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_id	7ce5
authors	Gal, Shahaf
year	1992
title	Computers and Design Activities: Their Mediating Role in Engineering Education
source	Sociomedia, ed. Edward Barret. MIT Press
summary	Sociomedia: With all the new words used to describe electronic communication (multimedia, hypertext, cyberspace, etc.), do we need another one? Edward Barrett thinks we do; hence, he coins the term "sociomedia." It is meant to displace a computing economy in which technicity is hypostasized over sociality. Sociomedia, a compilation of twenty-five articles on the theory, design and practice of educational multimedia and hypermedia, attempts to re-value the communicational face of computing. Value, of course, is "ultimately a social construct." As such, it has everything to do with knowledge, power, education and technology. The projects discussed in this book represent the leading edge of electronic knowledge production in academia (not to mention major funding) and are determining the future of educational media. For these reasons, Sociomedia warrants close inspection. Barrett's introduction sets the tone. For him, designing computer media involves hardwiring a mechanism for the social construction of knowledge (1). He links computing to a process of social and communicative interactivity for constructing and desseminating knowledge. Through a mechanistic mapping of the university as hypercontext (a huge network that includes classrooms as well as services and offices), Barrett models intellectual work in such a way as to avoid "limiting definitions of human nature or human development." Education, then, can remain "where it should be--in the human domain (public and private) of sharing ideas and information through the medium of language." By leaving education in a virtual realm (where we can continue to disagree about its meaning and execution), it remains viral, mutating and contaminating in an intellectually healthy way. He concludes that his mechanistic model, by means of its reductionist approach, preserves value (7). This "value" is the social construction of knowledge. While I support the social orientation of Barrett's argument, discussions of value are related to power. I am not referring to the traditional teacher-student power structure that is supposedly dismantled through cooperative and constructivist learning strategies. The power to be reckoned with in the educational arena is foundational, that which (pre)determines value and the circulation of knowledge. "Since each of you reading this paragraph has a different perspective on the meaning of 'education' or 'learning,' and on the processes involved in 'getting an education,' think of the hybris in trying to capture education in a programmable function, in a displayable object, in a 'teaching machine'" (7). Actually, we must think about that hybris because it is, precisely, what informs teaching machines. Moreover, the basic epistemological premises that give rise to such productions are too often assumed. In the case of instructional design, the episteme of cognitive sciences are often taken for granted. It is ironic that many of the "postmodernists" who support electronic hypertextuality seem to have missed Jacques Derrida's and Michel Foucault's "deconstructions" of the epistemology underpinning cognitive sciences (if not of epistemology itself). Perhaps it is the glitz of the technology that blinds some users (qua developers) to the belief systems operating beneath the surface. Barrett is not guilty of reactionary thinking or politics; he is, in fact, quite in line with much American deconstructive and postmodern thinking. The problem arises in that he leaves open the definitions of "education," "learning" and "getting an education." One cannot engage in the production of new knowledge without orienting its design, production and dissemination, and without negotiating with others' orientations, especially where largescale funding is involved. Notions of human nature and development are structural, even infrastructural, whatever the medium of the teaching machine. Although he addresses some dynamics of power, money and politics when he talks about the recession and its effects on the conference, they are readily visible dynamics of power (3-4). Where does the critical factor of value determination, of power, of who gets what and why, get mapped onto a mechanistic model of learning institutions? Perhaps a mapping of contributors' institutions, of the funding sources for the projects showcased and for participation in the conference, and of the disciplines receiving funding for these sorts of projects would help visualize the configurations of power operative in the rising field of educational multimedia. Questions of power and money notwithstanding, Barrett's introduction sets the social and textual thematics for the collection of essays. His stress on interactivity, on communal knowledge production, on the society of texts, and on media producers and users is carried foward through the other essays, two of which I will discuss. Section I of the book, "Perspectives...," highlights the foundations, uses and possible consequences of multimedia and hypertextuality. The second essay in this section, "Is There a Class in This Text?," plays on the robust exchange surrounding Stanley Fish's book, Is There a Text in This Class?, which presents an attack on authority in reading. The author, John Slatin, has introduced electronic hypertextuality and interaction into his courses. His article maps the transformations in "the content and nature of work, and the workplace itself"-- which, in this case, is not industry but an English poetry class (25). Slatin discovered an increase of productive and cooperative learning in his electronically- mediated classroom. For him, creating knowledge in the electronic classroom involves interaction between students, instructors and course materials through the medium of interactive written discourse. These interactions lead to a new and persistent understanding of the course materials and of the participants' relation to the materials and to one another. The work of the course is to build relationships that, in my view, constitute not only the meaning of individual poems, but poetry itself. The class carries out its work in the continual and usually interactive production of text (31). While I applaud his strategies which dismantle traditional hierarchical structures in academia, the evidence does not convince me that the students know enough to ask important questions or to form a self-directing, learning community. Stanley Fish has not relinquished professing, though he, too, espouses the indeterminancy of the sign. By the fourth week of his course, Slatin's input is, by his own reckoning, reduced to 4% (39). In the transcript of the "controversial" Week 6 exchange on Gertrude Stein--the most disliked poet they were discussing at the time (40)--we see the blind leading the blind. One student parodies Stein for three lines and sums up his input with "I like it." Another, finds Stein's poetry "almost completey [sic] lacking in emotion or any artistic merit" (emphasis added). On what grounds has this student become an arbiter of "artistic merit"? Another student, after admitting being "lost" during the Wallace Steven discussion, talks of having more "respect for Stevens' work than Stein's" and adds that Stein's poetry lacks "conceptual significance[, s]omething which people of varied opinion can intelligently discuss without feeling like total dimwits...." This student has progressed from admitted incomprehension of Stevens' work to imposing her (groundless) respect for his work over Stein's. Then, she exposes her real dislike for Stein's poetry: that she (the student) missed the "conceptual significance" and hence cannot, being a person "of varied opinion," intelligently discuss it "without feeling like [a] total dimwit." Slatin's comment is frightening: "...by this point in the semester students have come to feel increasingly free to challenge the instructor" (41). The students that I have cited are neither thinking critically nor are their preconceptions challenged by student-governed interaction. Thanks to the class format, one student feels self-righteous in her ignorance, and empowered to censure. I believe strongly in student empowerment in the classroom, but only once students have accrued enough knowledge to make informed judgments. Admittedly, Slatin's essay presents only partial data (there are six hundred pages of course transcripts!); still, I wonder how much valuable knowledge and metaknowledge was gained by the students. I also question the extent to which authority and professorial dictature were addressed in this course format. The power structures that make it possible for a college to require such a course, and the choice of texts and pedagogy, were not "on the table." The traditional professorial position may have been displaced, but what took its place?--the authority of consensus with its unidentifiable strong arm, and the faceless reign of software design? Despite Slatin's claim that the students learned about the learning process, there is no evidence (in the article) that the students considered where their attitudes came from, how consensus operates in the construction of knowledge, how power is established and what relationship they have to bureaucratic insitutions. How do we, as teaching professionals, negotiate a balance between an enlightened despotism in education and student-created knowledge? Slatin, and other authors in this book, bring this fundamental question to the fore. There is no definitive answer because the factors involved are ultimately social, and hence, always shifting and reconfiguring. Slatin ends his article with the caveat that computerization can bring about greater estrangement between students, faculty and administration through greater regimentation and control. Of course, it can also "distribute authority and power more widely" (50). Power or authority without a specific face, however, is not necessarily good or just. Shahaf Gal's "Computers and Design Activities: Their Mediating Role in Engineering Education" is found in the second half of the volume, and does not allow for a theory/praxis dichotomy. Gal recounts a brief history of engineering education up to the introduction of Growltiger (GT), a computer-assisted learning aid for design. He demonstrates GT's potential to impact the learning of engineering design by tracking its use by four students in a bridge-building contest. What his text demonstrates clearly is that computers are "inscribing and imaging devices" that add another viewpoint to an on-going dialogue between student, teacher, earlier coursework, and other teaching/learning tools. The less proficient students made a serious error by relying too heavily on the technology, or treating it as a "blueprint provider." They "interacted with GT in a way that trusted the data to represent reality. They did not see their interaction with GT as a negotiation between two knowledge systems" (495). Students who were more thoroughly informed in engineering discourses knew to use the technology as one voice among others--they knew enough not simply to accept the input of the computer as authoritative. The less-advanced students learned a valuable lesson from the competition itself: the fact that their designs were not able to hold up under pressure (literally) brought the fact of their insufficient knowledge crashing down on them (and their bridges). They also had, post factum, several other designs to study, especially the winning one. Although competition and comparison are not good pedagogical strategies for everyone (in this case the competitors had volunteered), at some point what we think we know has to be challenged within the society of discourses to which it belongs. Students need critique in order to learn to push their learning into auto-critique. This is what is lacking in Slatin's discussion and in the writings of other avatars of constructivist, collaborative and computer-mediated pedagogies. Obviously there are differences between instrumental types of knowledge acquisition and discoursive knowledge accumulation. Indeed, I do not promote the teaching of reading, thinking and writing as "skills" per se (then again, Gal's teaching of design is quite discursive, if not dialogic). Nevertheless, the "soft" sciences might benefit from "bridge-building" competitions or the re-institution of some forms of agonia. Not everything agonistic is inhuman agony--the joy of confronting or creating a sound argument supported by defensible evidence, for example. Students need to know that soundbites are not sound arguments despite predictions that electronic writing will be aphoristic rather than periodic. Just because writing and learning can be conceived of hypertextually does not mean that rigor goes the way of the dinosaur. Rigor and hypertextuality are not mutually incompatible. Nor is rigorous thinking and hard intellectual work unpleasurable, although American anti-intellectualism, especially in the mass media, would make it so. At a time when the spurious dogmatics of a Rush Limbaugh and Holocaust revisionist historians circulate "aphoristically" in cyberspace, and at a time when knowledge is becoming increasingly textualized, the role of critical thinking in education will ultimately determine the value(s) of socially constructed knowledge. This volume affords the reader an opportunity to reconsider knowledge, power, and new communications technologies with respect to social dynamics and power relationships.
series	other
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	cbed
authors	Yakubu, G.S.
year	1994
title	Maximising the Benefits of CAD Systems in Architectural Education
source	The Virtual Studio [Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design / ISBN 0-9523687-0-6] Glasgow (Scotland) 7-10 September 1994, p. 228
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1994.x.u8n
summary	The positive impact of Computer Aided Design (CAD) in professional architectural practice has been in focus in recent times but relatively little has been written on its significance in the education of the contemporary architect. It is common knowledge that the profession of architecture is currently undergoing enormous strains as it battles to keep abreast of trends and developments in a period of series of rapid advancement in science, technology and management (RIBA, 1992). Whilst attempts are being made to redress the shortcomings of the profession in the above context, the requirements for architectural education are yet to forge a coherent strategy for the implementation of CAD/IT in the curriculum of schools of architecture. In almost every other field, including engineering, medicine and the humanities, computing application to problem-solving and decision-making is seen as a way forward as we move into 21st century. Architectural education must integrate CAD/IT into the teaching of core modules that give the architect distinctive competence: studio design. That is one of the best ways of doing justice to the education of the architect of today and the future. Some approaches to the teaching of CAD in schools of architecture have been touched upon in the recent past. Building upon this background as well as an understanding of the nature of design teaching/learning, this paper examines ways of maximising the benefits of CAD systems in architectural education and of bringing computer aided designing into the studio not only to enhance design thinking and creativity but also to support interactive processes. In order to maximise or optimise any function, one approach is to use the hard systems methodology which utilises analytic, analogic and iconic models to show the effect of those factors which are significant for the purposes being considered. The other approach is to use the soft systems methodology in which the analysis encompasses the concept of a human activity system as a means of improving a situation. The use of soft systems methodology is considered more appropriate for dealing with the problem of design which is characterised by a flux of interacting events and ideas that unroll through time. The paper concludes that the main impediment to maximising the benefits of CAD systems in architectural education is not only the inappropriate definition of the objectives for the implementation of CAD education but also that the control subsystems are usually ill-structured and relatively poorly defined. Schools must attempt to define a coherent and consistent policy on the use of CAD systems as an integral part of studio design and evolve an in-house strategic and operational controls that enable the set objectives to be met. Furthermore, it is necessary to support the high level of productivity from CAD systems with a more efficient management system, especially in dealing with communication, data sharing via relational database, co-ordination and integration. Finally, the use of soft systems methodology is recommended as the way forward to optimising CAD systems in design education as it would provide continuous improvements while maintaining their productive value.
series	eCAADe
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

_id	cef3
authors	Bridges, Alan H.
year	1992
title	Computing and Problem Based Learning at Delft University of Technology Faculty of Architecture
source	CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 289-294
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.289
summary	Delft University of Technology, founded in 1842, is the oldest and largest technical university in the Netherlands. It provides education for more than 13,000 students in fifteen main subject areas. The Faculty of Architecture, Housing, Urban Design and Planning is one of the largest faculties of the DUT with some 2000 students and over 500 staff members. The course of study takes four academic years: a first year (Propaedeuse) and a further three years (Doctoraal) leading to the "ingenieur" qualification. The basic course material is delivered in the first two years and is taken by all students. The third and fourth years consist of a smaller number of compulsory subjects in each of the department's specialist areas together with a wide range of option choices. The five main subject areas the students may choose from for their specialisation are Architecture, Building and Project Management, Building Technology, Urban Design and Planning, and Housing. The curriculum of the Faculty has been radically revised over the last two years and is now based on the concept of "Problem-Based Learning". The subject matter taught is divided thematically into specific issues that are taught in six week blocks. The vehicles for these blocks are specially selected and adapted case studies prepared by teams of staff members. These provide a focus for integrating specialist subjects around a studio based design theme. In the case of second year this studio is largely computer-based: many drawings are produced by computer and several specially written computer applications are used in association with the specialist inputs. This paper describes the "block structure" used in second year, giving examples of the special computer programs used, but also raises a number of broader educational issues. Introduction of the block system arose as a method of curriculum integration in response to difficulties emerging from the independent functioning of strong discipline areas in the traditional work groups. The need for a greater level of selfdirected learning was recognised as opposed to the "passive information model" of student learning in which the students are seen as empty vessels to be filled with knowledge - which they are then usually unable to apply in design related contexts in the studio. Furthermore, the value of electives had been questioned: whilst enabling some diversity of choice, they may also be seen as diverting attention and resources from the real problems of teaching architecture.
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	b4c4
authors	Carrara, G., Fioravanti, A. and Novembri, G.
year	2000
title	A framework for an Architectural Collaborative Design
source	Promise and Reality: State of the Art versus State of Practice in Computing for the Design and Planning Process [18th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-6-5] Weimar (Germany) 22-24 June 2000, pp. 57-60
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2000.057
summary	The building industry involves a larger number of disciplines, operators and professionals than other industrial processes. Its peculiarity is that the products (building objects) have a number of parts (building elements) that does not differ much from the number of classes into which building objects can be conceptually subdivided. Another important characteristic is that the building industry produces unique products (de Vries and van Zutphen, 1992). This is not an isolated situation but indeed one that is spreading also in other industrial fields. For example, production niches have proved successful in the automotive and computer industries (Carrara, Fioravanti, & Novembri, 1989). Building design is a complex multi-disciplinary process, which demands a high degree of co-ordination and co-operation among separate teams, each having its own specific knowledge and its own set of specific design tools. Establishing an environment for design tool integration is a prerequisite for network-based distributed work. It was attempted to solve the problem of efficient, user-friendly, and fast information exchange among operators by treating it simply as an exchange of data. But the failure of IGES, CGM, PHIGS confirms that data have different meanings and importance in different contexts. The STandard for Exchange of Product data, ISO 10303 Part 106 BCCM, relating to AEC field (Wix, 1997), seems to be too complex to be applied to professional studios. Moreover its structure is too deep and the conceptual classifications based on it do not allow multi-inheritance (Ekholm, 1996). From now on we shall adopt the BCCM semantic that defines the actor as "a functional participant in building construction"; and we shall define designer as "every member of the class formed by designers" (architects, engineers, town-planners, construction managers, etc.).
keywords	Architectural Design Process, Collaborative Design, Knowledge Engineering, Dynamic Object Oriented Programming
series	eCAADe
email
more	http://www.uni-weimar.de/ecaade/
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	6e99
authors	Hoffer, Erin Rae
year	1992
title	Creating the Electronic Design Studio: Development of a Heterogeneous Networked Environment at Harvard's Graduate School of Design
source	CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 225-240
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.225
summary	The migration of design education to reliance on computer-based techniques requires new ways of thinking about environments which can effectively support a diverse set of activities. Both from a spatial standpoint and a computing resource standpoint, design studios must be inevitably reconfigured to support new tools and reflect new ways of communicating. At Harvard's GSD, a commitment to incorporating computer literacy as a fundamental component of design education enables us to confront these issues through the implementation of a heterogeneous network imbedded in an electronic design environment. This evolving prototype of a new design studio, its development and its potential, will be the subject of this paper. A new style design environment is built upon an understanding of traditional techniques, and layered with an awareness of new tools and methods. Initially we borrow from existing metaphors which govern our interpretation of the way designers work. Next we seek to extend our thinking to include allied or related metaphors such as the library metaphor which informs collections of software and data, or the laboratory metaphor which informs workspace groupings, or the transportation metaphor which informs computer-based communications such as electronic mail or bulletin boards, or the utility services metaphor which informs the provision of network services and equipment. Our evaluation of this environment is based on direct feedback from its users, both faculty and students, and on subjective observation of the qualitative changes in communication which occur between and among these groups and individuals. Ultimately, the network must be judged as a framework for learning and evaluation, and its success depends both on its ability to absorb our existing metaphors for the process of design, and to prefigure the emerging metaphors to be envisioned in the future.
series	eCAADe
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

_id	4b2a
id	4b2a
authors	Jabi, Wassim
year	2004
title	A FRAMEWORK FOR COMPUTER-SUPPORTED COLLABORATION IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
source	University of Michigan
summary	The development of appropriate research frameworks and guidelines for the construction of software aids in the area of architectural design can lead to a better understanding of designing and computer support for designing (Gero and Maher 1997). The field of research and development in computer-supported collaborative architectural design reflects that of the early period in the development of the field of computersupported cooperative work (CSCW). In the early 1990s, the field of CSCW relied on unsystematic attempts to generate software that increases the productivity of people working together (Robinson 1992). Furthermore, a shift is taking place by which researchers in the field of architecture are increasingly becoming consumers of rather than innovators of technology (Gero and Maher . In particular, the field of architecture is rapidly becoming dependent on commercial software implementations that are slow to respond to new research or to user demands. Additionally, these commercial systems force a particular view of the domain they serve and as such might hinder rather than help its development. The aim of this dissertation is to provide information to architects and others to help them build their own tools or, at a minimum, be critical of commercial solutions.
series	thesis:PhD
type	normal paper
email
last changed	2004/10/24 22:35

_id	ed78
authors	Jog, Bharati
year	1993
title	Integration of Computer Applications in the Practice of Architecture
source	Education and Practice: The Critical Interface [ACADIA Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-02-0] Texas (Texas / USA) 1993, pp. 89-97
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1993.089
summary	Computer Applications in Architecture is emerging as an important aspect of our profession. The field, which is often referred to as Computer-Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) has had a notable impact on the profession and academia in recent years. A few professionals have predicted that as slide rules were replaced by calculators, in the coming years drafting boards and parallel bars will be replaced by computers. On the other hand, many architects do not anticipate such a drastic change in the coming decade as present CAD systems are supporting only a few integral aspects of architectural design. However, all agree that architecture curricula should be modified to integrate CAAD education. In 1992-93, in the Department of Architecture of the 'School of Architecture and interior Design' at the University of Cincinnati, a curriculum committee was formed to review and modify the entire architecture curriculum. Since our profession and academia relate directly to each other, the author felt that while revising the curriculum, the committee should have factual information about CAD usage in the industry. Three ways to obtain such information were thought of, namely (1) conducting person to person or telephone interviews with the practitioners (2) requesting firms to give open- ended feed back and (3) surveying firms by sending a questionnaire. Of these three, the most effective, efficient and suitable method to obtain such information was an organized survey through a questionnaire. In mid December 1992, a survey was organized which was sponsored by the School of Architecture and Interior Design, the Center for the Study of the Practice of Architecture (CSPA) and the University Division of Professional Practice, all from the University of Cincinnati. This chapter focuses on the results of this survey. A brief description of the survey design is also given. In the next section a few surveys organized in recent years are listed. In the third section the design of this survey is presented. The survey questions and their responses are given in the fourth section. The last section presents the conclusions and brief recommendations regarding computer curriculum in architecture.
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:52

_id	caadria2004_k-1
id	caadria2004_k-1
authors	Kalay, Yehuda E.
year	2004
title	CONTEXTUALIZATION AND EMBODIMENT IN CYBERSPACE
source	CAADRIA 2004 [Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia / ISBN 89-7141-648-3] Seoul Korea 28-30 April 2004, pp. 5-14
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.2004.005
summary	The introduction of VRML (Virtual Reality Markup Language) in 1994, and other similar web-enabled dynamic modeling software (such as SGI’s Open Inventor and WebSpace), have created a rush to develop on-line 3D virtual environments, with purposes ranging from art, to entertainment, to shopping, to culture and education. Some developers took their cues from the science fiction literature of Gibson (1984), Stephenson (1992), and others. Many were web-extensions to single-player video games. But most were created as a direct extension to our new-found ability to digitally model 3D spaces and to endow them with interactive control and pseudo-inhabitation. Surprisingly, this technologically-driven stampede paid little attention to the core principles of place-making and presence, derived from architecture and cognitive science, respectively: two principles that could and should inform the essence of the virtual place experience and help steer its development. Why are the principles of place-making and presence important for the development of virtual environments? Why not simply be content with our ability to create realistically-looking 3D worlds that we can visit remotely? What could we possibly learn about making these worlds better, had we understood the essence of place and presence? To answer these questions we cannot look at place-making (both physical and virtual) from a 3D space-making point of view alone, because places are not an end unto themselves. Rather, places must be considered a locus of contextualization and embodiment that ground human activities and give them meaning. In doing so, places acquire a meaning of their own, which facilitates, improves, and enriches many aspects of our lives. They provide us with a means to interpret the activities of others and to direct our own actions. Such meaning is comprised of the social and cultural conceptions and behaviors imprinted on the environment by the presence and activities of its inhabitants, who in turn, ‘read’ by them through their own corporeal embodiment of the same environment. This transactional relationship between the physical aspects of an environment, its social/cultural context, and our own embodiment of it, combine to create what is known as a sense of place: the psychological, physical, social, and cultural framework that helps us interpret the world around us, and directs our own behavior in it. In turn, it is our own (as well as others’) presence in that environment that gives it meaning, and shapes its social/cultural character. By understanding the essence of place-ness in general, and in cyberspace in particular, we can create virtual places that can better support Internet-based activities, and make them equal to, in some cases even better than their physical counterparts. One of the activities that stands to benefit most from understanding the concept of cyber-places is learning—an interpersonal activity that requires the co-presence of others (a teacher and/or fellow learners), who can point out the difference between what matters and what does not, and produce an emotional involvement that helps students learn. Thus, while many administrators and educators rush to develop webbased remote learning sites, to leverage the economic advantages of one-tomany learning modalities, these sites deprive learners of the contextualization and embodiment inherent in brick-and-mortar learning institutions, and which are needed to support the activity of learning. Can these qualities be achieved in virtual learning environments? If so, how? These are some of the questions this talk will try to answer by presenting a virtual place-making methodology and its experimental implementation, intended to create a sense of place through contextualization and embodiment in virtual learning environments.
series	CAADRIA
type	normal paper
last changed	2022/06/07 07:52

_id	ddss9208
id	ddss9208
authors	Lucardie, G.L.
year	1993
title	A functional approach to realizing decision support systems in technical regulation management for design and construction
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	Technical building standards defining the quality of buildings, building products, building materials and building processes aim to provide acceptable levels of safety, health, usefulness and energy consumption. However, the logical consistency between these goals and the set of regulations produced to achieve them is often hard to identify. Not only the large quantities of highly complex and frequently changing building regulations to be met, but also the variety of user demands and the steadily increasing technical information on (new) materials, products and buildings have produced a very complex set of knowledge and data that should be taken into account when handling technical building regulations. Integrating knowledge technology and database technology is an important step towards managing the complexity of technical regulations. Generally, two strategies can be followed to integrate knowledge and database technology. The main emphasis of the first strategy is on transferring data structures and processing techniques from one field of research to another. The second approach is concerned exclusively with the semantic structure of what is contained in the data-based or knowledge-based system. The aim of this paper is to show that the second or knowledge-level approach, in particular the theory of functional classifications, is more fundamental and more fruitful. It permits a goal-directed rationalized strategy towards analysis, use and application of regulations. Therefore, it enables the reconstruction of (deep) models of regulations, objects and of users accounting for the flexibility and dynamics that are responsible for the complexity of technical regulations. Finally, at the systems level, the theory supports an effective development of a new class of rational Decision Support Systems (DSS), which should reduce the complexity of technical regulations and restore the logical consistency between the goals of technical regulations and the technical regulations themselves.
series	DDSS
last changed	2003/08/07 16:36

_id	e8f0
authors	Mackey, David L.
year	1992
title	Mission Possible: Computer Aided Design for Everyone
source	Mission - Method - Madness [ACADIA Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-01-2] 1992, pp. 65-73
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1992.065
summary	A pragmatic model for the building of an electronic architectural design curriculum which will offer students and faculty the opportunity to fully integrate information age technologies into the educational experience is becoming increasingly desirable. The majority of architectural programs teach technology topics through content specific courses which appear as an educational sequence within the curriculum. These technology topics have traditionally included structural design, environmental systems, and construction materials and methods. Likewise, that course model has been broadly applied to the teaching of computer aided design, which is identified as a technology topic. Computer technology has resulted in a proliferation of courses which similarly introduce the student to computer graphic and design systems through a traditional course structure. Inevitably, competition for priority arises within the curriculum, introducing the potential risk that otherwise valuable courses and/or course content will be replaced by the "'newer" technology, and providing fertile ground for faculty and administrative resistance to computerization as traditional courses are pushed aside or seem threatened. An alternative view is that computer technology is not a "topic", but rather the medium for creating a design (and studio) environment for informed decision making.... deciding what it is we should build. Such a viewpoint urges the development of a curricular structure, through which the impact of computer technology may be understood as that medium for design decision making, as the initial step in addressing the current and future needs of architectural education. One example of such a program currently in place at the College of Architecture and Planning, Ball State University takes an approach which overlays, like a transparent tissue, the computer aided design content (or a computer emphasis) onto the primary curriculum. With the exception of a general introductory course at the freshman level, computer instruction and content issues may be addressed effectively within existing studio courses. The level of operational and conceptual proficiency achieved by the student, within an electronic design studio, makes the electronic design environment selfsustaining and maintainable across the entire curriculum. The ability to broadly apply computer aided design to the educational experience can be independent of the availability of many specialized computer aided design faculty.
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:59

_id	cb5a
authors	Oxman, Rivka E.
year	1992
title	Multiple Operative and Interactive Modes in Knowledge-Based Design Systems
source	New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1992. pp. 125-143 : ill. includes bibliography
summary	A conceptual basis for the development of an expert system which is capable of integrating various modes of generation and evaluation in design is presented. This approach is based upon two sets of reasoning processes in the design system. The first enables a mapping between design requirements and solution descriptions in a generative mode of design; and the second enables a mapping between solution descriptions and performance evaluation in an evaluative and predictive mode. This concept supports a formal framework necessary for a knowledge-based design system to operate in a design partnership relation with the designer. Another fundamental concept in expert systems for design, dual direction interpretation between graphic and textual modes, is presented and elaborated. This encoding of knowledge behind the geometrical representation can be achieved in knowledge- based design systems by the development of a 'semantic interpreter' which supports a dual direction mapping process employing a geometrical knowledge, typological knowledge and evaluative knowledge. An implemented expert system for design, PREDIKT, demonstrates these concepts in the domain of kitchen design. It provides the user with a choice of alternative modes of interaction, such as: a 'design critic' for the evaluation of a design, a 'design generator' for the generation of a design, or a 'design critic-generator' for the completion of partial solutions
keywords	architecture, knowledge base, design, systems, expert systems
series	CADline
email
last changed	2003/06/02 10:24

_id	c5e8
authors	Rahman, Shama
year	1992
title	Architectural Education to Suit Computers - Or: Computers to Suit Architectural Education?
source	CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 379-386
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.379
summary	Do the thinking processes which generate architectural design contrast so sharply with the thinking processes generated by the computer that a question like this is asked ? Or is it because computer- integrated education is still missing from the agenda for architectural education that a question like this is rarely asked?
series	eCAADe
last changed	2022/06/07 08:00

_id	avocaad_2001_17
id	avocaad_2001_17
authors	Ying-Hsiu Huang, Yu-Tung Liu, Cheng-Yuan Lin, Yi-Ting Cheng, Yu-Chen Chiu
year	2001
title	The comparison of animation, virtual reality, and scenario scripting in design process
source	AVOCAAD - ADDED VALUE OF COMPUTER AIDED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Nys Koenraad, Provoost Tom, Verbeke Johan, Verleye Johan (Eds.), (2001) Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst - Departement Architectuur Sint-Lucas, Campus Brussel, ISBN 80-76101-05-1
summary	Design media is a fundamental tool, which can incubate concrete ideas from ambiguous concepts. Evolved from freehand sketches, physical models to computerized drafting, modeling (Dave, 2000), animations (Woo, et al., 1999), and virtual reality (Chiu, 1999; Klercker, 1999; Emdanat, 1999), different media are used to communicate to designers or users with different conceptual levels¡@during the design process. Extensively employed in design process, physical models help designers in managing forms and spaces more precisely and more freely (Millon, 1994; Liu, 1996).Computerized drafting, models, animations, and VR have gradually replaced conventional media, freehand sketches and physical models. Diversely used in the design process, computerized media allow designers to handle more divergent levels of space than conventional media do. The rapid emergence of computers in design process has ushered in efforts to the visual impact of this media, particularly (Rahman, 1992). He also emphasized the use of computerized media: modeling and animations. Moreover, based on Rahman's study, Bai and Liu (1998) applied a new design media¡Xvirtual reality, to the design process. In doing so, they proposed an evaluation process to examine the visual impact of this new media in the design process. That same investigation pointed towards the facilitative role of the computerized media in enhancing topical comprehension, concept realization, and development of ideas.Computer technology fosters the growth of emerging media. A new computerized media, scenario scripting (Sasada, 2000; Jozen, 2000), markedly enhances computer animations and, in doing so, positively impacts design processes. For the three latest media, i.e., computerized animation, virtual reality, and scenario scripting, the following question arises: What role does visual impact play in different design phases of these media. Moreover, what is the origin of such an impact? Furthermore, what are the similarities and variances of computing techniques, principles of interaction, and practical applications among these computerized media?This study investigates the similarities and variances among computing techniques, interacting principles, and their applications in the above three media. Different computerized media in the design process are also adopted to explore related phenomenon by using these three media in two projects. First, a renewal planning project of the old district of Hsinchu City is inspected, in which animations and scenario scripting are used. Second, the renewal project is compared with a progressive design project for the Hsinchu Digital Museum, as designed by Peter Eisenman. Finally, similarity and variance among these computerized media are discussed.This study also examines the visual impact of these three computerized media in the design process. In computerized animation, although other designers can realize the spatial concept in design, users cannot fully comprehend the concept. On the other hand, other media such as virtual reality and scenario scripting enable users to more directly comprehend what the designer's presentation.Future studies should more closely examine how these three media impact the design process. This study not only provides further insight into the fundamental characteristics of the three computerized media discussed herein, but also enables designers to adopt different media in the design stages. Both designers and users can more fully understand design-related concepts.
series	AVOCAAD
email
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

_id	aa78
authors	Bayazit, Nigan
year	1992
title	Requirements of an Expert System for Design Studios
source	CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 187-194
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.187
summary	The goal of this paper is to study problems of the transition from traditional architectural studio teaching to CAAD studio teaching which requires a CAAD expert system as studio tutor, and to study the behavior of the student in this new environment. The differences between the traditional and computerized studio teaching and the experiences in this field are explained referring to the requirements for designing time in relation to the expertise of the student in the application of a CAD program. Learning styles and the process of design in computerized and non-computerized studio teaching are discussed. Design studio requirements of the students in traditional studio environment while doing design works are clarified depending on the results of an empirical study which explained the relations between the tutor and the student while they were doing studio critiques. Main complaints of the students raised in the empirical study were the lack of data in the specific design problem area, difficulties of realization of ideas and thoughts, not knowing the starting point of design, having no information about the references to be used for the specific design task, having difficulties in the application of presentation techniques. In the concluding parts of the paper are discussed the different styles of teaching and their relation to the CAAD environment, the transformation of the instructional programs for the new design environment, the future expectations from the CAAD programs, properties of the new teaching environment and the roles of the expert systems in design studio education.
keywords	CAAD Education, Expert System, Architectural Design Studio, Knowledge Acquisition
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	ecaadesigradi2019_449
id	ecaadesigradi2019_449
authors	Becerra Santacruz, Axel
year	2019
title	The Architecture of ScarCity Game - The craft and the digital as an alternative design process
source	Sousa, JP, Xavier, JP and Castro Henriques, G (eds.), Architecture in the Age of the 4th Industrial Revolution - Proceedings of the 37th eCAADe and 23rd SIGraDi Conference - Volume 3, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal, 11-13 September 2019, pp. 45-52
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2019.3.045
summary	The Architecture of ScarCity Game is a board game used as a pedagogical tool that challenges architecture students by involving them in a series of experimental design sessions to understand the design process of scarcity and the actual relation between the craft and the digital. This means "pragmatic delivery processes and material constraints, where the exchange between the artisan of handmade, representing local skills and technology of the digitally conceived is explored" (Huang 2013). The game focuses on understanding the different variables of the crafted design process of traditional communities under conditions of scarcity (Michel and Bevan 1992). This requires first analyzing the spatial environmental model of interaction, available human and natural resources, and the dynamic relationship of these variables in a digital era. In the first stage (Pre-Agency), the game set the concept of the craft by limiting students design exploration from a minimum possible perspective developing locally available resources and techniques. The key elements of the design process of traditional knowledge communities have to be identified (Preez 1984). In other words, this stage is driven by limited resources + chance + contingency. In the second stage (Post-Agency) students taking the architects´ role within this communities, have to speculate and explore the interface between the craft (local knowledge and low technological tools), and the digital represented by computation data, new technologies available and construction. This means the introduction of strategy + opportunity + chance as part of the design process. In this sense, the game has a life beyond its mechanics. This other life challenges the participants to exploit the possibilities of breaking the actual boundaries of design. The result is a tool to challenge conventional methods of teaching and leaning controlling a prescribed design process. It confronts the rules that professionals in this field take for granted. The game simulates a 'fake' reality by exploring in different ways with surveyed information. As a result, participants do not have anything 'real' to lose. Instead, they have all the freedom to innovate and be creative.
keywords	Global south, scarcity, low tech, digital-craft, design process and innovation by challenge.
series	eCAADeSIGraDi
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	8d37
authors	Bradford, J.W., Ng, F.F. and Will, B.F.
year	1992
title	Models and Hypermedia for Architectural Education
source	CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 19-42
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.019
summary	Hypermedia uses the hypertext style of interactive navigation through computer-based multimedia materials to provide access to a wealth of information for use by teachers and students. Academic disciplines concerned about the enlightenment of future designers of the built environment require an additional medium not yet available in hypermedia - interactive 3-D computer models. This paper discusses a hypermedia CAI system currently being developed at the University of Hong Kong for use in architectural education. The system uses interactive 3D computer models as another medium for instructional information, and as user orientation and database access devices. An object oriented, 3-D model hierarchy is used as the organizational structure for the database. A prototype which uses the system to teach undergraduate architecture students about a traditional Chinese temple is also illustrated. The prototype demonstrates the use of a computer as the medium for bilingual English and Chinese instruction.
keywords	3-D Modelling, Architectural Education, Computer Aided Instruction, Hypermedia, Multimedia
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	cf5c
authors	Carpenter, B.
year	1992
title	The logic of typed feature structures with applications to unificationgrammars, logic programs and constraint resolution
source	Cambridge Tracts in Theoretical Computer Science, Cambridge University Press
summary	This book develops the theory of typed feature structures, a new form of data structure that generalizes both the first-order terms of logic programs and feature-structures of unification-based grammars to include inheritance, typing, inequality, cycles and intensionality. It presents a synthesis of many existing ideas into a uniform framework, which serves as a logical foundation for grammars, logic programming and constraint-based reasoning systems. Throughout the text, a logical perspective is adopted that employs an attribute-value description language along with complete equational axiomatizations of the various systems of feature structures. Efficiency concerns are discussed and complexity and representability results are provided. The application of feature structures to phrase structure grammars is described and completeness results are shown for standard evaluation strategies. Definite clause logic programs are treated as a special case of phrase structure grammars. Constraint systems are introduced and an enumeration technique is given for solving arbitrary attribute-value logic constraints. This book with its innovative approach to data structures will be essential reading for researchers in computational linguistics, logic programming and knowledge representation. Its self-contained presentation makes it flexible enough to serve as both a research tool and a textbook.
series	other
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	4bd2
authors	Carrara, G., Kalay, Y.E. and Novembri, G.
year	1992
title	A Computational Framework for Supporting Creative Architectural Design
source	New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1992. pp. 17-34 : ill. includes Bibliography
summary	Design can be considered a process leading to the definition of a physical form that achieves a certain predefined set of performance criteria. The process comprises three distinct operations: (1) Definition of the desired set of performance criteria (design goals); (2) generation of alternative design solutions; (3) evaluation of the expected performances of alternative design solutions, and comparing them to the predefined criteria. Difficulties arise in performing each one of the three operations, and in combining them into a purposeful unified process. Computational techniques were developed to assist each of the three operations. A comprehensive and successful computational design assistant will have to recognize the limitations of current computational techniques, and incorporate a symbiosis between the machine and the human designer. This symbiosis comprises allocating design tasks between the designer and the computer in a manner that is most appropriate for the task at hand. The task allocation must, therefore, be done dynamically, responding to the changing circumstances of the design process. This report proposes a framework for such a symbiotic partnership, which comprises four major components: (1) User interface and design process control; (2) design goals; (3) evaluators; (4) database
keywords	architecture, knowledge base, systems, design process, control
series	CADline
email
last changed	2003/06/02 14:41

_id	91c4
authors	Checkland, P.
year	1981
title	Systems Thinking, Systems Practice
source	John Wiley & Sons, Chichester
summary	Whether by design, accident or merely synchronicity, Checkland appears to have developed a habit of writing seminal publications near the start of each decade which establish the basis and framework for systems methodology research for that decade."" Hamish Rennie, Journal of the Operational Research Society, 1992 Thirty years ago Peter Checkland set out to test whether the Systems Engineering (SE) approach, highly successful in technical problems, could be used by managers coping with the unfolding complexities of organizational life. The straightforward transfer of SE to the broader situations of management was not possible, but by insisting on a combination of systems thinking strongly linked to real-world practice Checkland and his collaborators developed an alternative approach - Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) - which enables managers of all kinds and at any level to deal with the subtleties and confusions of the situations they face. This work established the now accepted distinction between hard systems thinking, in which parts of the world are taken to be systems which can be engineered, and soft systems thinking in which the focus is on making sure the process of inquiry into real-world complexity is itself a system for learning. Systems Thinking, Systems Practice (1981) and Soft Systems Methodology in Action (1990) together with an earlier paper Towards a Systems-based Methodology for Real-World Problem Solving (1972) have long been recognized as classics in the field. Now Peter Checkland has looked back over the three decades of SSM development, brought the account of it up to date, and reflected on the whole evolutionary process which has produced a mature SSM. SSM: A 30-Year Retrospective, here included with Systems Thinking, Systems Practice closes a chapter on what is undoubtedly the most significant single research programme on the use of systems ideas in problem solving. Now retired from full-time university work, Peter Checkland continues his research as a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow. "
series	other
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	c434
authors	Colajanni, B., Pellitteri, G. and Scianna, A.
year	1992
title	Two Approaches to Teaching Computers in Architecture: The Experience in the Faculty of Engineering in Palermo, Italy
source	CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 295-306
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.295
summary	Teaching the use of computers in architecture poses the same kind of problems as teaching mathematics. To both there are two possible approaches. The first presents the discipline as a tool of which the merely instrumental aspect is emphasized. Teaching is limited to show the results obtainable by existing programs and how to get them. The second approach, on the contrary emphasizes the autonomous nature of the discipline, mathematics as much as computing, on the basis of the convincement that the maximum of instrumental usefulness can be obtained through the knowledge at the highest degree of generality and, then, of abstraction. The first approach changes little in the mind of the student. He simply learns that is possible, and then worthy doing, a certain amount of operations, mainly checks of performances (and not only the control of the aspect, now easy with one of the many existing CAD) or searches of technical informations in some database. The second approach gives the student the consciousness of the manageability of abstract structures of relationships. He acquires then the idea of creating by himself particular structures of relationships and managing them. This can modify the very idea of the design procedure giving the student the consciousness that he can intervene directly in every segment of the design procedure, reshaping it to some extent in a way better suited to the particular problem he is dealing with. Of course this second approach implies learning not only a language but also the capability of coming to terms with languages. And again it is a cultural acquisition that can be very useful when referred to the languages of architecture. Furthermore the capability of simulating on the computer also a small segment of the design process gives the student a better understanding both of the particular problem he is dealing with and of the very nature of design. As for the first effect, it happens whenever a translation is done from a language to another one. One is obliged to get to the core of the matter in order to overcome the difficulties rising from the different bias of the two languages. The second effect comes from the necessity of placing the studied segment in the general flow of the design process. The organisation in a linear sequence of action to be accomplished recursively in an order always varying in any design occasion is an extremely useful exercise to understand the signification and the techniques of formalisation of design problems.
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:56

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