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CumInCAD is a Cumulative Index about publications in Computer Aided Architectural Design
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_id	2068
authors	Frazer, John
year	1995
title	AN EVOLUTIONARY ARCHITECTURE
source	London: Architectural Association
summary	In "An Evolutionary Architecture", John Frazer presents an overview of his work for the past 30 years. Attempting to develop a theoretical basis for architecture using analogies with nature's processes of evolution and morphogenesis. Frazer's vision of the future of architecture is to construct organic buildings. Thermodynamically open systems which are more environmentally aware and sustainable physically, sociologically and economically. The range of topics which Frazer discusses is a good illustration of the breadth and depth of the evolutionary design problem. Environmental Modelling One of the first topics dealt with is the importance of environmental modelling within the design process. Frazer shows how environmental modelling is often misused or misinterpreted by architects with particular reference to solar modelling. From the discussion given it would seem that simplifications of the environmental models is the prime culprit resulting in misinterpretation and misuse. The simplifications are understandable given the amount of information needed for accurate modelling. By simplifying the model of the environmental conditions the architect is able to make informed judgments within reasonable amounts of time and effort. Unfortunately the simplications result in errors which compound and cause the resulting structures to fall short of their anticipated performance. Frazer obviously believes that the computer can be a great aid in the harnessing of environmental modelling data, providing that the same simplifying assumptions are not made and that better models and interfaces are possible. Physical Modelling Physical modelling has played an important role in Frazer's research. Leading to the construction of several novel machine readable interactive models, ranging from lego-like building blocks to beermat cellular automata and wall partitioning systems. Ultimately this line of research has led to the Universal Constructor and the Universal Interactor. The Universal Constructor The Universal Constructor features on the cover of the book. It consists of a base plug-board, called the "landscape", on top of which "smart" blocks, or cells, can be stacked vertically. The cells are individually identified and can communicate with neighbours above and below. Cells communicate with users through a bank of LEDs displaying the current state of the cell. The whole structure is machine readable and so can be interpreted by a computer. The computer can interpret the states of the cells as either colour or geometrical transformations allowing a wide range of possible interpretations. The user interacts with the computer display through direct manipulation of the cells. The computer can communicate and even direct the actions of the user through feedback with the cells to display various states. The direct manipulation of the cells encourages experimentation by the user and demonstrates basic concepts of the system. The Universal Interactor The Universal Interactor is a whole series of experimental projects investigating novel input and output devices. All of the devices speak a common binary language and so can communicate through a mediating central hub. The result is that input, from say a body-suit, can be used to drive the out of a sound system or vice versa. The Universal Interactor opens up many possibilities for expression when using a CAD system that may at first seem very strange.However, some of these feedback systems may prove superior in the hands of skilled technicians than more standard devices. Imagine how a musician might be able to devise structures by playing melodies which express the character. Of course the interpretation of input in this form poses a difficult problem which will take a great deal of research to achieve. The Universal Interactor has been used to provide environmental feedback to affect the development of evolving genetic codes. The feedback given by the Universal Interactor has been used to guide selection of individuals from a population. Adaptive Computing Frazer completes his introduction to the range of tools used in his research by giving a brief tour of adaptive computing techniques. Covering topics including cellular automata, genetic algorithms, classifier systems and artificial evolution. Cellular Automata As previously mentioned Frazer has done some work using cellular automata in both physical and simulated environments. Frazer discusses how surprisingly complex behaviour can result from the simple local rules executed by cellular automata. Cellular automata are also capable of computation, in fact able to perform any computation possible by a finite state machine. Note that this does not mean that cellular automata are capable of any general computation as this would require the construction of a Turing machine which is beyond the capabilities of a finite state machine. Genetic Algorithms Genetic algorithms were first presented by Holland and since have become a important tool for many researchers in various areas.Originally developed for problem-solving and optimization problems with clearly stated criteria and goals. Frazer fails to mention one of the most important differences between genetic algorithms and other adaptive problem-solving techniques, ie. neural networks. Genetic algorithms have the advantage that criteria can be clearly stated and controlled within the fitness function. The learning by example which neural networks rely upon does not afford this level of control over what is to be learned. Classifier Systems Holland went on to develop genetic algorithms into classifier systems. Classifier systems are more focussed upon the problem of learning appropriate responses to stimuli, than searching for solutions to problems. Classifier systems receive information from the environment and respond according to rules, or classifiers. Successful classifiers are rewarded, creating a reinforcement learning environment. Obviously, the mapping between classifier systems and the cybernetic view of organisms sensing, processing and responding to environmental stimuli is strong. It would seem that a central process similar to a classifier system would be appropriate at the core of an organic building. Learning appropriate responses to environmental conditions over time. Artificial Evolution Artificial evolution traces it's roots back to the Biomorph program which was described by Dawkins in his book "The Blind Watchmaker". Essentially, artificial evolution requires that a user supplements the standard fitness function in genetic algorithms to guide evolution. The user may provide selection pressures which are unquantifiable in a stated problem and thus provide a means for dealing ill-defined criteria. Frazer notes that solving problems with ill-defined criteria using artificial evolution seriously limits the scope of problems that can be tackled. The reliance upon user interaction in artificial evolution reduces the practical size of populations and the duration of evolutionary runs. Coding Schemes Frazer goes on to discuss the encoding of architectural designs and their subsequent evolution. Introducing two major systems, the Reptile system and the Universal State Space Modeller. Blueprint vs. Recipe Frazer points out the inadequacies of using standard "blueprint" design techniques in developing organic structures. Using a "recipe" to describe the process of constructing a building is presented as an alternative. Recipes for construction are discussed with reference to the analogous process description given by DNA to construct an organism. The Reptile System The Reptile System is an ingenious construction set capable of producing a wide range of structures using just two simple components. Frazer saw the advantages of this system for rule-based and evolutionary systems in the compactness of structure descriptions. Compactness was essential for the early computational work when computer memory and storage space was scarce. However, compact representations such as those described form very rugged fitness landscapes which are not well suited to evolutionary search techniques. Structures are created from an initial "seed" or minimal construction, for example a compact spherical structure. The seed is then manipulated using a series of processes or transformations, for example stretching, shearing or bending. The structure would grow according to the transformations applied to it. Obviously, the transformations could be a predetermined sequence of actions which would always yield the same final structure given the same initial seed. Alternatively, the series of transformations applied could be environmentally sensitive resulting in forms which were also sensitive to their location. The idea of taking a geometrical form as a seed and transforming it using a series of processes to create complex structures is similar in many ways to the early work of Latham creating large morphological charts. Latham went on to develop his ideas into the "Mutator" system which he used to create organic artworks. Generalising the Reptile System Frazer has proposed a generalised version of the Reptile System to tackle more realistic building problems. Generating the seed or minimal configuration from design requirements automatically. From this starting point (or set of starting points) solutions could be evolved using artificial evolution. Quantifiable and specific aspects of the design brief define the formal criteria which are used as a standard fitness function. Non-quantifiable criteria, including aesthetic judgments, are evaluated by the user. The proposed system would be able to learn successful strategies for satisfying both formal and user criteria. In doing so the system would become a personalised tool of the designer. A personal assistant which would be able to anticipate aesthetic judgements and other criteria by employing previously successful strategies. Ultimately, this is a similar concept to Negroponte's "Architecture Machine" which he proposed would be computer system so personalised so as to be almost unusable by other people. The Universal State Space Modeller The Universal State Space Modeller is the basis of Frazer's current work. It is a system which can be used to model any structure, hence the universal claim in it's title. The datastructure underlying the modeller is a state space of scaleless logical points, called motes. Motes are arranged in a close-packing sphere arrangement, which makes each one equidistant from it's twelve neighbours. Any point can be broken down into a self-similar tetrahedral structure of logical points. Giving the state space a fractal nature which allows modelling at many different levels at once. Each mote can be thought of as analogous to a cell in a biological organism. Every mote carries a copy of the architectural genetic code in the same way that each cell within a organism carries a copy of it's DNA. The genetic code of a mote is stored as a sequence of binary "morons" which are grouped together into spatial configurations which are interpreted as the state of the mote. The developmental process begins with a seed. The seed develops through cellular duplication according to the rules of the genetic code. In the beginning the seed develops mainly in response to the internal genetic code, but as the development progresses the environment plays a greater role. Cells communicate by passing messages to their immediate twelve neighbours. However, it can send messages directed at remote cells, without knowledge of it's spatial relationship. During the development cells take on specialised functions, including environmental sensors or producers of raw materials. The resulting system is process driven, without presupposing the existence of a construction set to use. The datastructure can be interpreted in many ways to derive various phenotypes. The resulting structure is a by-product of the cellular activity during development and in response to the environment. As such the resulting structures have much in common with living organisms which are also the emergent result or by-product of local cellular activity. Primordial Architectural Soups To conclude, Frazer presents some of the most recent work done, evolving fundamental structures using limited raw materials, an initial seed and massive feedback. Frazer proposes to go further and do away with the need for initial seed and start with a primordial soup of basic architectural concepts. The research is attempting to evolve the starting conditions and evolutionary processes without any preconditions. Is there enough time to evolve a complex system from the basic building blocks which Frazer proposes? The computational complexity of the task being embarked upon is not discussed. There is an implicit assumption that the "superb tactics" of natural selection are enough to cut through the complexity of the task. However, Kauffman has shown how self-organisation plays a major role in the early development of replicating systems which we may call alive. Natural selection requires a solid basis upon which it can act. Is the primordial soup which Frazer proposes of the correct constitution to support self-organisation? Kauffman suggests that one of the most important attributes of a primordial soup to be capable of self-organisation is the need for a complex network of catalysts and the controlling mechanisms to stop the reactions from going supracritical. Can such a network be provided of primitive architectural concepts? What does it mean to have a catalyst in this domain? Conclusion Frazer shows some interesting work both in the areas of evolutionary design and self-organising systems. It is obvious from his work that he sympathizes with the opinions put forward by Kauffman that the order found in living organisms comes from both external evolutionary pressure and internal self-organisation. His final remarks underly this by paraphrasing the words of Kauffman, that life is always to found on the edge of chaos. By the "edge of chaos" Kauffman is referring to the area within the ordered regime of a system close to the "phase transition" to chaotic behaviour. Unfortunately, Frazer does not demonstrate that the systems he has presented have the necessary qualities to derive useful order at the edge of chaos. He does not demonstrate, as Kauffman does repeatedly, that there exists a "phase transition" between ordered and chaotic regimes of his systems. He also does not make any studies of the relationship of useful forms generated by his work to phase transition regions of his systems should they exist. If we are to find an organic architecture, in more than name alone, it is surely to reside close to the phase transition of the construction system of which is it built. Only there, if we are to believe Kauffman, are we to find useful order together with environmentally sensitive and thermodynamically open systems which can approach the utility of living organisms.
series	other
type	normal paper
last changed	2004/05/22 14:12

_id	30d7
authors	Bartnicka, Malgorzata
year	1995
title	Childishly Honest Associate of the Trickery
source	CAD Space [Proceedings of the III International Conference Computer in Architectural Design] Bialystock 27-29 April 1995, pp. 209-219
summary	Perspective is a method of presentation of 3- dimensional space on the 2-dimensional surface. It can only approximately express the complexity of the authentic perception of reality. During the centuries canons of presentation varied in different epochs. It is quite possible that conventions of presentation considered today as exact expressions of reality may seem for the future generations as untrue as the ancient Egypt paintings seem for us. Our mind plays the major role in all kinds of presentation. During the whole life we learn to perceive the surrounding reality. We have formed also ability to ,see" the perspective. The linear perspective is not so easy in perception without factors of colour and light. These factors play a very important role in perception of the distance. The perception of perspective is not always unmistakable. Introduction of light and shadow is one of the measures to limit the ambiguity. Objects shown in perspective with appropriately chosen colouring and light-and-shade effects reveal impression of the distance inside the flat picture. Illusions of perspective are most astonishing when one can assume deep-rooted expectations and suppositions of the addressee. The computer monitor, like the picture, has only one plane on which our project can be presented. The major feature of architecture programs is both the possibility of creating various architecture spaces and the possibility to examine how (in our opinion) the created space would affect the addressee. By means of computer programs we are able to generate drawings and objects of two kinds: first - being the ideal projection of reality (at least in the same measure as the photograph), and the second - being the total negation of perspective rules. By means of CAD programs enabling 3-dimensional job we can check how all sorts of perspective tricks and artifices affect our imagination. The program cooperates with us trying to cheat the imperfect sense of sight. The trickeries can be of various type, starting from play of lights, through the elements changing the perception of perspective, and terminating with objects totally negating the rules of sound construction of solids. The knowledge contained in these programs is an encyclopaedic recapitulation of all sorts of achievements in the field of perspective and application of colour and light effects. All that remains to the users is to exploit this tremendous variety of capabilities.
series	plCAD
last changed	2000/01/24 10:08

_id	4684
authors	Herzog, Marcus and Kühn, Christian
year	1995
title	Technological Issues in Multimedia Applications for Architectural Design Education
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1995.095
source	Multimedia and Architectural Disciplines [Proceedings of the 13th European Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe / ISBN 0-9523687-1-4] Palermo (Italy) 16-18 November 1995, pp. 95-104
summary	Teaching architecture is not primarily an instructional process but rather a process of interaction and experience. In this context multimedia material can be used to provide an active educational environment where students learn by doing. To yield an effective learning system expertise from various fields have to be combined. This paper emphasizes the technological challenges of multimedia applications in architectural design education. We discuss two research prototype systems and analyze the influence of the underpinning technology on the performance of the overall system design. Finally we give technical requirements that are demanded for next generation systems and propose a framework for concerted research action.
series	eCAADe
email
more	http://dpce.ing.unipa.it/Webshare/Wwwroot/ecaade95/Pag_13.htm
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

_id	1bb0
authors	Russell, S. and Norvig, P.
year	1995
title	Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
source	Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
summary	Humankind has given itself the scientific name homo sapiens--man the wise--because our mental capacities are so important to our everyday lives and our sense of self. The field of artificial intelligence, or AI, attempts to understand intelligent entities. Thus, one reason to study it is to learn more about ourselves. But unlike philosophy and psychology, which are also concerned with AI strives to build intelligent entities as well as understand them. Another reason to study AI is that these constructed intelligent entities are interesting and useful in their own right. AI has produced many significant and impressive products even at this early stage in its development. Although no one can predict the future in detail, it is clear that computers with human-level intelligence (or better) would have a huge impact on our everyday lives and on the future course of civilization. AI addresses one of the ultimate puzzles. How is it possible for a slow, tiny brain{brain}, whether biological or electronic, to perceive, understand, predict, and manipulate a world far larger and more complicated than itself? How do we go about making something with those properties? These are hard questions, but unlike the search for faster-than-light travel or an antigravity device, the researcher in AI has solid evidence that the quest is possible. All the researcher has to do is look in the mirror to see an example of an intelligent system. AI is one of the newest disciplines. It was formally initiated in 1956, when the name was coined, although at that point work had been under way for about five years. Along with modern genetics, it is regularly cited as the ``field I would most like to be in'' by scientists in other disciplines. A student in physics might reasonably feel that all the good ideas have already been taken by Galileo, Newton, Einstein, and the rest, and that it takes many years of study before one can contribute new ideas. AI, on the other hand, still has openings for a full-time Einstein. The study of intelligence is also one of the oldest disciplines. For over 2000 years, philosophers have tried to understand how seeing, learning, remembering, and reasoning could, or should, be done. The advent of usable computers in the early 1950s turned the learned but armchair speculation concerning these mental faculties into a real experimental and theoretical discipline. Many felt that the new ``Electronic Super-Brains'' had unlimited potential for intelligence. ``Faster Than Einstein'' was a typical headline. But as well as providing a vehicle for creating artificially intelligent entities, the computer provides a tool for testing theories of intelligence, and many theories failed to withstand the test--a case of ``out of the armchair, into the fire.'' AI has turned out to be more difficult than many at first imagined, and modern ideas are much richer, more subtle, and more interesting as a result. AI currently encompasses a huge variety of subfields, from general-purpose areas such as perception and logical reasoning, to specific tasks such as playing chess, proving mathematical theorems, writing poetry{poetry}, and diagnosing diseases. Often, scientists in other fields move gradually into artificial intelligence, where they find the tools and vocabulary to systematize and automate the intellectual tasks on which they have been working all their lives. Similarly, workers in AI can choose to apply their methods to any area of human intellectual endeavor. In this sense, it is truly a universal field.
series	other
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	b914
authors	Asanowicz, Aleksander and Asanowicz, Katarzyna
year	1995
title	Designing, CAD and CAD
source	CAD Space [Proceedings of the III International Conference Computer in Architectural Design] Bialystock 27-29 April 1995, pp. 181-192
summary	The general aim of our discussion is to analyze what has been changed in design process according to introducing the computers technology. For the better understanding of the design process evolution, we should precisely define start point - the traditional design process.Let's treat it as an iteration game between a designer and user. If we assume that the designing base is a reductive strategy, we can define six stages of it: 1.) To define a need; 2.) To formulate a task; 3.) To synthesize a design proposals; 4.) To analyze and optimize; 5.) To make a presentation. // The last stage - the presentation of designing proposals is the main factor of using computers in design process and creating definition of CAD as Computer Aided Drafting. According to this interpretation CAD has included four groups of activities: A.) Geometrical modelling; B.) Analysis; C.) Revision and estimation of design proposals; D.) Technical drawing preparing. // Unfortunately it has no connections with another meaning of CAD - Computer Aided Design because concerns every stage of design process except of creation of architectural form. On the other hand, computer enables us to improve the design process by permanent perception of designing forms and dynamic control over the transforming structure. Nowadays thanks to full-function sketching workstation and software like Fractal Design Painter a computer can be useful from the moment when the first line is drawing. It is possible, that the new generation of CAD software - CAD with Personality which connects computer models with picture transformation will enable CAD to be Computer Aided Design.
series	plCAD
email
last changed	2000/01/24 10:08

_id	c7e9
authors	Maver, T.W.
year	2002
title	Predicting the Past, Remembering the Future
source	SIGraDi 2002 - [Proceedings of the 6th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics] Caracas (Venezuela) 27-29 november 2002, pp. 2-3
summary	Charlas Magistrales 2There never has been such an exciting moment in time in the extraordinary 30 year history of our subject area, as NOW,when the philosophical theoretical and practical issues of virtuality are taking centre stage.The PastThere have, of course, been other defining moments during these exciting 30 years:• the first algorithms for generating building layouts (circa 1965).• the first use of Computer graphics for building appraisal (circa 1966).• the first integrated package for building performance appraisal (circa 1972).• the first computer generated perspective drawings (circa 1973).• the first robust drafting systems (circa 1975).• the first dynamic energy models (circa 1982).• the first photorealistic colour imaging (circa 1986).• the first animations (circa 1988)• the first multimedia systems (circa 1995), and• the first convincing demonstrations of virtual reality (circa 1996).Whereas the CAAD community has been hugely inventive in the development of ICT applications to building design, it hasbeen woefully remiss in its attempts to evaluate the contribution of those developments to the quality of the built environmentor to the efficiency of the design process. In the absence of any real evidence, one can only conjecture regarding the realbenefits which fall, it is suggested, under the following headings:• Verisimilitude: The extraordinary quality of still and animated images of the formal qualities of the interiors and exteriorsof individual buildings and of whole neighborhoods must surely give great comfort to practitioners and their clients thatwhat is intended, formally, is what will be delivered, i.e. WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get.• Sustainability: The power of «first-principle» models of the dynamic energetic behaviour of buildings in response tochanging diurnal and seasonal conditions has the potential to save millions of dollars and dramatically to reduce thedamaging environmental pollution created by badly designed and managed buildings.• Productivity: CAD is now a multi-billion dollar business which offers design decision support systems which operate,effectively, across continents, time-zones, professions and companies.• Communication: Multi-media technology - cheap to deliver but high in value - is changing the way in which we canexplain and understand the past and, envisage and anticipate the future; virtual past and virtual future!MacromyopiaThe late John Lansdown offered the view, in his wonderfully prophetic way, that ...”the future will be just like the past, onlymore so...”So what can we expect the extraordinary trajectory of our subject area to be?To have any chance of being accurate we have to have an understanding of the phenomenon of macromyopia: thephenomenon exhibitted by society of greatly exaggerating the immediate short-term impact of new technologies (particularlythe information technologies) but, more importantly, seriously underestimating their sustained long-term impacts - socially,economically and intellectually . Examples of flawed predictions regarding the the future application of information technologiesinclude:• The British Government in 1880 declined to support the idea of a national telephonic system, backed by the argumentthat there were sufficient small boys in the countryside to run with messages.• Alexander Bell was modest enough to say that: «I am not boasting or exaggerating but I believe, one day, there will bea telephone in every American city».• Tom Watson, in 1943 said: «I think there is a world market for about 5 computers».• In 1977, Ken Olssop of Digital said: «There is no reason for any individuals to have a computer in their home».The FutureJust as the ascent of woman/man-kind can be attributed to her/his capacity to discover amplifiers of the modest humancapability, so we shall discover how best to exploit our most important amplifier - that of the intellect. The more we know themore we can figure; the more we can figure the more we understand; the more we understand the more we can appraise;the more we can appraise the more we can decide; the more we can decide the more we can act; the more we can act themore we can shape; and the more we can shape, the better the chance that we can leave for future generations a trulysustainable built environment which is fit-for-purpose, cost-beneficial, environmentally friendly and culturally significactCentral to this aspiration will be our understanding of the relationship between real and virtual worlds and how to moveeffortlessly between them. We need to be able to design, from within the virtual world, environments which may be real ormay remain virtual or, perhaps, be part real and part virtual.What is certain is that the next 30 years will be every bit as exciting and challenging as the first 30 years.
series	SIGRADI
email
last changed	2016/03/10 09:55

_id	ec17
authors	Shelden, D., Bharwani, S., Mitchell, W.J. and Williams, J.
year	1995
title	Requirements for Virtual Design Review
source	Architectural Research Quarterly 1(2), December
summary	Requirements for Virtual Design Review: Fundamental Argument: This article deals primarily with the actual physical components of a virtual design review, and the difficulties associated with their integration. It is a rather refreshing approach to the problem of the virtual studio, in that it provides an empirical model of how the virtual and the real interact. Needless to say, there were numerous difficulties. 1. The reviewers and the students had to adapt to a new system of design review. Thus, traditional protocols and procedures may or may not work when dealing with a project in the virtual realm. The jurors and the students did become more comfortable as the jury progressed, but it is safe to say that those who went first most likely had a difficult and rather unhelpful session. 2. The technology itself was limited in what it could accomplish. The rate of transmissions across the line often hindered the review. Those students who used analog display, such as drawings or sketches, were not able to present these items effectively to remote viewers. The article does state that the virtual design review drew heavily upon the model of tradition review for its procedures. Was this the correct way of conducting the jury? With the introduction of technology into the process, one would think that there would be a significant shift in the model. Though the traditional model may be useful as a point of departure, we must critically engage the unique qualities that technology brings to the review. I would argue that a new model would need to be developed, whether it is a radical departure, a hybrid, or a modest adjustment to the existing model. For a traditional review, all one might need are a few push pins, a table for model display, and a surface upon which to pin his or her drawings. For the digital review, one requires monitors, computers, special lighting, video cameras, electrical outlets and phone jacks, and whatever else might be required to conduct a successful jury. It is in fact more akin to a television production than a traditional jury. The sheer complexity that technology inserts into the process can seem almost overwhelming. Yet if we can narrow our focus, find the essentials, by critically engaging those areas that will be affected by its introduction, then we can begin to imagine a true digital review.
series	journal paper
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	4d18
authors	Turkle, S.
year	1995
title	Life on the Screen: identity in the age of the Internet
source	New York: Simon & Shuster
summary	Sherry Turkle is rapidly becoming the sociologist of the Internet, and that's beginning to seem like a good thing. While her first outing, The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit, made groundless assertions and seemed to be carried along more by her affection for certain theories than by a careful look at our current situation, Life on the Screen is a balanced and nuanced look at some of the ways that cyberculture helps us comment upon real life (what the cybercrowd sometimes calls RL). Instead of giving in to any one theory on construction of identity, Turkle looks at the way various netizens have used the Internet, and especially MUDs (Multi-User Dimensions), to learn more about the possibilities available in apprehending the world. One of the most interesting sections deals with gender, a topic prone to rash and partisan pronouncements. Taking as her motto William James's maxim "Philosophy is the art of imagining alternatives," Turkle shows how playing with gender in cyberspace can shape a person's real-life understanding of gender. Especially telling are the examples of the man who finds it easier to be assertive when playing a woman, because he believes male assertiveness is now frowned upon while female assertiveness is considered hip, and the woman who has the opposite response, believing that it is easier to be aggressive when she plays a male, because as a woman she would be considered "bitchy." Without taking sides, Turkle points out how both have expanded their emotional range. Other topics, such as artificial life, receive an equally calm and sage response, and the first-person accounts from many Internet users provide compelling reading and good source material for readers to draw their own conclusions.
series	other
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	avocaad_2001_16
id	avocaad_2001_16
authors	Yu-Ying Chang, Yu-Tung Liu, Chien-Hui Wong
year	2001
title	Some Phenomena of Spatial Characteristics of Cyberspace
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	"Space," which has long been an important concept in architecture (Bloomer & Moore, 1977; Mitchell, 1995, 1999), has attracted interest of researchers from various academic disciplines in recent years (Agnew, 1993; Benko & Strohmayer, 1996; Chang, 1999; Foucault, 1982; Gould, 1998). Researchers from disciplines such as anthropology, geography, sociology, philosophy, and linguistics regard it as the basis of the discussion of various theories in social sciences and humanities (Chen, 1999). On the other hand, since the invention of Internet, Internet users have been experiencing a new and magic "world." According to the definitions in traditional architecture theories, "space" is generated whenever people define a finite void by some physical elements (Zevi, 1985). However, although Internet is a virtual, immense, invisible and intangible world, navigating in it, we can still sense the very presence of ourselves and others in a wonderland. This sense could be testified by our naming of Internet as Cyberspace -- an exotic kind of space. Therefore, as people nowadays rely more and more on the Internet in their daily life, and as more and more architectural scholars and designers begin to invest their efforts in the design of virtual places online (e.g., Maher, 1999; Li & Maher, 2000), we cannot help but ask whether there are indeed sensible spaces in Internet. And if yes, these spaces exist in terms of what forms and created by what ways?To join the current interdisciplinary discussion on the issue of space, and to obtain new definition as well as insightful understanding of "space", this study explores the spatial phenomena in Internet. We hope that our findings would ultimately be also useful for contemporary architectural designers and scholars in their designs in the real world.As a preliminary exploration, the main objective of this study is to discover the elements involved in the creation/construction of Internet spaces and to examine the relationship between human participants and Internet spaces. In addition, this study also attempts to investigate whether participants from different academic disciplines define or experience Internet spaces in different ways, and to find what spatial elements of Internet they emphasize the most.In order to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the spatial phenomena in Internet and to overcome the subjectivity of the members of the research team, the research design of this study was divided into two stages. At the first stage, we conducted literature review to study existing theories of space (which are based on observations and investigations of the physical world). At the second stage of this study, we recruited 8 Internet regular users to approach this topic from different point of views, and to see whether people with different academic training would define and experience Internet spaces differently.The results of this study reveal that the relationship between human participants and Internet spaces is different from that between human participants and physical spaces. In the physical world, physical elements of space must be established first; it then begins to be regarded as a place after interaction between/among human participants or interaction between human participants and the physical environment. In contrast, in Internet, a sense of place is first created through human interactions (or activities), Internet participants then begin to sense the existence of a space. Therefore, it seems that, among the many spatial elements of Internet we found, "interaction/reciprocity" Ñ either between/among human participants or between human participants and the computer interface Ð seems to be the most crucial element.In addition, another interesting result of this study is that verbal (linguistic) elements could provoke a sense of space in a degree higher than 2D visual representation and no less than 3D visual simulations. Nevertheless, verbal and 3D visual elements seem to work in different ways in terms of cognitive behaviors: Verbal elements provoke visual imagery and other sensory perceptions by "imagining" and then excite personal experiences of space; visual elements, on the other hand, provoke and excite visual experiences of space directly by "mapping".Finally, it was found that participants with different academic training did experience and define space differently. For example, when experiencing and analyzing Internet spaces, architecture designers, the creators of the physical world, emphasize the design of circulation and orientation, while participants with linguistics training focus more on subtle language usage. Visual designers tend to analyze the graphical elements of virtual spaces based on traditional painting theories; industrial designers, on the other hand, tend to treat these spaces as industrial products, emphasizing concept of user-center and the control of the computer interface.The findings of this study seem to add new information to our understanding of virtual space. It would be interesting for future studies to investigate how this information influences architectural designers in their real-world practices in this digital age. In addition, to obtain a fuller picture of Internet space, further research is needed to study the same issue by examining more Internet participants who have no formal linguistics and graphical training.
series	AVOCAAD
email
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

_id	47c1
authors	Selles Cantos, P. and Mas Llorens, V.
year	1995
title	Digital Modelling Tools at the Design Studio: Methodology
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1995.061
source	Multimedia and Architectural Disciplines [Proceedings of the 13th European Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe / ISBN 0-9523687-1-4] Palermo (Italy) 16-18 November 1995, pp. 61-70
summary	This research work is being financed by the "Instituto de Ciencias de la Educacion, I. CE., Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, U.P.V. and currently taking place at the "Taller2 de Proyectos Arquitectdnicos." We have placed CAD systems on drafting tables, so students can learn to apply different media and tools, both digital and traditional, in their design processes. To integrate CAD systems into the design studio we have developed a methodology upon which to relate the "Mechanics of the digital tool," with the often elusive and seldom explicit, "Mechanics of designing". We see architectural design as a process that can benefit from the use of computer systems through modelling (representation), and rendering (static or dynamic visualization). Digital modelling tools are powerful instruments to simulate and visualize (perceive) formal and spatial arrangements, under certain conditions of superficial appearance and light. Geometry composition, texture, light projection, rendering and animation, are the keys to understanding a digital modelling system as an extension of our design process. We introduce and explain each one of these categories, as it applies to architectural design and to three dimensional CAD systems. We present samples of student work following this method.
series	eCAADe
more	http://dpce.ing.unipa.it/Webshare/Wwwroot/ecaade95/Pag_8.htm
last changed	2022/06/07 07:56

_id	aab6
authors	Bermudez, Julio
year	1995
title	Designing Architectural Experiences: Using Computers to Construct Temporal 3D Narratives
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1995.139
source	Computing in Design - Enabling, Capturing and Sharing Ideas [ACADIA Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-04-7] University of Washington (Seattle, Washington / USA) October 19-22, 1995, pp. 139-149
summary	Computers are launching us into a representational revolution that fundamentally challenges the way we have hitherto conceived and practiced architecture. This paper will explore one of its fronts: the simulation of architectural experiences. Today's off-the-shelf softwares (e.g. 3D modeling, animations, multimedia) allow us for first time in history to depict and thus approach architectural design and criticism truly experientially. What is so appealing about this is the possibility of shifting our attention from the object to the experience of the object and in so doing reconceptualizing architectural design as the design of architectural experiences. Carrying forward such a phenomenological proposition requires us to know (1) how to work with non-traditional and 'quasi-immersive' (or subject-centered) representational systems, and (2) how to construct temporal assemblages of experiential events that unfold not unlike 'architectural stories'. As our discipline lacks enough knowledge on this area, importing models from other fields appears as an appropriate starting point. In this sense, the narrative arts (especially those involved with the temporal representation of audio-visual narratives) offer us the best insights. For example, principles of cinema and storytelling give us an excellent guidance for designing architectural experiences that have a structuring theme (parti), a plot (order), unfolding episodes (rhythm), and special events (details). Approaching architecture as a temporal 3D narrative does transform the design process and, consequently, its results. For instance, (1) phenomenological issues enter the decision making process in an equal footing to functional, technological, or compositional considerations; (2) orthographic representations become secondary sources of information, mostly used for later accurate dimensioning or geometrization; (3) multi-sensory qualities beyond sight are seriously considered (particularly sound, texture, and kinesthetic); etc.
series	ACADIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:52

_id	47ae
authors	Comair, Claude and Kaga, Atsuko
year	1995
title	Open Design Environment (ODE): Global Design Studio, Experiments in 3D City Simulation
source	Sixth International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 9971-62-423-0] Singapore, 24-26 September 1995, pp. 113-124
summary	This paper depicts the evolution of the research done at the Sasada Laboratory (Osaka University) in the fields of Architectural and Urban related Computer Simulations. This research led to the birth of what we call the "Open Development Environment" (ODE). ODE is presented in this paper through a simple example. In this example, four teams cooperate to produce the database for a simple twin tower complex. The database is kept very simple and the protocol of communication among the different teams is a new computer language called VU (Vee-You). VU was conceived and developed by Claude Comair for the specific purpose of defining architectural and urban objects.
keywords	Computer Assisted Design, Computer Languages, Computer Generated Databases, Computer Graphics, Three-Dimensional Computer Simulation
series	CAAD Futures
email
last changed	2003/05/16 20:58

_id	8cdd
authors	Coyne, Richard
year	1995
title	Multimedia Metaphors in the Design Studio
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1995.129
source	Multimedia and Architectural Disciplines [Proceedings of the 13th European Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe / ISBN 0-9523687-1-4] Palermo (Italy) 16-18 November 1995, pp. 129-138
summary	In this paper I examine some of he ways that multimedia impacts upon the design studio. I show how multimedia affects design products and processes in so far as it is caught up in the metaphors we use in structuring design tasks. But this influence is far from deterministic. Metaphors entail various oppositions, the resolution of which sets the problems for the designer in the particular design situation. The article describes two cases of using multimedia in a design studio teaching situation. The first explores how multimedia brings to light the opposition between the design and the presentation of the design. I explore how students cope with the tensions that arise when using multimedia. The second case study looks at the conventional privileging of the visual over the other senses in architectural design. I describe a design studio in which we deliberately privileged the audile sense over the visual. This was established through the way we set the brief, hut also through the use of multimedia technology. Students used sound recorded from the site in conjunction with MIDI keyboard and sound processing technology to analyse and synthesise sound pertinent to the design of a pavilion at the Circular Quay area on the busy Sydney foreshore. We examine what difference this emphasis upon the audile made to the design process and to the design product, and how multimedia affects design.
series	eCAADe
email
more	http://dpce.ing.unipa.it/Webshare/Wwwroot/ecaade95/Pag_17.htm
last changed	2022/06/07 07:56

_id	b5d9
authors	González, Guillermo and Gutiérrez, Liliana
year	1999
title	El TDE-AC: tecnología digital y estrategia pedagógica (The Tde-ac: Digital Technology and Pedagogical Strategy)
source	III Congreso Iberoamericano de Grafico Digital [SIGRADI Conference Proceedings] Montevideo (Uruguay) September 29th - October 1st 1999, pp. 269-271
summary	In 1995 the programming of a specialized, expert graphic software CA-TSD, began. The TSD acronym designates a graphic language derived from the theory of spatial delimitation, it systematizes all possibilities of selection and combination of flat and volumetric figures. It establishes necessary and sufficient morphic and tactic dimensions to account for all possible relationships of selection and combination. TSD proposes a syntactic reading of those formal, pure design operations underlying traditional representations. Tracings and complex configurations described by tree-hierarchical structures of simple configurations allow for a coherent syntactic analysis of the design structure of any object this will allow the construction of a pure design formula for the conscious and unconscious prefiguration operations of an artist or style in this presentation, we will use our proprietary CA-TSD software that will allow for fast verification of what's stated, including architecture and graphic design examples.
series	SIGRADI
email
last changed	2016/03/10 09:52

_id	890b
authors	Jakimowicz, Adam
year	1995
title	Architecture not Aided – Architecture Transformed
source	CAD Space [Proceedings of the III International Conference Computer in Architectural Design] Bialystock 27-29 April 1995, pp. 193-207
summary	Permeating of new technologies (computer aided design) into architectural design causes essential changes in its structure. It is the process, set of mutually interrelated different social, political, cultural occurrences, which happen in the present time. Everything what is new, brings either fear or unreliable expectations. The reflection is needed to name what we will have to deal with in architecture. Architecture is not a stable sphere, and as other disciplines is subject to processes of change, which result from the specificity of the time. We need to be aware of the consequences these processes could cause. I located them in six general fields: 1.) Transformation of the tool traditional tools - set of singular, autonomous, mono-functional devices, which together make the environment; computer - one tool consisting of non-autonomous internal and external units, multifunctional; itself it is the environment, system; 2.) Transformation of the medium. As the medium is the message (M.McLuhan), so the essence of media is transmission. Traditional transmission in architectural design is direct (transmission is equivalent to recording, notation), computer based transmission is indirect (transmission is not equivalent to recording); 3.) Transformation of perception, imagination and thinking. Perception - in the process of design directly relates to media Indirect transmission - causes also rupture in direct relation between record and perception (mainly in modelling); simulated object is a stage in the process. Imagination, thinking - influenced with perception, with data transmitted from the medium - can be seen as inspiration; 4.) Transformation of cooperation and communication. It is to be done by elimination of some of intermediate stages in the design process and use of multimedial communication systems (Internet); 5.) Transformation of methodology. Same as in 4 with the possibility of simultaneous shifting in the hierarchy of design stages - almost full reversal of the process possible (regardless of individual methodology) - if needed of course; 6. Transformation of architecture itself. This concerns very deeply point 3 - and it rooms that natural consequences of the changes in perception, imagination and thinking should result in the new understanding of architecture - not as electronic methaphone, but as a sphere relevant (?!) to the vision of the world, which, as we see, is dramatically changing. The basic issue to accept is that this vision of the world should be interpreted individually. Personally.
series	plCAD
email
last changed	2000/01/24 10:08

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

_id	cf40
authors	Leyh, W.
year	1995
title	Automatic assembly of a commercial cavity block system
source	Automation in Construction 4 (2) (1995) pp. 147-167
summary	In an earlier publication (Leyh, 1993) the "Experiences with the Construction of a Building Assembly Robot" have been dealt with. The application of that robot system for the automatic assembly of commercial cavity blocks is the subject of a subsequent report which consists of two parts: in the first, this paper, we primarily deal with the assembly methods, in the second we deal with their realization. What is characteristic of cavity blocks is the fact that they are at first assembled dry, without cementing material, and the masonry is later filled with mortar. As to their weight and dimension, the cavity blocks used by the company GISOTON are adjusted to the ergonomics of a mason. The entirely different characteristics and abilities of assembly robots are not taken into consideration. However, their dimensional tolerance is relatively small (0.5 mm). Furthermore as cavity bricks, they have conic and oval recesses. Both features are strongly favourable for automation. This paper will highlight specific problems during automized construction assembly with commercial standard assembly elements, and help to solve them.
keywords	Robotics; Assembly methods; Jointing technique; Reference system; Gripper construction
series	journal paper
more	http://www.elsevier.com/locate/autcon
last changed	2003/06/02 09:36

_id	f766
authors	Mitchell, William J.
year	1995
title	CAD as a Social Process
source	Sixth International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 9971-62-423-0] Singapore, 24-26 September 1995, pp. 7-9
summary	We can now look back over more than three decades of CAD research, software development, and deployment in practice. In that time, several guiding paradigms have emerged - then have eventually been superseded(or, at least, extended and augmented by new ones. In this paper I briefly glance backward at successive paradigms, consider what each has contributed to our understanding of the subject, then go on to consider the latest - CAD as a network-supported, social process.
keywords	Geographically-Distributed Computing, Virtual Design Studios
series	CAAD Futures
email
last changed	2003/05/16 20:58

_id	2ab7
authors	Ozcan, Oguzhan
year	2001
title	Integration of Architectural Education in Teaching Interactive Media Design - A Course for Space Composition
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2001.245
source	Architectural Information Management [19th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-8-1] Helsinki (Finland) 29-31 August 2001, pp. 245-248
summary	In accordance with our design knowledge, the users’ expectations and the level of the technology reached, show us that interactive media design is not only an interactive environment which depends on two dimensional typographic composition any more. Spatial data has an important role in the formation of interactive media design (TUFTE 1995 p.38). From this point of view, the main factors of this issue are: (1) design of the storyboards, especially for gamedesign, that are made up of spatial perception, (2) the spatial organisations in which info-kiosks take place in public environment, (3) the relation between the screen and the organisation of space in interactive exhibition design. // When we consider the matter above, we understand that throughout the process of the curriculum of interactive media design for undergraduate education, only the traditional communication design and programming education is not sufficient enough, but architectural education must also take a part of this education in some degree. In this paper, as the theme of the considerations above, it is examined what kind of basic problems is to be faced in the integration of architectural education to that of the interactive media design and also the solution propositions formed for these problems.
keywords	Interactive Media, Architecture, Education, Design
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 08:00

_id	ebb2
authors	Proctor, George
year	2000
title	Reflections on the VDS, Pedagogy, Methods
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2000.015.2
source	ACADIA Quarterly, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 15-16
summary	After having conducted a Digital Media based design studio at Cal Poly for six years, we have developed a body of experience I feel is worth sharing. When the idea of conducting a studio with the exclusive use of digital tools was implemented at our college, it was still somewhat novel, and only 2 short years after the first VDS- Virtual Design Studio (UBC, UHK et.al.-1993). When we began, most of what we explored required a suspension of disbelief on the part of both the students and faculty reviewers of studio work. In a few short years the notions we examined have become ubiquitous in academic architectural discourse and are expanding into common use in practice. (For background, the digital media component of our curriculum owes much to my time at Harvard GSD [MAUD 1989-91] and the texts of: McCullough/Mitchell 1990, 1994; McCullough 1998; Mitchell 1990,1992,1996; Tufte 1990; Turkel 1995; and Wojtowicz 1993; and others.)
series	ACADIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 08:00

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