities are of significant importance in view of a) national and intemational economies, 6) resource consumption, c) human occupancy, and d) environmental impact. For example, in the United States the built environment represents an extensive investment, both as an annual expenditure and as an aggregate investment. In the mid-l980’s, up to 30% of new and remodeled buildings had indoor air quality related complaints. Buildings also consume approximately 35% of the primary energy in the U.S. every year, resulting in the release of 482 million metric tons of carbon in 1993.I Methods developed to assess the environmental impact of buildings and development patterns can and have taken multiple strategies. The most straightforward and simple methods use single factors, such as energy use or the mass of pollutant emissions as indicators of environmental performance. Other methods use categorization and weighting strategies. These gauge the effects of the emissions typically based on research studies and use a weighting or effect formulation to normalize, compare, and group emissions so that a scalar value can be assigned to a single or a set of emissions. These methods do not consider the characteristics of the context where the emissions occur.
series	thesis:MSc
email	rr43@andrew.cmu.edu
last changed	2003/02/12 21:37

_id	0de6
authors	Robertson, G.G., Card, S.K. and Mackinlay, J.D.
year	1993
title	Information visualization using 3D interactive animation
source	Communications of the ACM 36(4): 57-7 1
summary	UI innovations are often driven by a combination of technology advances and application demands. On the technology side, advances in interactive computer graphics hardware, coupled with low-cost mass storage, have created new possibilities for information retrieval systems in which UIs could play a more central role. On the application side, increasing masses of information confronting a business or an individual have created a demand for information management applications. In the 1980s, text-editing forced the shaping of the desktop metaphor and the now standard GUI paradigm. In the 1990s, it is likely that information access will be a primary force in shaping the successor to the desktop metapho. This article presents an experimental system, the Information Visualizer (see figure 1), which explores a UI paradigm that goes beyond the desktop metaphor to exploit the emerging generation of graphical personal computers and to support the emerging application demand to retrieve, store, manipulate, and understand large amounts of infromation. The basic problem is how to utilize advancing graphics technology to lower the cost of finding information and accessing it once found (the information's "cost structure"). We take four broad strategies: making the user's immediate workspace larger, enabling user interaction with multiple agents, increasing the real-time interaction rate between user and system, and using visual abstraction to shift information to the perceptual system to speed information assimilation and retrieval.
series	journal paper
last changed	2003/04/23 13:14

_id	caadria2007_675
id	caadria2007_675
authors	Huang, Joseph Chuen-Huei
year	2007
title	Decision Support System for Modular Houses
source	CAADRIA 2007 [Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia] Nanjing (China) 19-21 April 2007
summary	Presently, only a small percentage of people in the world typically hire an architect to design and build a home which is tailored to their preference. Besides the architect’s fee, clients also need to wait an interminable time for design and construction. Factory-made prefabricated housing systems tried to solve this problem previously. However, most pioneers failed to address the issues of variability and individual needs (Kieran & Timberlake, 2004). Plants closed because they produced more than the market demand, and prefabricated housing provided less flexibility than the traditional stick-built housing. The advanced digital technology makes it possible to communicate design ideas and concepts to others more effectively. The project delivery process leads itself to customization, embodying principles of lean production (Pine, 1993), flexible computer-integrated design interaction with clients, and reduced cycle times; all effecting rapid response between consumers and producers.
series	CAADRIA
email	huanchu1@iit.edu
last changed	2008/06/16 08:48

_id	21b5
authors	Müller, Volker
year	1993
title	Introducing CAD to a Big Corporation
source	CAAD Futures ‘93 [Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-444-89922-7] (Pittsburgh / USA), 1993, pp. 497-512
summary	The report presents the ongoing activity of introducing CAD to the entire range of facilities planning and management of the Frankfurt Airport Corporation. It addresses issues of organizing the shift from conventional to computer supported planning and facilities management,- the problems of training professionals with various background in the use of new tools; aspects of data validity; regulation of data exchange; and customization of software to the needs of special tasks within the corporation. The report is based on about four years of project runtime. The preparation of the project started in fall 1988. The project proper started in June 1989. It is entering its last year. Up to now about 120 persons have been trained to use CAD.
keywords	CAD Introduction, Corporation Setting, Adult Education, Data Integrity, Data Security, Data Exchange, Linkage Between Geometric and Alphanumeric Data, Customized Systems
series	CAAD Futures
email	vmueller@nbbj.com
last changed	2003/05/16 18:58

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