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
Hits 1 to 20 of 157
Reformat results as: short short into frame detailed detailed into frame
The presentation will present our experience to-date in using conventional computer graphic tools to represent design ideas and contrast it with a video demonstration of our prototypical dynamic urban design modelling software for the Silicon Graphics IRIS computers.
The "Calor" problem requires the move of a famous residence to a hot arid climate. The residence must then be redesigned in the original architect's style so the building becomes as energy efficient as possible in its new arid environment. The students are required to use as design criteria a new building program, the design philosophy of the original architect, and appropriate passive energy techniques that will reduce the thermal stress on the building. The building's energy response is measured by using an envelope energy analysis program called "Calor".
Much of the learning comes from imposing a new set of restraints on a famous piece of architecture and asking the student to redesign it. The students not only need to learn and use a different design philosophy, but also develop new skills to communicate their ideas on the computer. Both Macintosh and IBM computers are used with software ranging from Microsoft Works, Superpaint, AutoCAD, MegaCAD, Dr Halo, to Calor.
The basic idea is that of top-down design - beginning with a very abstract representation, and elaborating that, in step-by-step fashion, into a complete and detailed representation. The basic operations are real-time parametric variation of designs (using the mouse and slide bar) and substitution of objects. Essentially, then, a knowledge-base in Topdown implements a kind of parametric shape grammar.
The main applications of Topdown are in introductory teaching of CAD, and (since it provides a very quick and easy way for a user to develop detailed geometric models) to provide a uniform front-end for a variety of different applications. The shell, and some example knowledge-bases, are publicly available.
This paper discusses the principles of the Topdown Shell, the implementation of knowledge bases within it, and a variety of practical design applications.
For more results click below: