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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	ddss9219
id	ddss9219
authors	Bourdakis, V. and Fellows, R.F.
year	1993
title	A model appraising the performance of structural systems used in sports hall and swimming pool buildings in greece
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	The selection of the best performing structural system (among steel, timber laminated, concrete, fabric tents) for medium span (30-50m) sports halls and swimming pools in Greece formed the impetus for this research. Decision-making concerning selection of the structural system is difficult in this sector of construction, as was explained in the "Long Span Structures" conference (November 1990, Athens. Greece). From the literature it has been found that most building appraisals end up at the level of data analysis and draw conclusions on the individual aspects they investigate. These approaches usually focus on a fraction of the problem, examining it very deeply and theoretically. Their drawback is loss of comprehensiveness and ability to draw conclusions on an overall level and consequently being applicable to the existing conditions. Research on an inclusive level is sparse. In this particular research project, an inclusive appraisal approach was adopted, leading to the identification of three main variables: resources, human-user-satisfaction, and technical. Consequently, this led to a combination of purely quantitative and qualitative data. Case studies were conducted on existing buildings in order to assess the actual performance of the various alternative structural systems. This paper presents the procedure followed for the identification of the research variables and the focus on the development of the model of quantification. The latter is of vital importance if the problem of incompatibility of data is to be solved, overall relation of findings is to be achieved and holistic conclusions are to be drawn.
series	DDSS
last changed	2003/11/21 15:16

_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	ddss9205
id	ddss9205
authors	De Scheemaker. A.
year	1993
title	Towards an integrated facility management system for management and use of government buildings
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	The Government Building Agency in the Netherlands is developing an integrated facility management system for two of its departments. Applications are already developed to support a number of day-to-day facility management activities on an operational level. Research is now being carried out to develop a management control system to better plan and control housing and material resources.
series	DDSS
last changed	2003/08/07 16:36

_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	d5b3
authors	Knight, Michael and Brown, Andre
year	1999
title	Working in Virtual Environments through appropriate Physical Interfaces
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1999.431
source	Architectural Computing from Turing to 2000 [eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-5-7] Liverpool (UK) 15-17 September 1999, pp. 431-436
summary	The work described here is aimed at contributing towards the debate and development relating to the construction of interfaces to explore buildings and their environs through virtual worlds. We describe a particular hardware and software configuration which is derived by the use of low cost games software to create the Virtual Environment. The Physical Interface responds to the work of other researchers, in this area, in particular Shaw (1994) and Vasquez de Velasco & Trigo (1997). Virtual Evironments might have the potential to be "a magical window into other worlds, from molecules to minds" (Rheingold, 1992), but what is the nature of that window? Currently it is often a translucent opening which gives a hazy and distorted (disembodied) view. And many versions of such openings are relatively expensive. We consider ways towards clearing the haze without too much expense, adapting techniques proposed by developers of low cost virtual reality systems (Hollands, 1995) for use in an architectural setting.
keywords	Virtual Environments, Games Software
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:51

_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
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1992.065
source	Mission - Method - Madness [ACADIA Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-01-2] 1992, pp. 65-73
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	a582
authors	Marshall, Tony B.
year	1992
title	The Computer as a Graphic Medium in Conceptual Design
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1992.039
source	Mission - Method - Madness [ACADIA Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-01-2] 1992, pp. 39-47
summary	The success CAD has experienced in the architectural profession demonstrates that architects have been willing to replace traditional drafting media with computers and electronic plotters for the production of working drawings. Its expanded use in the design development phase for 3D modeling and rendering further justifies CAD's usefulness as a presentation medium. The schematic design phase however, has hardly been influenced by the evolution of CAD. Most architects simply have not come to view the computer as a viable design medium. One reason for this might be the strong correspondence between architectural CAD and plan view graphics, as used in working drawings, compared to the weak correspondence between architectural CAD and plan view graphics, as used in schematic design. The role of the actual graphic medium during schematic design should not be overlooked in the development of CAD applications. In order to produce practical CAD applications for schematic design we must explore the computer’s potential as a form of expression and its role as a graphic medium. An examination of the use of traditional graphic media during schematic design will provide some clues regarding what capabilities CAD must provide and how a system should operate in order to be useful during conceptual design.
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:59

_id	ddss9215
id	ddss9215
authors	Mortola, E. and Giangrande, A.
year	1993
title	A trichotomic segmentation procedure to evaluate projects in architecture
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	This paper illustrates a model used to construct the evaluation module for An Interface for Designing (AID), a system to aid architectural design. The model can be used at the end of every cycle of analysis-synthesis-evaluation in the intermediate phases of design development. With the aid of the model it is possible to evaluate the quality of a project in overall terms to establish whether the project is acceptable, whether it should be elaborated ex-novo, or whether it is necessary to begin a new cycle to improve it. In this last case, it is also possible to evaluate the effectiveness of the possible actions and strategies for improvement. The model is based on a procedure of trichotomic segmentation, developed with MCDA (Multi-Criteria Decision Aid), which uses the outranking relation to compare the project with some evaluation profiles taken as projects of reference. An application of the model in the teaching field will also be described.
series	DDSS
last changed	2003/08/07 16:36

_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	ddss9210
id	ddss9210
authors	Poortman, E.R.
year	1993
title	Ratios for cost control
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	The design of buildings takes place in phases representing a development from rough to precision planning. Estimates are made in order to test whether the result is still within the budget set by the client or developer. In this way, the decisions taken during the design phase can be quantified and expressed in monetary terms. To prevent blaming the wrong person when an overrun is discovered, the cost control process has to be improved. For that purpose, two new procedures have been developed: (i) a new translation activity; and (ii) ratios by which quantities can be characterized. 'Translation is the opposite of estimation. A monetary budget is converted -'translated' - into quantities, reflecting the desired quality of the building materials. The financial constraints of the client are thus converted into quantities - the building components used by the designers. Characteristic quantity figures play an important role in this activity. In working out an estimate, the form factor (i.e., the ratio between two characteristic values of a building component) has to be determined. The unit cost is then tested against that ratio. The introduction of the 'translation' activity and the use of characteristic quantity figures and form factors enhance existing estimation methods. By implementing these procedures, cost control becomes considerably more reliable.
series	DDSS
last changed	2003/08/07 16:36

_id	25b7
authors	Smeltzer, G., Roelen, W. and Maver, T.W.
year	1992
title	Design Modelling and Design Presentation From a Computer-Generated Image Towards a Multi-user Design System
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.137
source	CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 137-144
summary	CAD systems regularly offer new techniques for the presentation of design proposals like computer-generated (stereo-) images, animations, holography and virtual reality. These techniques are mainly used for the presentation of a final design or for the presentation of buildings that have already been constructed. As in the course of time the quality of the CAD systems and their users have improved enormously, it is also possible to use these systems for the evaluation of several temporary design proposals during the design process. Since 'beautiful pictures' and 'wonderful animations' have already shown their great value when presenting a design, it is sometimes as if CAD systems are considered suitable for this propose only. Even new techniques like virtual reality systems seem to be valued only through the 'tinted glasses' of the presentation capabilities. Hardly any attention is paid to the possibilities that these new techniques offer as an instrument to support modelling and evaluation during the design process. This article will outline the results of research and development in the field of virtual reality. Virtual reality systems are based on the combination of a number of already existing presentation techniques like photo-realistic images, stereo images and real time animations. The added value of this type of CAD system is determined by the use of a new type of user interface. In effect this interface consists of sensors that register how its user moves and looks around. Through this, and by using a so- called 'eye phone' (comparable to stereo headphones for sound) the user, with some imaginative powers, thinks he is standing in the environment that he modelled, or in front of his building design. After this we will first sketch the outlines of some presentation techniques, that can also be found in a virtual reality system. Special attention will be paid to some specific characteristics of these techniques themselves. Next, a more detailed description will be given of virtual reality systems, focusing on the system that is being developed at Calibre itself.
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:56

_id	064b
authors	Ward, D., Horton, F.F. and Brown, A.G.P.
year	1992
title	An Environmental Design Assistant
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.427
source	CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 427-434
summary	One of the problems facing students of architecture and those teaching of architecture is that the body of information which needs to be bourne in mind when designing is continually increasing. One area where there has been a rapid recent growth in interest and consequent legislation is in environmental or "green" matters. As an example recent legislation has been introduced in an effort to standardise the procedures for assessing building, and in particular their energy consumption. This paper reports on the development of a Hypermedia based tool to aid the process of the Environmental design of buildings with the objective of producing a computer-based aid which encourages understanding and innovation rather than leading the. user through a mechanical process of form filling. We conclude with comments on the effectiveness of the tool as a design aid and propose future developments for the work on computer-based Environmental Assessment.
keywords	Environmental Impact, Environmental Assessment, Expert Systems, HyperCard
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:58

_id	ddss9216
id	ddss9216
authors	Winteraeken-Bruls, P.W.M.
year	1993
title	ROP: An interactive spatial optimization and grouping computer application
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	As a part of a research project at Eindhoven University of Technology, the computer application ROP for space-planning problems was tested in practice. The use of the application in a real-world project was evaluated. The decision-making process for the development of alternatives for a courthouse was observed to see how the computer application could support decision-making. The aim of this paper is to describe the performance of ROP in a real-world setting. ROP appears to be a useful instrument in decision-making for space-planning problems. Especially in the early stages of the design process, it enhances insight among all participants in a project team. It can also be used in situations where little information is available. To conclude, ROP appears to enhance communi-cation between members of a design team.
series	DDSS
last changed	2003/08/07 16:36

_id	6cfd
authors	Harfmann, Anton C. and Majkowski, Bruce R.
year	1992
title	Component-Based Spatial Reasoning
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1992.103
source	Mission - Method - Madness [ACADIA Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-01-2] 1992, pp. 103-111
summary	The design process and ordering of individual components through which architecture is realized relies on the use of abstract "models" to represent a proposed design. The emergence and use of these abstract "models" for building representation has a long history and tradition in the field of architecture. Models have been made and continue to be made for the patron, occasionally the public, and as a guide for the builders. Models have also been described as a means to reflect on the design and to allow the design to be in dialogue with the creator. The term "model" in the above paragraph has been used in various ways and in this context is defined as any representation through which design intent is expressed. This includes accurate/ rational or abstract drawings (2- dimensional and 3-dimensional), physical models (realistic and abstract) and computer models (solid, void and virtual reality). The various models that fall within the categories above have been derived from the need to "view" the proposed design in various ways in order to support intuitive reasoning about the proposal and for evaluation purposes. For example, a 2-dimensional drawing of a floor plan is well suited to support reasoning about spatial relationships and circulation patterns while scaled 3-dimensional models facilitate reasoning about overall form, volume, light, massing etc. However, the common denominator of all architectural design projects (if the intent is to construct them in actual scale, physical form) are the discrete building elements from which the design will be constructed. It is proposed that a single computational model representing individual components supports all of the above "models" and facilitates "viewing"' the design according to the frame of reference of the viewer. Furthermore, it is the position of the authors that all reasoning stems from this rudimentary level of modeling individual components. The concept of component representation has been derived from the fact that a "real" building (made from individual components such as nuts, bolts and bar joists) can be "viewed" differently according to the frame of reference of the viewer. Each individual has the ability to infer and abstract from the assemblies of components a variety of different "models" ranging from a visceral, experiential understanding to a very technical, physical understanding. The component concept has already proven to be a valuable tool for reasoning about assemblies, interferences between components, tracing of load path and numerous other component related applications. In order to validate the component-based modeling concept this effort will focus on the development of spatial understanding from the component-based model. The discussions will, therefore, center about the representation of individual components and the development of spatial models and spatial reasoning from the component model. In order to frame the argument that spatial modeling and reasoning can be derived from the component representation, a review of the component-based modeling concept will precede the discussions of spatial issues.
series	ACADIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:49

_id	3ff5
authors	Abbo, I.A., La Scalea, L., Otero, E. and Castaneda, L.
year	1992
title	Full-Scale Simulations as Tool for Developing Spatial Design Ability
source	Proceedings of the 4rd European Full-Scale Modelling Conference / Lausanne (Switzerland) 9-12 September 1992, Part C, pp. 7-10
summary	Spatial Design Ability has been defined as the capability to anticipate effects (psychological impressions on potential observers or users) produced by mental manipulation of elements of architectural or urban spaces. This ability, of great importance in choosing the appropriate option during the design process, is not specifically developed in schools of architecture and is partially obtained as a by-product of drawing, designing or architectural criticism. We use our Laboratory as a tool to present spaces to people so that they can evaluate them. By means of a series of exercises, students confront their anticipations with the psychological impressions produced in other people. For this occasion, we present an experience in which students had to propose a space for an exhibition hag in which architectural projects (student thesis) were to be shown. Following the Spatial Design Ability Development Model which we have been using for several years, students first get acquainted with the use of evaluation instruments for psychological impressions as well as with research methodology. In this case, due to the short period available, we reduced research to investigate the effects produced by the manipulation of only 2 independents variables: students manipulated first the form of the roof, walls and interiors elements, secondly, color and texture of those elements. They evaluated spatial quality, character and the other psychological impressions that manipulations produced in people. They used three dimensional scale models 1/10 and 1/1.
keywords	Full-scale Modeling, Model Simulation, Real Environments
series	other
email
more	http://info.tuwien.ac.at/efa
last changed	2003/08/25 10:12

_id	735a
authors	Anh, Tran Hoai
year	1992
title	FULL-SCALE EXPERIMENT ON KITCHEN FUNCTION IN HANOI
source	Proceedings of the 4rd European Full-Scale Modelling Conference / Lausanne (Switzerland) 9-12 September 1992, Part A, pp. 19-30
summary	This study is a part of a licentiate thesis on "Functional kitchen for the Vietnamese cooking way"at the Department of Architecture and Development studies, Lund University. The issues it is dealing with are: (1) Inadequacy of kitchen design in the apartment buildings in Hanoi, where the kitchen is often designed as a mere cooking place - other parts of the food making process are not given any attention. (2) Lack of standard dimensional and planning criteria for functional kitchen which can serve as bases for kitchen design. // The thesis aims at finding out indicators on functional spatial requirements for kitchen, which can serve as guide-line for designing functional kitchen for Hanoi. One of the main propositions in the thesis is that functional kitchens for Hanoi should be organised to permit the culinary activities done according to the Vietnamese urban culinary practice. This is based on the concept that the culinary activity is an expression Of culture, thus the practice of preparing meal in the present context of the urban households in Hanoi has an established pattern, method which demand a suitable area and arrangement in the kitchen. This pattern and cooking method should make up the functional requirement for kitchen in Hanoi, and be taken in to account if functional kitchen designing is to be achieved. In the context of the space-limited apartment building of Hanoi, special focus is given to find out indicators on the minimum functional spatial requirements of the kitchen works.
keywords	Full-scale Modeling, Model Simulation, Real Environments
series	other
type	normal paper
more	http://info.tuwien.ac.at/efa
last changed	2004/05/04 15:29

_id	aa78
authors	Bayazit, Nigan
year	1992
title	Requirements of an Expert System for Design Studios
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.187
source	CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 187-194
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	e039
authors	Bertin, Vito
year	1992
title	Structural Transformations (Basic Architectural Unit 6)
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.413
source	CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 413-426
summary	While the teaching of the phenomenon of form as well as space is normally seen within an environment of free experimentation and personal expression, other directions prove to be worth of pursuit. The proposed paper represents such an exploration. The generation of controlled complexity and structural transformations have been the title of the project which forms the base of this paper. In it, the potential for creative development of the student was explored in such a way, that as in the sciences a process can be reproduced or an exploration utilized in further experimentation. The cube as a well proven B.A.U. or basic architectural unit has again been used in our work. Even a simple object like a cube has many properties. As properties are never pure, but always related to other properties, and looking at a single property as a specific value of a variable, it is possible to link a whole field of objects. These links provide a network of paths through which exploration and development is possible. The paper represents a first step in a direction which we think will compliment the already established basic design program.
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:52

_id	eabb
authors	Boeykens, St. Geebelen, B. and Neuckermans, H.
year	2002
title	Design phase transitions in object-oriented modeling of architecture
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2002.310
source	Connecting the Real and the Virtual - design e-ducation [20th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9541183-0-8] Warsaw (Poland) 18-20 September 2002, pp. 310-313
summary	The project IDEA+ aims to develop an “Integrated Design Environment for Architecture”. Its goal is providing a tool for the designer-architect that can be of assistance in the early-design phases. It should provide the possibility to perform tests (like heat or cost calculations) and simple simulations in the different (early) design phases, without the need for a fully detailed design or remodeling in a different application. The test for daylighting is already in development (Geebelen, to be published). The conceptual foundation for this design environment has been laid out in a scheme in which different design phases and scales are defined, together with appropriate tests at the different levels (Neuckermans, 1992). It is a translation of the “designerly” way of thinking of the architect (Cross, 1982). This conceptual model has been translated into a “Core Object Model” (Hendricx, 2000), which defines a structured object model to describe the necessary building model. These developments form the theoretical basis for the implementation of IDEA+ (both the data structure & prototype software), which is currently in progress. The research project addresses some issues, which are at the forefront of the architect’s interest while designing with CAAD. These are treated from the point of view of a practicing architect.
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:52

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