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 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 6208
authors Abou-Jaoude, Georges
year 1992
title To Master a Tool
source Proceedings of the 4rd European Full-Scale Modelling Conference / Lausanne (Switzerland) 9-12 September 1992, Part B, p. 15
summary The tool here is the computer or to be precise, a unit that includes the computer, the peripherals and the software needed to fulfill a task. These tools are getting very sophisticated and user interfaces extremly friendly, therefore it is very easy to become the slave of such electronic tools and reach self satisfaction with strait forward results and attractive images. In order to master and not to become slaves of sophisticated tools, a very solid knowledge of related fields or domains of application becomes necessary. In the case of this seminar, full scale modelling, is a way to understand the relation between a mental model and it's full-scale modelling, it is a way of communicating what is in a designers mind. Computers and design programs can have the same goal, rather than chosing one method or the other let us try to say how important it is today to complement designing with computer with other means and media such as full scale modelling, and what computer modelling and simulation can bring to full scale modelling or other means.
keywords Full-scale Modeling, Model Simulation, Real Environments
series other
more http://info.tuwien.ac.at/efa
last changed 2003/08/25 10:12

_id 9b34
authors Butterworth, J. (et al.)
year 1992
title 3DM: A three-dimensional modeler using a head-mounted display
source Proceedings of the 1992 Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics (Cambridge, Mass., March 29- April 1, 1992.), 135-138
summary 3dm is a three dimensional (3D) surface modeling program that draws techniques of model manipulation from both CAD and drawing programs and applies them to modeling in an intuitive way. 3dm uses a head-mounted display (HMD) to simplify the problem of 3D model manipulation and understanding. A HMD places the user in the modeling space, making three dimensional relationships more understandable. As a result, 3dm is easy to learn how to use and encourages experimentation with model shapes.
series other
last changed 2003/04/23 15:50

_id a0f1
authors Gross, M.D.
year 1992
title CoDraw “Graphical Constraints in CoDraw”
source IEEE Workshop on Visual Languages, Seattle, WA, pp. 81-87
summary Constraint based draw programs require users to understand and manage relationships between drawing elements. By establishing constraint relationships among elements the user effectively programs the drawing's behavior. This programming task requires a more sophisticated visual interface than conventional draw programs provide. Users must have available - in a convenient format - information about the structure of the constraints that determine the drawing's interactive edit behavior. This format must support editing and debugging. CoDraw is a constraint based drawing program that can be interactively extended by its users. This paper describes the CoDraw program and its programming interface.
series journal paper
email
last changed 2003/04/23 15:50

_id 46c7
id 46c7
authors Ozel, Filiz
year 1992
title Data Modeling Needs of Life Safety Code (LSC) Compliance Applications
source Mission - Method - Madness [ACADIA Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-01-2] 1992, pp. 177-185
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1992.177
summary One of the most complex code compliance issues originates from the conformance of designs to Life Safety Code (NFPA 101). The development of computer based code compliance checking programs attracted the attention of building researchers and practitioners alike. These studies represent a number of approaches ranging from CAD based procedural approaches to rule based, non graphic ones, but they do not address the interaction of the rule base of such systems with graphic data bases that define the geometry of architectural objects. Automatic extraction of the attributes and the configuration of building systems requires 11 architectural object - graphic entity" data models that allow access and retrieval of the necessary data for code compliance checking. This study aims to specifically focus on the development of such a data model through the use of AutoLISP feature of AutoCAD (Autodesk Inc.) graphic system. This data model is intended to interact with a Life Safety Code rule base created through Level5-Object (Focus Inc.) expert system.

Assuming the availability of a more general building data model, one must define life and fire safety features of a building before any automatic checking can be performed. Object oriented data structures are beginning to be applied to design objects, since they allow the type versatility demanded by design applications. As one generates a functional view of the main data model, the software user must provide domain specific information. A functional view is defined as the process of generating domain specific data structures from a more general purpose data model, such as defining egress routes from wall or room object data structure. Typically in the early design phase of a project, these are related to the emergency egress design features of a building. Certain decisions such as where to provide sprinkler protection or the location of protected egress ways must be made early in the process.

series ACADIA
email
last changed 2022/06/07 08:00

_id avocaad_2001_19
id avocaad_2001_19
authors Shen-Kai Tang, Yu-Tung Liu, Yu-Sheng Chung, Chi-Seng Chung
year 2001
title The visual harmony between new and old materials in the restoration of historical architecture: A study of computer simulation
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 In the research of historical architecture restoration, scholars respectively focus on the field of architectural context and architectural archeology (Shi, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995; Fu, 1995, 1997; Chiu, 2000) or on architecture construction and the procedure of restoration (Shi, 1988, 1989; Chiu, 1990). How to choose materials and cope with their durability becomes an important issue in the restoration of historical architecture (Dasser, 1990; Wang, 1998).In the related research of the usage and durability of materials, some scholars deem that, instead of continuing the traditional ways that last for hundreds of years (that is to replace new materials with old ones), it might be better to keep the original materials (Dasser, 1990). However, unavoidably, some of the originals are much worn. Thus we have to first establish the standard of eliminating components, and secondly to replace identical or similar materials with the old components (Lee, 1990). After accomplishing the restoration, we often unexpectedly find out that the renewed historical building is too new that the sense of history is eliminated (Dasser, 1990; Fu, 1997). Actually this is the important factor that determines the accomplishment of restoration. In the past, some scholars find out that the contrast and conflict between new and old materials are contributed to the different time of manufacture and different coating, such as antiseptic, pattern, etc., which result in the discrepancy of the sense of visual perception (Lee, 1990; Fu, 1997; Dasser, 1990).In recent years, a number of researches and practice of computer technology have been done in the field of architectural design. We are able to proceed design communication more exactly by the application of some systematic softwares, such as image processing, computer graphic, computer modeling/rendering, animation, multimedia, virtual reality and so on (Lawson, 1995; Liu, 1996). The application of computer technology to the research of the preservation of historical architecture is comparatively late. Continually some researchers explore the procedure of restoration by computer simulation technology (Potier, 2000), or establish digital database of the investigation of historical architecture (Sasada, 2000; Wang, 1998). How to choose materials by the technology of computer simulation influences the sense of visual perception. Liu (2000) has a more complete result on visual impact analysis and assessment (VIAA) about the research of urban design projection. The main subjects of this research paper focuses on whether the technology of computer simulation can extenuate the conflict between new and old materials that imposed on visual perception.The objective of this paper is to propose a standard method of visual harmony effects for materials in historical architecture (taking the Gigi Train Station destroyed by the earthquake in last September as the operating example).There are five steps in this research: 1.Categorize the materials of historical architecture and establish the information in digital database. 2.Get new materials of historical architecture and establish the information in digital database. 3.According to the mixing amount of new and old materials, determinate their proportion of the building; mixing new and old materials in a certain way. 4.Assign the mixed materials to the computer model and proceed the simulation of lighting. 5.Make experts and the citizens to evaluate the accomplished computer model in order to propose the expected standard method.According to the experiment mentioned above, we first address a procedure of material simulation of the historical architecture restoration and then offer some suggestions of how to mix new and old materials.By this procedure of simulation, we offer a better view to control the restoration of historical architecture. And, the discrepancy and discordance by new and old materials can be released. Moreover, we thus avoid to reconstructing ¡§too new¡¨ historical architecture.
series AVOCAAD
email
last changed 2005/09/09 10:48

_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 cf5c
authors Carpenter, B.
year 1992
title The logic of typed feature structures with applications to unification grammars, 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 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 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 2325
authors Chilton, John C.
year 1992
title Computer Aided Structural Design in Architectural Instruction
source CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 443-450
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.443
summary In schools of architecture there is a tendency to associate the use of computers solely with the production of graphic images as part of the architectural design process. However, if the architecture is to work as a building it is also essential that technical aspects of the design are adequately investigated. One of the problem areas for most architectural students is structural design and they are often reluctant to use hand calculations to determine sizes of structural elements within their projects. In recent years, much of the drudgery of hand calculation has been removed from the engineer by the use of computers, and this has, hopefully, allowed a more thorough investigation of conceptual ideas and alternatives. The same benefit is now becoming available to architectural students. This is in the form of structural analysis and design programs that can be used, even by those having a limited knowledge of structural engineering, to assess the stability of designs and obtain approximate sizes for individual structural elements. The paper discusses how the use of such programs is taught, within the School of Architecture at Nottingham. Examples will be given of how they can assist students in the architectural design process. In particular, the application of GLULAM, a program for estimating sizes of laminated timber elements and SAND, a structural analysis and design package, will be described.
series eCAADe
last changed 2022/06/07 07:55

_id caadria2006_617
id caadria2006_617
authors CHING-CHIEN LIN
year 2006
title A GREATER SENSE OF PRESENCE: SPATIAL INTERFACE IN VR CAVE
source CAADRIA 2006 [Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia] Kumamoto (Japan) March 30th - April 2nd 2006, 617-619
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.2006.x.j1m
summary Virtual environments are three–dimensional spaces presented visually. They combine the user’s experience and sense of 'being there' in the virtual environment. Presence is a central element of virtual reality that it is seen as a part of its definition (Steuer, 1992). Direct interactions between participants and the virtual environment generate a more enhanced sense of immersion, thus making the participants feels they are part of that environment (Witmer & Singer, 1998).
series CAADRIA
email
last changed 2022/06/07 07:50

_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

_id 6d1d
authors Daru, R. and Daru, M.
year 1992
title Personal Working Styles in the CMD Studio
source CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 451-472
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.451
summary Normative and problem-solving approaches of architectural design ignore the personality aspects of the designing activity. Every architect approaches projects according to her/his own strategies and tactics. Usually they do not conform to the prescriptive models of design theoreticians. Computer aided design tools should be adapted to their utility within the strategies and tactics of each and every architectural student. We are testing the usefulness of CAAD tools developed by others or ourselves and identifying the needs for missing tools. It is already clear that many CAAD tools reflect the point of view of the programmer about strategies and tactics of designing and that they do not take into account the idiosyncrasies of the end user. Forcing the tools on students breeds the risk of fostering repulsion against ill-adapted tools, and consequently against CMD. Our research group pursues empirical research on working styles of designing by practising architects within the frame of a personality theory of actions. The results indicate that there are three main directions for designing strategies. If we want to take into account the real-world behaviour in design practice within architectural education, this implies the diversification of the exercises we offer to the students in threefold, corresponding with the three directions. To this, we add the didactic options of complementation, compensation and support, depending on what we know about the strong or weak points of the students involved. We have started proposing choices for the exercises of our design morphology studio. Students are offered approaches and tools we consider best adapted to their own working

series eCAADe
email
last changed 2022/06/07 07:55

_id 4129
authors Fargas, Josep and Papazian, Pegor
year 1992
title Metaphors in Design: An Experiment with a Frame, Two Lines and Two Rectangles
source Mission - Method - Madness [ACADIA Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-01-2] 1992, pp. 13-22
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1992.013
summary The research we will discuss below originated from an attempt to examine the capacity of designers to evaluate an artifact, and to study the feasibility of replicating a designer's moves intended to make an artifact more expressive of a given quality. We will present the results of an interactive computer experiment, first developed at the MIT Design Research Seminar, which is meant to capture the subject’s actions in a simple design task as a series of successive "moves"'. We will propose that designers use metaphors in their interaction with design artifacts and we will argue that the concept of metaphors can lead to a powerful theory of design activity. Finally, we will show how such a theory can drive the project of building a design system.

When trying to understand how designers work, it is tempting to examine design products in order to come up with the principles or norms behind them. The problem with such an approach is that it may lead to a purely syntactical analysis of design artifacts, failing to capture the knowledge of the designer in an explicit way, and ignoring the interaction between the designer and the evolving design. We will present a theory about design activity based on the observation that knowledge is brought into play during a design task by a process of interpretation of the design document. By treating an evolving design in terms of the meanings and rules proper to a given way of seeing, a designer can reduce the complexity of a task by focusing on certain of its aspects, and can manipulate abstract elements in a meaningful way.

series ACADIA
email
last changed 2022/06/07 07:55

_id ea96
authors Hacfoort, Eek J. and Veldhuisen, Jan K.
year 1992
title A Building Design and Evaluation System
source New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1992. pp. 195-211 : ill. table. includes bibliography
summary Within the field of architectural design there is a growing awareness of imbalance among the professionalism, the experience, and the creativity of the designers' response to the up-to-date requirements of all parties interested in the design process. The building design and evaluating system COSMOS makes it possible for various participants to work within their own domain, so that separated but coordinated work can be done. This system is meant to organize the initial stage of the design process, where user-defined functions, geometry, type of construction, and building materials are decided. It offers a tool to design a building to calculate a number of effects and for managing the information necessary to evaluate the design decisions. The system is provided with data and sets of parameters for describing the conditions, along with their properties, of the main building functions of a selection of well-known building types. The architectural design is conceptualized as being a hierarchy of spatial units, ranking from building blocks down to specific rooms or spaces. The concept of zoning is used as a means of calculating and directly evaluating the structure of the design without working out the details. A distinction is made between internal and external calculations and evaluations during the initial design process. During design on screen, an estimation can be recorded of building costs, energy costs, acoustics, lighting, construction, and utility. Furthermore, the design can be exported to a design application program, in this case AutoCAD, to make and show drawings in more detail. Through the medium of a database, external calculation and evaluation of building costs, life-cycle costs, energy costs, interior climate, acoustics, lighting, construction, and utility are possible in much more advanced application programs
keywords evaluation, applications, integration, architecture, design, construction, building, energy, cost, lighting, acoustics, performance
series CADline
last changed 2003/06/02 13:58

_id 7e68
authors Holland, J.
year 1992
title Genetic Algorithms
source Scientific America, July 1992
summary Living organisms are consummate problem solvers. They exhibit a versatility that puts the best computer programs to shame. This observation is especially galling for computer scientists, who may spend months or years of intellectual effort on an algorithm, whereas organisms come by their abilities through the apparently undirected mechanism of evolution and natural selection. Pragmatic researchers see evolution's remarkable power as something to be emulated rather than envied. Natural selection eliminates one of the greatest hurdles in software design: specifying in advance all the features of a problem and the actions a program should take to deal with them. By harnessing the mechanisms of evolution, researchers may be able to "breed" programs that solve problems even when no person can fully understand their structure. Indeed, these so-called genetic algorithms have already demonstrated the ability to made breakthroughs in the design of such complex systems as jet engines. Genetic algorithms make it possible to explore a far greater range of potential solutions to a problem than do conventional programs. Furthermore, as researchers probe the natural selection of programs under controlled an well-understood conditions, the practical results they achieve may yield some insight into the details of how life and intelligence evolve in the natural world.
series journal paper
last changed 2003/04/23 15:50

_id ab4d
authors Huang, Tao-Kuang, Degelman, Larry O., and Larsen, Terry R.
year 1992
title A Visualization Model for Computerized Energy Evaluation During the Conceptual Design Stage (ENERGRAPH)
source Mission - Method - Madness [ACADIA Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-01-2] 1992, pp. 195-206
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1992.195
summary Energy performance is a crucial step toward responsible design. Currently there are many tools that can be applied to reach this goal with reasonable accuracy. Often times, however, major flaws are not discovered until the final stage of design when it is too late to change. Not only are existing simulation models complicated to apply at the conceptual design stage, but energy principles and their applications are also abstract and hard to visualize. Because of the lack of suitable tools to visualize energy analysis output, energy conservation concepts fail to be integrated into the building design. For these reasons, designers tend not to apply energy conservation concepts at the early design stage. However, since computer graphics is a new phase of visual communication in design process, the above problems might be solved properly through a computerized graphical interface in the conceptual design stage.

The research described in this paper is the result of exploring the concept of using computer graphics to support energy efficient building designs. It focuses on the visualization of building energy through a highly interactive graphical interface in the early design stage.

series ACADIA
email
last changed 2022/06/07 07:50

_id 56e9
authors Huang, Tao-Kuang
year 1992
title A Graphical Feedback Model for Computerized Energy Analysis during the Conceptual Design Stage
source Texas A&M University
summary During the last two decades, considerable effort has been placed on the development of building design analysis tools. Architects and designers have begun to take advantage of computers to generate and examine design alternatives. However, because it has been difficult to adapt computer technologies to the visual orientation of the building designer, the majority of computer applications have been limited to numerical analysis and office automation tasks. Only recently, because of advances in hardware and software techniques, computers have entered into a new phase in the development of architectural design. haveters are now able to interactively display graphics solutions to architectural related problems, which is fundamental to the design process. The majority of research programs in energy efficient design have sharpened people's understanding of energy principles and their application of those principles. Energy conservation concepts, however, have not been widely used. A major problem in the implementation of these principles is that energy principles their applications are abstract, hard to visualize and separated from the architectural design process. Furthermore, one aspect of energy analysis may contain thousands of pieces of numerical information which often leads to confusion on the part of designers. If these difficulties can be overcome, it would bring a great benefit to the advancement of energy conservation concepts. This research explores the concept of an integrated computer graphics program to support energy efficient design. It focuses on (1) the integration of energy efficiently and architectural design, and (2) the visualization of building energy use through graphical interfaces during the conceptual design stage. It involves (1) the discussion of frameworks of computer-aided architectural design and computer-aided energy efficient building design, and (2) the development of an integrated computer prototype program with a graphical interface that helps the designer create building layouts, analyze building energy interactively and receive visual feedbacks dynamically. The goal is to apply computer graphics as an aid to visualize the effects of energy related decisions and therefore permit the designer to visualize and understand energy conservation concepts in the conceptual phase of architectural design.
series thesis:PhD
last changed 2003/02/12 22:37

_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

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