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 e8ef
authors Soufi, B. and Edmonds, E.
year 1996
title The cognitive basis of emergence: implications for design support
source Design Studies, Vol. 17 No. 4, 451-463
summary Emergent shapes play a significant role in the creative design process. Designers frequently visualize emergent shapes and structure their understanding of the design and their reasoning about it in terms of emergent entities and relations. In design research, effort has concentrated on developing computational models capable of representing emergent shapes. Much less attention has been paid to the cognitive processes that give rise to emergence. In cognitive science, however, emergence has been the subject of empirical study. It is suggested that both the study of perception and that of mental imagery can contribute to understanding the cognitive psychological basis of emergence and the nature of emergent shapes that arise. Relevant cognitive science research findings are reviewed in this paper. Based on these findings two main classes of emergence processes are developed. Their implications for the development of user-interactive computational models of emergent shapes are then discussed.
series journal paper
last changed 2003/04/23 15:50

_id 3905
authors Duffy, T.M. and Cunningham, D.J.
year 1996
title Constructivism: Implications for the design and delivery of instruction
source D.H. Jonassen, (Ed) Handbook of research for educational communications and technology, N.Y; Macmillan Library reference USA
summary This will be a seminar that examines Constructivist theory as it applies to our thinking about instruction. Many folks think of constructivism as a method of instruction -- it is not. It is a framework for thinking about learning or what it means to come to know. As such, it is a framework for understanding (interpreting) any learning environment as well as a framework for designing instruction. The seminar will be organized around weekly readings. We will examine the alternative constructivist theories, e.g., socio-cultural constructivism and cognitive constructivism, and the pragmatism of Richard Rorty. However, rather than focusing on the differences between these frameworks, our emphasis will be on the implications of the broader, common framework for the design of instruction. Hence we will spend most of the semester discussing strategies for designing and delivering instruction, e.g., the work of Bransford, Collins, Pea, Jonassen, Spiro, Fosnot, Senge, and Schank. We will consider both business and schooling environments for learning -- there is significant work in both domains. There will be particular emphasis of the use of technology in instruction. We will look at the communication, information, and context providing roles of technology as contrasted to the traditional approach of using technology to deliver instruction (to teach). We will also pay particular attention to problem based learning as one instructional model. In PBL there is particular emphasis on the role of the facilitator as a learning coach (process orientation) as opposed to a content provider. There is also a particular emphasis on supporting the development of abductive reasoning skills so that the learner develops the ability to be an effective problem solver in the content domain. The major paper/project for the course will be the design of instruction to train individuals to be learning coaches in a problem based learning or goal based scenario learning environment. That is, how do you support teachers in adapting the role of learning coach (which, of course, requires us to understand what it means to be a learning coach). Design teams will be formed with the teams all working on this same design problem. A comprehensive prototype of the learning environment is required as well as a paper provide the theoretical framework and rationale for the design strategy. While not required, I would expect that computer technology will play a significant role in the design of your learning environment. With that in mind, let me note that it is not required that the prototype be delivered on the computer, i.e., I am not requiring programming skills but rather design skills and so "storyboards" is all that is required.
series other
last changed 2003/04/23 15:14

_id ddssup9608
id ddssup9608
authors Gupta, M.K., Groves M. and Moran, J.D.
year 1996
title An EMIC approach to design: Methodology for creating supportive environments for young children
source Timmermans, Harry (Ed.), Third Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban Planning - Part two: Urban Planning Proceedings (Spa, Belgium), August 18-21, 1996
summary The responsibility of the designer is to understand the unique perspective of the users, in order to create functional and efficient environments. The task of creating supportive environments often becomes more difficult when there is discrepancy between the perspective of the designer and that of the user, which is the case when designing spaces for children. The interaction of children with their environment has been identified as the basis of their development Most of the previous research has focused on the perspectives that adults have of spaces for children (etic), rather than an understanding of the child's view as the primary user of the playspace (emic). Children's perceptions are influenced by their physical and cognitive perspectives thus posing a unique challenge for designers. The objective of this study was to learn about the perception and perspective of four-and five-year-olds of their favorite playspaces. The children needed to identify their favorite spaces and also be able to verbalize the activities and meanings associated with these spaces. To avoid adult bias at the onset, the idea of utilizing a Polaroid Captiva camera was formulated, facilitating an extremely short latency period between the child taking the pictures and the opportunity to talk about their favorite playspace. The process was extremely successful, and provides first hand insight into children's perception of their built environment Photographs taken by the young children include many spaces not designed for play. The emerging themes are a source of invaluable information for designers and planners for making informed design decisions and for creating supportive environments.
series DDSS
email
last changed 2003/08/07 16:36

_id ddssar9601
id ddssar9601
authors Achten, H.H., Bax, M.F.Th. and Oxman, R.M.
year 1996
title Generic Representations and the Generic Grid: Knowledge Interface, Organisation and Support of the (early) Design Process
source Timmermans, Harry (Ed.), Third Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban Planning - Part one: Architecture Proceedings (Spa, Belgium), August 18-21, 1996
summary Computer Aided Design requires the implementation of architectural issues in order to support the architectural design process. These issues consist of elements, knowledge structures, and design processes that are typical for architectural design. The paper introduces two concepts that aim to define and model some of such architectural issues: building types and design processes. The first concept, the Generic grid, will be shown to structure the description of designs, provide a form-based hierarchical decomposition of design elements, and to provide conditions to accommodate concurrent design processes. The second concept, the Generic representation, models generic and typological knowledge of building types through the use of graphic representations with specific knowledge contents. The paper discusses both concepts and will show the potential of implementing Generic representations on the basis of the Generic grid in CAAD systems.
series DDSS
last changed 2003/11/21 15:15

_id ddssup9603
id ddssup9603
authors Bach, Boudewijn and MacGillivray, Trina
year 1996
title Semi-manual design support for increasing railwaystation catchment & sustainable traffic routing
source Timmermans, Harry (Ed.), Third Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban Planning - Part two: Urban Planning Proceedings (Spa, Belgium), August 18-21, 1996
summary The shape ('configuration'), location and direction of the pattern of potential trips by foot or bicycle can help decision makers and designers:- the shape of such a pattern informs about the potential size of a traffic calming area(such as 30Km-zoning),- the location of such a pattern refers to the user-groups and specific destinations that a urban network should bring in safe reach for dictated groups,- the direction of such a pattern, together with shape and location, points to the best routing to raise the Sustainable Traffic Modal Split or to improve the reach of destinations like a railway-station.The patters can be generated from zip-code's of user-groups with obvious and daily destinations (school-children, rail-passengers). The next step confronts the theoretical pattern with the layout of streets and the traffic flow, mapping or listing (potential) confrontations between cars and the non-motorised modes, a basis for economical investment in traffic-safety.A design can 'model' the analysed pattern(s) to a economic, direct and safe base (cycle or pedestrian) network. In co-operation, the Dutch the traffic consultant "Verkeersadviesbureau Diepens & Okkema" in Delft, The Netherlands and the Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology, in Delft, The Netherlands, develloped the semi-manual design & decision support system "STAR-Analysis"
series DDSS
last changed 2003/11/21 15:16

_id 911c
authors Darken, Rudolph P.
year 1996
title Wayfinding in Large-Scale Virtual Worlds
source George Washington University
summary As important as navigation is to human performance in virtual worlds, it is an often overlooked problem in the design process. This dissertation reports an experiment intended to show that real-world wayfinding and environmental design principles are effective in designing virtual worlds which support skilled wayfinding behavior. The design principles are adapted from both the cognitive psychology literature and urban and architectural design methodologies. There are two categories of design principles; those that guide the organizational structure of the environment, and those that guide the use and presentation of maps. The study measures subject performance on a complex searching task in a number of virtual worlds with differing environmental cues. The environments are extremely large and consist of open sea, land, and ships which are used as targets for search tasks. The worlds are augmented with either a radial grid, a map, both, or neither. For each trial, the subject's viewpoint position and orientation was sampled approximately once per second. A verbal protocol with accompanying video was used to elicit information about the search strategies employed. A map drawing exercise followed each trial in order to gain insight to the subject's spatial knowledge (i.e. cognitive map) of the environment. The results show that subjects in the treatment without any additional cues were often disoriented and had extreme difficulty completing the task. The grid was shown to provide superior directional information but both treatments using the map were superior overall due to the geocentric perspective provided. Behaviors associated with each treatment indicate that the cues had a strong effect on both search performance and search strategy. The results suggest that users of large-scale virtual worlds require structure in order to effectively navigate. Augmentations such as direction indicators, maps, and path restriction can all greatly improve both wayfinding performance and overall user satisfaction.
series thesis:PhD
email
more http://www.seas.gwu.edu/~sibert/darken/publications/Dissertation_95/thesis.html
last changed 2003/02/12 22:37

_id 3386
authors Gavin, L., Keuppers, S., Mottram, C. and Penn, A.
year 2001
title Awareness Space in Distributed Social Networks
source Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 0-7923-7023-6] Eindhoven, 8-11 July 2001, pp. 615-628
summary In the real work environment we are constantly aware of the presence and activity of others. We know when people are away from their desks, whether they are doing concentrated work, or whether they are available for interaction. We use this peripheral awareness of others to guide our interactions and social behaviour. However, when teams of workers are spatially separated we lose 'awareness' information and this severely inhibits interaction and information flow. The Theatre of Work (TOWER) aims to develop a virtual space to help create a sense of social awareness and presence to support distributed working. Presence, status and activity of other people are made visible in the theatre of work and allow one to build peripheral awareness of the current activity patterns of those who we do not share space with in reality. TOWER is developing a construction set to augment the workplace with synchronous as well as asynchronous awareness. Current, synchronous activity patterns and statuses are played out in a 3D virtual space through the use of symbolic acting. The environment itself however is automatically constructed on the basis of the organisation's information resources and is in effect an information space. Location of the symbolic actor in the environment can therefore represent the focus of that person's current activity. The environment itself evolves to reflect historic patterns of information use and exchange, and becomes an asynchronous representation of the past history of the organisation. A module that records specific episodes from the synchronous event cycle as a Docudrama forms an asynchronous information resource to give a history of team work and decision taking. The TOWER environment is displayed using a number of screen based and ambient display devices. Current status and activity events are supplied to the system using a range of sensors both in the real environment and in the information systems. The methodology has been established as a two-stage process. The 3D spatial environment will be automatically constructed or generated from some aspect of the pre-existing organisational structure or its information resources or usage patterns. The methodology must be extended to provide means for that structure to grow and evolve in the light of patterns of actual user behaviour in the TOWER space. We have developed a generative algorithm that uses a cell aggregation process to transcribe the information space into a 3d space. In stage 2 that space was analysed using space syntax methods (Hillier & Hanson, 1984; Hillier 1996) to allow the properties of permeability and intelligibility to be measured, and then these fed back into the generative algorithm. Finally, these same measures have been used to evaluate the spatialised behaviour that users of the TOWER space show, and will used to feed this back into the evolution of the space. The stage of transcription from information structure to 3d space through a generative algorithm is critical since it is this stage that allows neighbourhood relations to be created that are not present in the original information structure. It is these relations that could be expected to help increase social density.
keywords Algorithmic Form Generation, Distributed Workgroups, Space Syntax
series CAAD Futures
email
last changed 2006/11/07 07:22

_id ddssar9612
id ddssar9612
authors Gorawara-Bhat, Rita
year 1996
title The physical context of social order
source Timmermans, Harry (Ed.), Third Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban Planning - Part one: Architecture Proceedings (Spa, Belgium), August 18-21, 1996
summary The present ethnographic study of work settings in an established survey research center (Midwest Survey) is unique in that it combines both social organizational specifcs j4 interior physical context in contrast to previous studies that have focussed either on physical aspects or on the social dimensions of work settings. For more than four years the author observed the spatial adaptation by personnel of Midwest Survey. The dates under consideration roughly coincide with a move of Midwest Survey from an original facility to a new (and larger) set of offices. Anchored by seventy three open-ended interviews (constituing roughly 30% of the staff) the observations were carried on during and after the interviews. The synthesis of the ethnographic material revealed that physical settings act not only as a background for facilities, but they become a salient aspect of work life as indicators of status /role congruency and incongruency. Physical settings, therefore, are proposed as "extension" attributes of role structure. In doing so, Nadel's conceptualization of role structure as comprising pivotal arid peripheral attributes (1957) is amplified to include the physical setting as an "extension" attribute. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are suggested.
series DDSS
last changed 2003/08/07 16:36

_id ddssar9615
id ddssar9615
authors Hill, S.M., Sinclair, B.S., Sandall, D., Butt, T.S., Sampson, N. and Blackie, N.
year 1996
title A Computer-Facilitated Approach for Development, Visualization and Testing of Functional Programming Information
source Timmermans, Harry (Ed.), Third Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban Planning - Part one: Architecture Proceedings (Spa, Belgium), August 18-21, 1996
summary Functional programming processes for complex architectural projects have traditionally been hampered by the static nature of available tools and technologies. Connection with user groups have likewise been disadvantaged through the employment of sender-oriented communications models that limit feedback and interaction. In addition, diminishing project budgets place increasing pressure on clients and consult-ants to develop more effective and efficient methods for the design and construction of buildings. This paper discusses a case-study involving the design of a highly complex medical laboratory wherein infoc mation technologies were used to facilitate the development, visualization and testing of functional pro-gramming information. The objectives for the project involved creating an environment where users and clients actively participate in consideration of programming directions and implications in a manner that would not only increase confidence that the program would meet user requirements now and in the future, but also would reduce redundant and or inefficient space within the overall building programme. In the approach used the distinction between programming and design is diminished to improve communication of desires and design responses. The findings of the study indicate that the computer-facilitated approach met the objectives of the project and that the methods developed hold promise for application across a broader range of project types.
series DDSS
last changed 2003/08/07 16:36

_id ddssar9616
id ddssar9616
authors Hunt, John
year 1996
title Establishing design directions for complex architectural projects: a decision support strategy
source Timmermans, Harry (Ed.), Third Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban Planning - Part one: Architecture Proceedings (Spa, Belgium), August 18-21, 1996
summary The paper seeks to identify characteristics of the design decision-making strategy implicit in the first placed design submissions for three significant architectural competitions: the Sydney Opera House competition, and two recent design competitions for university buildings in New Zealand. Cohn Rowe's (1982) characterisation of the design process is adopted as a basis for the analysis of these case studies. Rowe's fertile analogy between design and (criminal) detection is first outlined, then brought to bear on the case studies. By means of a comparison between the successful and selected unsuccessful design submissions in each case, aspects of Rowe's characterisation of the design process are confirmed. On the basis of this analysis several common features of the competition-winning submissions, and their implicit decision-making processes, are identified. The first of these features relates to establishing project or programmatic requirements and the prioritizing of these. The second concerns the role of design parameters or requirements that appear as conflicting or contradictory, in the development of a design direction and in innovative design outcomes. The third concerns the process of simultaneous consideration given by the designer to both project parameters or requirements, and to design solution possibilities - a process described by Rowe as "dialectical interanimation".
series DDSS
last changed 2003/08/07 16:36

_id ddssar9620
id ddssar9620
authors Koutamanis, Alexander
year 1996
title Elements and coordinating devices in architecture: An initial formulation
source Timmermans, Harry (Ed.), Third Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban Planning - Part one: Architecture Proceedings (Spa, Belgium), August 18-21, 1996
summary Design representations of the built environment are essentially atomistic. A design is represented by its atomic components which may vary according to abstraction level, their properties and, if possible, their relationships. The utility of such representations has been amply demonstrated in academic research. However, the transition to practice means a substantial growth of the size of these representations in order to cover the many abstraction levels and the multiple aspects involved in the design and the management of the built environment. In most cases the complexity of larger representations renders them unmanageable for both computers and humans. The paper outlines an approach which enriches the atomistic basis of the representation with connected but independent coordinating devices. This facilitates the transformation of the basic relational representations into multilevel structures where each level corresponds to different aspects and abstraction scales. Coordinating devices are instrumental for the representation of multilateral relationships and abstract spatial schemata which precede or supersede the placement and arrangement of elements.
series DDSS
last changed 2003/08/07 16:36

_id ca47
authors Lee, Shu Wan
year 1996
title A Cognitive Approach to Architectural Style Several Characteristics of Design Thinking in Architecture
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.1996.223
source CAADRIA ‘96 [Proceedings of The First Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia / ISBN 9627-75-703-9] Hong Kong (Hong Kong) 25-27 April 1996, pp. 223-226
summary Designing is a complicated human behaviour and method, and is often treated as a mysterious "black box” operation in human mind. In the early period as for theory-studying of design thinking, the way of thinking that the researchers took were mostly descriptive discussions. Therefore, they lacked direct and empirical evidence although those studies provided significant exploration of design thinking (Wang, 1995). In recent years as for the study of cognitive science, they have tried to make design "glass box”. That is to try to make the thinking processes embedded in designers publicized. That is also to externalize the design procedure which provided the design studies another theoretical basis of more accurate and deeply researched procedure (Jones, 1992). Hence the studying of design thinking has become more important and the method of designing has also progressed a lot. For example, the classification of the nature of design problem such as ill-defined and well-defined (Newell, Shaw, and Simon, 1967), and different theoretical procedure modes for different disciplines, such as viewing architectural models as conjecture-analysis models and viewing engineering models as analysis-synthesis (Cross, 1991).
series CAADRIA
last changed 2022/06/07 07:52

_id 57c7
authors Mathew, Paul
year 1996
title Integrated Energy Modeling for Computational Building Design Assistance
source Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Architecture
summary Insights into the importance of energy modeling in building design have not yet resulted in the sufficient and systematic use of modeling tools in practice. In recent years, there has been considerable discussion on the limitations of simulation tools, and there is a noteworthy consensus as to the nature of the contributing factors (material and time implications, problematic user-interfaces, inefficient data communication structures, poor integration with CAD systems, absence of 'active' design support). This thesis deals with three research questions that are especially pertinent to the quest for active, multi-aspect design and simulation environments: (1) The appropriateness and feasibility of a methodologically consistent performance modeling approach through the entire design process. (2) Strategies for a structurally 'seamless' containment of performance simulation within a computational design environment. (3) Technologies to facilitate dynamic and interactive performance-to-design mapping. At a paradigmatic level, this thesis critically examines the existing responses to each of these questions, and proposes alternative computational frameworks and technologies to overcome some of the system-immanent ('endogenous') limitations of the existing approaches. At an operational level, this thesis demonstrates the proposed solutions by implementing an active thermal simulation module (NOD
series thesis:PhD
email
last changed 2003/04/15 02:37

_id 037a
authors Oxman, R.E.
year 1996
title Design by re-representation: a model of visual reasoning in design
source Design Studies - Vol 18, No 4, pp. 329-347
summary The conception of design as a sequential process of description and redescription in the development of designs is presented. Re-representational theory (RRH) is introduced and the cognitive mechanisms which enable re-representation in design are explicated. A theory of re-representation and multiple representations in design is proposed. The concept of adaptation developed in CBR is exploited to formalize transformations in the re-representation process. An empirical research was constructed to study the cognitive abilities which underlie the creative phenomena of re-representation in design adaptation. On the basis of the findings of the experiment, a model of design re-representation is developed and presented. The main concepts of the model, multiple representation and re-representation, are shown to provide a powerful basis for the understanding of creative behavior in design.
series journal paper
email
last changed 2003/04/23 15:50

_id e09a
authors Rüdiger, Bjarne
year 1996
title The Masonry House Raised as an Exhibition and Information Building
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1996.387
source Education for Practice [14th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-2-2] Lund (Sweden) 12-14 September 1996, pp. 387-390
summary At many schools of architecture the studies are directed to practical, professional use, and this fact results in different attitudes. But normally, it will be so that the longer the student goes in the study the more aspects from practice will be involved. Therefore, the studies passes from the work with the design itself and the more artistic sides to the work with planning and production. The basis of the educational progress and the professional level is research and development. Within CAD it is important that this research develops as well the theoretical foundation and includes experience in the practical use. An attitude which prioritizes the practical qualifications late in the studies has of course an effect in the CAD instruction. Tendencies to consider the computer to be a tool of drawing and visualization will dominate, and the work with structuralized information models for a general documentation has had minor interest until now, and this also includes the use of professional applications developed from different conventions in support of collaboration and quality control. The dialogue between the environment of education and research on one hand and the professional business in practice must be considered important for the developing process in the use of CAD and for the building of usable IT models. The work with "The Masonry House" and later "The Building Trade House" tries to expose how a deliberate structuralization of the CAD model early in the sketching- and planning process can support as well the more esthetic estimates as the building technology documentation. And also point out the professional qualifications bound up with 11 to be integrated in the study course.
series eCAADe
email
last changed 2022/06/07 07:56

_id ddssar9628
id ddssar9628
authors Shabha, G. and Orr, K.
year 1996
title The Impacts of Facilities Management Techniques on the Operational Efficiency of School Buildings- An Assessment of Grant Maintained Schools
source Timmermans, Harry (Ed.), Third Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban Planning - Part one: Architecture Proceedings (Spa, Belgium), August 18-21, 1996
summary This paper attempts to examine the main benefits and pitfalls of FM as applied to Grant Maintained Schools (UMS) by assessing its implications on selected school buildings. It seeks to address a number of questions regarding the desirability of this method as applied to GMS. On what assumption has GMS model been based? To what extent has this model affected their operational efficiency? What are the financial implications? What are the future prospects? The main findings are that FM has provided new opportunities in the educational sector. Despite the economical uncertainty, it is highly likely that local control will remain. Giving the state of disrepair of many system-built schools of the 50's and the 60's, there are many opportunities for the FM to be exploited including condition survey, refurbishment of external envelope of the building, preventative maintenance, space utilisation and consultancy on meeting the EU health and safety legislation.
series DDSS
last changed 2003/08/07 16:36

_id ddssar9621
id ddssar9621
authors van Leeuwen, J.P., Wagter, H. R. and Oxman, M.
year 1996
title Information Modelling for Design Support - a Feature-based approach
source Timmermans, Harry (Ed.), Third Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban Planning - Part one: Architecture Proceedings (Spa, Belgium), August 18-21, 1996
summary The research described in this paper addresses the problem of modelling design information with respect to the dynamic nature of design. This requires information models to be highly flexible and extensible with domain-specific information-definitions. The approach followed in this research is inspired by the concepts of Features-technology, mainly applied in Mechanical Engineering, and results in a framework for defining flexible and extensible information models for architectural application. This approach distinguishes Generic Feature Types for the domain of architecture and Specific Feature Types for particular sub-domains. It proposes a classification of Feature Types, as well as an infrastructure that accommodates the definition and particularization of Features Types. The research involves the development of a pilot-system for the computational support of this Dynamic Information-Modelling approach. At the end of this paper we discuss the possibilities of the Feature-based Modelling approach as a basis for design support systems.
series DDSS
last changed 2003/08/07 16:36

_id ddssup9621
id ddssup9621
authors Wang, D.
year 1996
title Towards An Informatics Framework for Sustainability Analysis in Urban Transportation Planning
source Timmermans, Harry (Ed.), Third Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban Planning - Part two: Urban Planning Proceedings (Spa, Belgium), August 18-21, 1996
summary An informatics framework for sustainability analysis in urban transportation planning is developed in this paper. The framework consists of sustainability indicators, structured impact analysis, a general procedure, and a conceptual informatics framework which organises all these elements in a decision support system. In deriving sustainability indicators and structuring impact analysis, specific attention is given to comparisons between a trip-based approach and an activity-based approach, so that drawbacks of the conventional trip-based approach and potential of the activity-based approach are manifested in the context of sustainability analysis. Implications to the design of a decision support system for sustainability analysis are also discussed in terms of database and model base designs.
series DDSS
email
last changed 2003/08/07 16:36

_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" Ń either between/among human participants or between human participants and the computer interface Š 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 ascaad2004_paper11
id ascaad2004_paper11
authors Abdelfattah, Hesham Khairy and Ali A. Raouf
year 2004
title No More Fear or Doubt: Electronic Architecture in Architectural Education
source eDesign in Architecture: ASCAAD's First International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design, 7-9 December 2004, KFUPM, Saudi Arabia
summary Operating electronic and Internet worked tools for Architectural education is an important, and merely a prerequisite step toward creating powerful tele-collabortion and tele-research in our Architectural studios. The design studio, as physical place and pedagogical method, is the core of architectural education. The Carnegie Endowment report on architectural education, published in 1996, identified a comparably central role for studios in schools today. Advances in CAD and visualization, combined with technologies to communicate images, data, and “live” action, now enable virtual dimensions of studio experience. Students no longer need to gather at the same time and place to tackle the same design problem. Critics can comment over the network or by e-mail, and distinguished jurors can make virtual visits without being in the same room as the pin-up—if there is a pin-up (or a room). Virtual design studios (VDS) have the potential to support collaboration over competition, diversify student experiences, and redistribute the intellectual resources of architectural education across geographic and socioeconomic divisions. The challenge is to predict whether VDS will isolate students from a sense of place and materiality, or if it will provide future architects the tools to reconcile communication environments and physical space.
series ASCAAD
email
last changed 2007/04/08 19:47

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