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 130d
authors Hoinkes, R. and Mitchell, R.
year 1994
title Playing with Time - Continuous Temporal Mapping Strategies for Interactive Environments
source 6th Canadian GIS Conference, (Ottawa Natura Resources Canada), pp. 318-329
summary The growing acceptance of GIS technology has had far- reaching effects on many fields of research. The recent developments in the area of dynamic and temporal GIS open new possibilities within the realm of historical research where temporal relationship analysis is as important as spatial relationship analysis. While topological structures have had wide use in spatial GIS and have been the subject of most temporal GIS endeavours, the different demands of many of these temporally- oriented analytic processes questions the choice of the topological direction. In the fall of 1992 the Montreal Research Group (MRG) of the Canadian Centre for Architecture mounted an exhibition dealing with the development of the built environment in 18th- century Montreal. To aid in presenting the interpretive messages of their data, the MRG worked with the Centre for Landscape Research (CLR) to incorporate the interactive capabilities of the CLR's PolyTRIM research software with the MRG's data base to produce a research tool as well as a public- access interactive display. The interactive capabilities stemming from a real- time object- oriented structure provided an excellent environment for both researchers and the public to investigate the nature of temporal changes in such aspects as landuse, ethnicity, and fortifications of the 18th century city. This paper describes the need for interactive real- time GIS in such temporal analysis projects and the underlying need for object- oriented vs. topologically structured data access strategies to support them.
series other
last changed 2003/04/23 15:14

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

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

_id cef3
authors Bridges, Alan H.
year 1992
title Computing and Problem Based Learning at Delft University of Technology Faculty of Architecture
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.289
source CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 289-294
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 6d1d
authors Daru, R. and Daru, M.
year 1992
title Personal Working Styles in the CMD Studio
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.451
source CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 451-472
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 9f8a
authors Davidow, William H.
year 1992
title The Virtual Corporation: Structuring and Revitalizing the Corporation for the 21St Century
source New York: Harper Collins Publishers
summary The great value of this timely, important book is that it provides an integrated picture of the customer-driven company of the future. We have begun to learn about lean production technology, stripped-down management, worker empowerment, flexible customized manufacturing, and other modern strategies, but Davidow and Malone show for the first time how these ideas are fitting together to create a new kind of corporation and a worldwide business revolution. Their research is fascinating. The authors provide illuminating case studies of American, Japanese, and European companies that have discovered the keys to improved competitiveness, redesigned their businesses and their business relationships, and made extraordinary gains. They also write bluntly and critically about a number of American corporations that are losing market share by clinging to outmoded thinking. Business success in the global marketplace of the future is going to depend upon corporations producing "virtual" products high in added value, rich in variety, and available instantly in response to customer needs. At the heart of this revolution will be fast new information technologies; increased emphasis on quality; accelerated product development; changing management practices, including new alignments between management and labor; and new linkages between company, supplier, and consumer, and between industry and government. The Virtual Corporation is an important cutting-edge book that offers a creative synthesis of the most influential ideas in modern business theory. It has already fired excitement and debate in industry, academia, and government, and it is essential reading for anyone involved in the leadership of America's business and the shaping of America's economic future.
series other
last changed 2003/04/23 15:14

_id cf73
authors Dosti, P., Martens, B. and Voigt, A.
year 1992
title Spatial Simulation In Architecture, City Development and Regional Planning
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.195
source CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 195-200
summary The appropriate use of spatial simulation techniques considerably tends to increase the depth of evidence and the realistic content of the design and plannings to be described and moreover may encourage experimentations, trial attempts and planning variants. This means also the more frequent use of combinations between different techniques, having in mind that they are not equivalent, but making use of the respective advantages each offers. Until now the main attention of the EDP-Lab was directed on achieving quantity. For the time to come time it will be the formation of quality. The challenge in the educational system at the Vienna University of Technology is to obtain appropriate results in the frame- work of low-cost simulation. This aspect seems also to be meaningful in order to enforce the final implementation in architectural practice.

series eCAADe
email
more http://info.tuwien.ac.at/ecaade/
last changed 2022/06/07 07:55

_id e412
authors Fargas, Josep and Papazian, Pegor
year 1992
title Modeling Regulations and Intentions for Urban Development: The Role of Computer Simulation in the Urban Design Studio
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.201
source CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 201-212
summary In this paper we present a strategy for modeling urban development in order to study the role of urban regulations and policies in the transformation of cities. We also suggest a methodology for using computer models as experimental tools in the urban design studio in order to make explicit the factors involved in shaping cities, and for the automatic visualization of projected development. The structure of the proposed model is based on different modules which represent, on the one hand, the rules regulating the physical growth of a city and, on the other hand, heuristics corresponding to different interests such as Real Estate Developers, City Hall Planners, Advocacy and Community Groups, and so on. Here we present a case study dealing with the Boston Redevelopment Authority zoning code for the Midtown Cultural District of Boston. We introduce a computer program which develops the district, adopting a particular point of view regarding urban regulation. We then generalize the notion of this type of computer modeling and simulation, and draw some conclusions about its possible uses in the teaching and practice of design.
series eCAADe
email
last changed 2022/06/07 07:55

_id e7c8
authors Kalisperis, Loukas N., Steinman, Mitch and Summers, Luis H.
year 1992
title Design Knowledge, Environmental Complexity in Nonorthogonal Space
source New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1992. pp. 273-291 : ill. includes bibliography
summary Mechanization and industrialization of society has resulted in most people spending the greater part of their lives in enclosed environments. Optimal design of indoor artificial climates is therefore of increasing importance. Wherever artificial climates are created for human occupation, the aim is that the environment be designed so that individuals are in thermal comfort. Current design methodologies for radiant panel heating systems do not adequately account for the complexities of human thermal comfort, because they monitor air temperature alone and do not account for thermal neutrality in complex enclosures. Thermal comfort for a person is defined as that condition of mind which expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment. Thermal comfort is dependent on Mean Radiant Temperature and Operative Temperature among other factors. In designing artificial climates for human occupancy the interaction of the human with the heated surfaces as well the surface-to-surface heat exchange must be accounted for. Early work in the area provided an elaborate and difficult method for calculating radiant heat exchange for simplistic and orthogonal enclosures. A new improved method developed by the authors for designing radiant panel heating systems based on human thermal comfort and mean radiant temperature is presented. Through automation and elaboration this method overcomes the limitations of the early work. The design procedure accounts for human thermal comfort in nonorthogonal as well as orthogonal spaces based on mean radiant temperature prediction. The limitation of simplistic orthogonal geometries has been overcome with the introduction of the MRT-Correction method and inclined surface-to-person shape factor methodology. The new design method increases the accuracy of calculation and prediction of human thermal comfort and will allow designers to simulate complex enclosures utilizing the latest design knowledge of radiant heat exchange to increase human thermal comfort
keywords applications, architecture, building, energy, systems, design, knowledge
series CADline
last changed 2003/06/02 10:24

_id 612c
authors Madrazo, Leandro
year 1998
title Computers and Architectural Design: Going Beyond the Tool
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1998.044
source Digital Design Studios: Do Computers Make a Difference? [ACADIA Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-07-1] Québec City (Canada) October 22-25, 1998, pp. 44-57
summary More often than not, discussions taking place in specialised conferences dealing with computers and design tend to focus mostly on the tool itself. What the computer can do that other tools cannot, how computers might improve design and whether a new aesthetic would result from the computer; these are among the most recurrent issues addressed in those forums. But, by placing the instrument at the center of the debate, we might be distorting the nature of design. In the course KEYWORDS, carried out in the years 1992 and 1993 at the ETH Zurich, the goal was to transcend the discourses that concentrate on the computer, integrating it in a wider theoretical framework including principles of modern art and architecture. This paper presents a summary of the content and results of this course.

series ACADIA
email
last changed 2022/06/07 07:59

_id 8b12
authors Manning, Peter and Mattar, Samir
year 1992
title A Preliminary to Development of Expert Systems for Total Design of Entire Buildings
source New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1992. pp. 215-237 : tables. includes bibliography
summary This paper has two primary objectives. The first is to represent the practicability of making the design of entire buildings a conscious, craftsman-like, activity conducted in the clear, without the mystery that tends, because of designers' usual 'black box' methods, to surround it. To this end, a design strategy and some tactics for resolving decisions at critical stages in the design process, which the authors have described elsewhere, are recapitulated to show how total design of buildings can be pursued in a generic manner. This done, the way is opened for the second objective: to make the large and important field of work that is building design amenable to computerization. The form that pursuit of this second objective is taking is being influenced greatly by growing interest in expert systems, which for everyday professional building design appears a more useful development than previous CAD emphases on drafting and graphics. Application of the authors' design methods to a series of expert systems for the total design of entire buildings is therefore indicated. For such a vast project--the formulation of bases for design assistance and expert systems that can be integrated and used as a generic method for the total design of entire buildings, so that the results are more certain and successful than the outcome of the generality of present-day building design--the most that can be attempted within the limits of a single paper is a set of examples of some of the stages in the process. Nevertheless, since the design method described begins at the 'large end' of the process, where the most consequential decisions are made, it is hoped that the major thrusts and the essential CAD activities will be evident. All design is substantially iterative, and provided that the major iterations are intelligible, there should be no need for this demonstration to labor over the lesser ones
keywords evaluation, integration, architecture, building, expert systems, design methods, design process
series CADline
last changed 2003/06/02 13:58

_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 2c22
authors O'Neill, Michael J.
year 1992
title Neural Network Simulation as a Computer- Aided design Tool For Predicting Wayfinding Performance
source New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1992. pp. 347-366 : ill. includes bibliography
summary Complex public facilities such as libraries, hospitals, and governmental buildings often present problems to users who must find their way through them. Research shows that difficulty in wayfinding has costs in terms of time, money, public safety, and stress that results from being lost. While a wide range of architectural research supports the notion that ease of wayfinding should be a criterion for good design, architects have no method for evaluating how well their building designs will support the wayfinding task. People store and retrieve information about the layout of the built environment in a knowledge representation known as the cognitive map. People depend on the information stored in the cognitive map to find their way through buildings. Although there are numerous simulations of the cognitive map, the mechanisms of these models are not constrained by what is known about the neurophysiology of the brain. Rather, these models incorporate search mechanisms that act on semantically encoded information about the environment. In this paper the author describes the evaluation and application of an artificial neural network simulation of the cognitive map as a means of predicting wayfinding behavior in buildings. This simulation is called NAPS-PC (Network Activity Processing Simulator--PC version). This physiologically plausible model represents knowledge about the layout of the environment through a network of inter-connected processing elements. The performance of NAPS-PC was evaluated against actual human wayfinding performance. The study found that the simulation generated behavior that matched the performance of human participants. After the validation, NAPS-PC was modified so that it could read environmental information directly from AutoCAD (a popular micro-computer-based CAD software package) drawing files, and perform 'wayfinding' tasks based on that environmental information. This prototype tool, called AutoNet, is conceptualized as a means of allowing designers to predict the wayfinding performance of users in a building before it is actually built
keywords simulation, cognition, neural networks, evaluation, floor plans, applications, wayfinding, layout, building
series CADline
last changed 2003/06/02 13:58

_id 054b
authors Peitgen, H.-O., Jürgens, H. and Saupe, D.
year 1992
title Fractals for the Classroom. Part 1: Introduction to Fractals and Chaos
source Springer Verlag, New York
summary Fractals for the Classroom breaks new ground as it brings an exciting branch of mathematics into the classroom. The book is a collection of independent chapters on the major concepts related to the science and mathematics of fractals. Written at the mathematical level of an advanced secondary student, Fractals for the Classroom includes many fascinating insights for the classroom teacher and integrates illustrations from a wide variety of applications with an enjoyable text to help bring the concepts alive and make them understandable to the average reader. This book will have a tremendous impact upon teachers, students, and the mathematics education of the general public. With the forthcoming companion materials, including four books on strategic classroom activities and lessons with interactive computer software, this package will be unparalleled.
series other
last changed 2003/04/23 15:14

_id 0a34
authors Ronchi, Alfredo M.
year 1992
title Education in Computing - Computing in Education
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.387
source CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 387-398
summary The theme of this presentation which is entitled 'Education in Computing & Computing in Education' is certainly of great importance in the present climate characterized on the one hand by availability of highly efficient hardware, low-cost procedures and environments which are of great interest also as far as education is concerned. Within this topic it is of primary importance to ask oneself the question 'To learn architecture with computers must students learn computers?', and should the answer be 'yes', to ask 'To what extent? What level of complexity needs to be attained in order to realize this aim? What resources need to be dedicated to the learning of computer science? Should deep involvement be necessary, at what point should we refer to a computer scientist?' In an attempt to answer these questions, it is useful to examine the state of the art within computer science vs. engineering and computer science vs. education.
series eCAADe
email
last changed 2022/06/07 07:56

_id 1992
authors Russell, Peter
year 2002
title Using Higher Level Programming in Interdisciplinary teams as a means of training for Concurrent Engineering
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2002.014
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. 14-19
summary The paper explains a didactical method for training students that has been run three times to date. The premise of the course is to combine students from different faculties into interdisciplinary teams. These teams then have a complex problem to resolve within an extremely short time span. In light of recent works from Joy and Kurzweil, the theme Robotics was chosen as an exercise that is timely, interesting and related, but not central to the studies of the various faculties. In groups of 3 to 5, students from faculties of architecture, computer science and mechanical engineering are entrusted to design, build and program a robot which must successfully execute a prescribed set of actions in a competitive atmosphere. The entire course lasts ten days and culminates with the competitive evaluation. The robots must navigate a labyrinth, communicate with on another and be able to cover longer distances with some speed. In order to simplify the resources available to the students, the Lego Mindstorms Robotic syshed backgrounds instaed of synthetic ones. The combination of digitally produced (scanned) sperical images together with the use of HDR open a wide range of new implementation in the field of architecture, especially in combining synthetic elements in existing buildings, e.g. new interior elements in an existing historical museum).ural presentations in the medium of computer animation. These new forms of expression of design thoughts and ideas go beyond mere model making, and move more towards scenemaking and storytelling. The latter represents new methods of expression within computational environments for architects and designers.its boundaries. The project was conducted using the pedagogical framework of the netzentwurf.de; a relatively well established Internet based communication platform. This means that the studio was organised in the „traditional“ structure consisting of an initial 3 day workshop, a face to face midterm review, and a collective final review, held 3,5 months later in the Museum of Communication in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In teams of 3 (with each student from a different university and a tutor located at a fourth) the students worked over the Internet to produce collaborative design solutions. The groups ended up with designs that spanned a range of solutions between real and virtual architecture. Examples of the student’s work (which is all available online) as well as their working methods are described. It must be said that the energy invested in the studio by the organisers of the virtual campus (as well as the students who took part) was considerably higher than in normal design studios and the paper seeks to look critically at the effort in relation to the outcomes achieved. The range and depth of the student’s work was surprising to many in the project, especially considering the initial hurdles (both social and technological) that had to overcome. The self-referential nature of the theme, the method and the working environment encouraged the students to take a more philosg and programming a winning robot. These differences became apparent early in the sessions and each group had to find ways to communicate their ideas and to collectively develop them by building on the strengths of each team member.
series eCAADe
type normal paper
email
last changed 2022/06/07 07:56

_id a3f5
authors Zandi-Nia, Abolfazl
year 1992
title Topgene: An artificial Intelligence Approach to a Design Process
source Delft University of Technology
summary This work deals with two architectural design (AD) problems at the topological level and in presence of the social norms community, privacy, circulation-cost, and intervening opportunity. The first problem concerns generating a design with respect to a set of above mentioned norms, and the second problem requires evaluation of existing designs with respect to the same set of norms. Both problems are based on the structural-behavioral relationship in buildings. This work has challenged above problems in the following senses: (1) A working system, called TOPGENE (The TOpological Pattern GENErator) has been developed. (2) Both problems may be vague and may lack enough information in their statement. For example, an AD in the presence of the social norms requires the degrees of interactions between the location pairs in the building. This information is not always implicitly available, and must be explicated from the design data. (3) An AD problem at topological level is intractable with no fast and efficient algorithm for its solution. To reduce the search efforts in the process of design generation, TOPGENE uses a heuristic hill climbing strategy that takes advantage of domain specific rules of thumbs to choose a path in the search space of a design. (4) TOPGENE uses the Q-analysis method for explication of hidden information, also hierarchical clustering of location-pairs with respect to their flow generation potential as a prerequisite information for the heuristic reasoning process. (5) To deal with a design of a building at topological level TOPGENE takes advantage of existing graph algorithms such as path-finding and planarity testing during its reasoning process. This work also presents a new efficient algorithm for keeping track of distances in a growing graph. (6) This work also presents a neural net implementation of a special case of the design generation problem. This approach is based on the Hopfield model of neural networks. The result of this approach has been used test TOPGENE approach in generating designs. A comparison of these two approaches shows that the neural network provides mathematically more optimal designs, while TOPGENE produces more realistic designs. These two systems may be integrated to create a hybrid system.
series thesis:PhD
last changed 2003/02/12 22:37

_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 4704
authors Amirante, I., Rinaldi, S. and Muzzillo, F.
year 1992
title A Tutorial Experiment Concerning Dampness Diagnosis Supported by an Expert System
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1992.159
source CAAD Instruction: The New Teaching of an Architect? [eCAADe Conference Proceedings] Barcelona (Spain) 12-14 November 1992, pp. 159-172
summary (A) The teaching of Technology of Building Rehabilitation in Italian Universities - (B) Experimental course of technological rehabilitation with computer tools - (C) Synthesis of technological approach - (D) Dampness diagnostic process using the Expert System - (E) Primary consideration on tutorial experience - (F) Bibliography
series eCAADe
last changed 2022/06/07 07:54

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