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CumInCAD is a Cumulative Index about publications in Computer Aided Architectural Design
supported by the sibling associations ACADIA, CAADRIA, eCAADe, SIGraDi, ASCAAD and CAAD futures

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_id	cc87
authors	Johnson, Scott
year	1997
title	What's in a Representation, Why Do We Care, and What Does It Mean? Examining Evidence from Psychology
source	Design and Representation [ACADIA ‘97 Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-06-3] Cincinatti, Ohio (USA) 3-5 October 1997, pp. 5-15
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1997.005
summary	This paper examines psychological evidence on the nature and role of representations in cognition. Both internal (mental) and external (physical or digital) representations are considered. It is discovered that both types of representation are deeply linked to thought processes. They are linked to learning, the ability to use existing knowledge, and problem solving strategies. The links between representations, thought processes, and behavior are so deep that even eye movements are partly governed by representations. Choice of representations can affect limited cognitive resources like attention and short-term memory by forcing a person to try to utilize poorly organized information or perform "translations" from one representation to another. The implications of this evidence are discussed. Based on these findings, a set of guidelines is presented, for digital representations which minimize drain of cognitive resources. These guidelines describe what sorts of characteristics and behaviors a representation should exhibit, and what sorts of information it should contain in order to accommodate and facilitate design. Current attempts to implement such representations are discussed.
series	ACADIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:52

_id	536e
authors	Bouman, Ole
year	1997
title	RealSpace in QuickTimes: architecture and digitization
source	Rotterdam: Nai Publishers
summary	Time and space, drastically compressed by the computer, have become interchangeable. Time is compressed in that once everything has been reduced to 'bits' of information, it becomes simultaneously accessible. Space is compressed in that once everything has been reduced to 'bits' of information, it can be conveyed from A to B with the speed of light. As a result of digitization, everything is in the here and now. Before very long, the whole world will be on disk. Salvation is but a modem away. The digitization process is often seen in terms of (information) technology. That is to say, one hears a lot of talk about the digital media, about computer hardware, about the modem, mobile phone, dictaphone, remote control, buzzer, data glove and the cable or satellite links in between. Besides, our heads are spinning from the progress made in the field of software, in which multimedia applications, with their integration of text, image and sound, especially attract our attention. But digitization is not just a question of technology, it also involves a cultural reorganization. The question is not just what the cultural implications of digitization will be, but also why our culture should give rise to digitization in the first place. Culture is not simply a function of technology; the reverse is surely also true. Anyone who thinks about cultural implications, is interested in the effects of the computer. And indeed, those effects are overwhelming, providing enough material for endless speculation. The digital paradigm will entail a new image of humankind and a further dilution of the notion of social perfectibility; it will create new notions of time and space, a new concept of cause and effect and of hierarchy, a different sort of public sphere, a new view of matter, and so on. In the process it will indubitably alter our environment. Offices, shopping centres, dockyards, schools, hospitals, prisons, cultural institutions, even the private domain of the home: all the familiar design types will be up for review. Fascinated, we watch how the new wave accelerates the process of social change. The most popular sport nowadays is 'surfing' - because everyone is keen to display their grasp of dirty realism. But there is another way of looking at it: under what sort of circumstances is the process of digitization actually taking place? What conditions do we provide that enable technology to exert the influence it does? This is a perspective that leaves room for individual and collective responsibility. Technology is not some inevitable process sweeping history along in a dynamics of its own. Rather, it is the result of choices we ourselves make and these choices can be debated in a way that is rarely done at present: digitization thanks to or in spite of human culture, that is the question. In addition to the distinction between culture as the cause or the effect of digitization, there are a number of other distinctions that are accentuated by the computer. The best known and most widely reported is the generation gap. It is certainly stretching things a bit to write off everybody over the age of 35, as sometimes happens, but there is no getting around the fact that for a large group of people digitization simply does not exist. Anyone who has been in the bit business for a few years can't help noticing that mum and dad are living in a different place altogether. (But they, at least, still have a sense of place!) In addition to this, it is gradually becoming clear that the age-old distinction between market and individual interests are still relevant in the digital era. On the one hand, the advance of cybernetics is determined by the laws of the marketplace which this capital-intensive industry must satisfy. Increased efficiency, labour productivity and cost-effectiveness play a leading role. The consumer market is chiefly interested in what is 'marketable': info- and edutainment. On the other hand, an increasing number of people are not prepared to wait for what the market has to offer them. They set to work on their own, appropriate networks and software programs, create their own domains in cyberspace, domains that are free from the principle whereby the computer simply reproduces the old world, only faster and better. Here it is possible to create a different world, one that has never existed before. One, in which the Other finds a place. The computer works out a new paradigm for these creative spirits. In all these distinctions, architecture plays a key role. Owing to its many-sidedness, it excludes nothing and no one in advance. It is faced with the prospect of historic changes yet it has also created the preconditions for a digital culture. It is geared to the future, but has had plenty of experience with eternity. Owing to its status as the most expensive of arts, it is bound hand and foot to the laws of the marketplace. Yet it retains its capacity to provide scope for creativity and innovation, a margin of action that is free from standardization and regulation. The aim of RealSpace in QuickTimes is to show that the discipline of designing buildings, cities and landscapes is not only a exemplary illustration of the digital era but that it also provides scope for both collective and individual activity. It is not just architecture's charter that has been changed by the computer, but also its mandate. RealSpace in QuickTimes consists of an exhibition and an essay.
series	other
email
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	389b
authors	Do, Ellen Yi-Luen
year	2000
title	Sketch that Scene for Me: Creating Virtual Worlds by Freehand Drawing
source	Promise and Reality: State of the Art versus State of Practice in Computing for the Design and Planning Process [18th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-6-5] Weimar (Germany) 22-24 June 2000, pp. 265-268
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2000.265
summary	With the Web people can now view virtual threedimensional worlds and explore virtual space. Increasingly, novice users are interested in creating 3D Web sites. Virtual Reality Modeling Language gained ISO status in 1997, although it is being supplanted by the compatible Java3D API and alternative 3D Web technologies compete. Viewing VRML scenes is relatively straightforward on most hardware platforms and browsers, but currently there are only two ways to create 3D virtual scenes: One is to code the scene directly using VRML. The other is to use existing CAD and modeling software, and save the world in VRML format or convert to VRML from some other format. Both methods are time consuming, cumbersome, and have steep learning curves. Pen-based user interfaces, on the other hand, are for many an easy and intuitive method for graphics input. Not only are people familiar with the look and feel of paper and pencil, novice users also find it less intimidating to draw what they want, where they want it instead of using a complicated tool palette and pull-down menus. Architects and designers use sketches as a primary tool to generate design ideas and to explore alternatives, and numerous computer-based interfaces have played on the concept of "sketch". However, we restrict the notion of sketch to freehand drawing, which we believe helps people to think, to envision, and to recognize properties of the objects with which they are working. SKETCH employs a pen interface to create three-dimensional models, but it uses a simple language of gestures to control a three-dimensional modeler; it does not attempt to interpret freehand drawings. In contrast, our support of 3D world creation using freehand drawing depend on users’ traditional understanding of a floor plan representation. Igarashi et al. used a pen interface to drive browsing in a 3D world, by projecting the user’s marks on the ground plane in the virtual world. Our Sketch-3D project extends this approach, investigating an interface that allows direct interpretation of the drawing marks (what you draw is what you get) and serves as a rapid prototyping tool for creating 3D virtual scenes.
keywords	Freehand Sketching, Pen-Based User Interface, Interaction, VRML, Navigation
series	eCAADe
email
more	http://www.uni-weimar.de/ecaade/
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	ga0026
id	ga0026
authors	Ransen, Owen F.
year	2000
title	Possible Futures in Computer Art Generation
source	International Conference on Generative Art
summary	Years of trying to create an "Image Idea Generator" program have convinced me that the perfect solution would be to have an artificial artistic person, a design slave. This paper describes how I came to that conclusion, realistic alternatives, and briefly, how it could possibly happen. 1. The history of Repligator and Gliftic 1.1 Repligator In 1996 I had the idea of creating an “image idea generator”. I wanted something which would create images out of nothing, but guided by the user. The biggest conceptual problem I had was “out of nothing”. What does that mean? So I put aside that problem and forced the user to give the program a starting image. This program eventually turned into Repligator, commercially described as an “easy to use graphical effects program”, but actually, to my mind, an Image Idea Generator. The first release came out in October 1997. In December 1998 I described Repligator V4 [1] and how I thought it could be developed away from simply being an effects program. In July 1999 Repligator V4 won the Shareware Industry Awards Foundation prize for "Best Graphics Program of 1999". Prize winners are never told why they won, but I am sure that it was because of two things: 1) Easy of use 2) Ease of experimentation "Ease of experimentation" means that Repligator does in fact come up with new graphics ideas. Once you have input your original image you can generate new versions of that image simply by pushing a single key. Repligator is currently at version 6, but, apart from adding many new effects and a few new features, is basically the same program as version 4. Following on from the ideas in [1] I started to develop Gliftic, which is closer to my original thoughts of an image idea generator which "starts from nothing". The Gliftic model of images was that they are composed of three components: 1. Layout or form, for example the outline of a mandala is a form. 2. Color scheme, for example colors selected from autumn leaves from an oak tree. 3. Interpretation, for example Van Gogh would paint a mandala with oak tree colors in a different way to Andy Warhol. There is a Van Gogh interpretation and an Andy Warhol interpretation. Further I wanted to be able to genetically breed images, for example crossing two layouts to produce a child layout. And the same with interpretations and color schemes. If I could achieve this then the program would be very powerful. 1.2 Getting to Gliftic Programming has an amazing way of crystalising ideas. If you want to put an idea into practice via a computer program you really have to understand the idea not only globally, but just as importantly, in detail. You have to make hard design decisions, there can be no vagueness, and so implementing what I had decribed above turned out to be a considerable challenge. I soon found out that the hardest thing to do would be the breeding of forms. What are the "genes" of a form? What are the genes of a circle, say, and how do they compare to the genes of the outline of the UK? I wanted the genotype representation (inside the computer program's data) to be directly linked to the phenotype representation (on the computer screen). This seemed to be the best way of making sure that bred-forms would bare some visual relationship to their parents. I also wanted symmetry to be preserved. For example if two symmetrical objects were bred then their children should be symmetrical. I decided to represent shapes as simply closed polygonal shapes, and the "genes" of these shapes were simply the list of points defining the polygon. Thus a circle would have to be represented by a regular polygon of, say, 100 sides. The outline of the UK could easily be represented as a list of points every 10 Kilometers along the coast line. Now for the important question: what do you get when you cross a circle with the outline of the UK? I tried various ways of combining the "genes" (i.e. coordinates) of the shapes, but none of them really ended up producing interesting shapes. And of the methods I used, many of them, applied over several "generations" simply resulted in amorphous blobs, with no distinct family characteristics. Or rather maybe I should say that no single method of breeding shapes gave decent results for all types of images. Figure 1 shows an example of breeding a mandala with 6 regular polygons: Figure 1 Mandala bred with array of regular polygons I did not try out all my ideas, and maybe in the future I will return to the problem, but it was clear to me that it is a non-trivial problem. And if the breeding of shapes is a non-trivial problem, then what about the breeding of interpretations? I abandoned the genetic (breeding) model of generating designs but retained the idea of the three components (form, color scheme, interpretation). 1.3 Gliftic today Gliftic Version 1.0 was released in May 2000. It allows the user to change a form, a color scheme and an interpretation. The user can experiment with combining different components together and can thus home in on an personally pleasing image. Just as in Repligator, pushing the F7 key make the program choose all the options. Unlike Repligator however the user can also easily experiment with the form (only) by pushing F4, the color scheme (only) by pushing F5 and the interpretation (only) by pushing F6. Figures 2, 3 and 4 show some example images created by Gliftic. Figure 2 Mandala interpreted with arabesques Figure 3 Trellis interpreted with "graphic ivy" Figure 4 Regular dots interpreted as "sparks" 1.4 Forms in Gliftic V1 Forms are simply collections of graphics primitives (points, lines, ellipses and polygons). The program generates these collections according to the user's instructions. Currently the forms are: Mandala, Regular Polygon, Random Dots, Random Sticks, Random Shapes, Grid Of Polygons, Trellis, Flying Leap, Sticks And Waves, Spoked Wheel, Biological Growth, Chequer Squares, Regular Dots, Single Line, Paisley, Random Circles, Chevrons. 1.5 Color Schemes in Gliftic V1 When combining a form with an interpretation (described later) the program needs to know what colors it can use. The range of colors is called a color scheme. Gliftic has three color scheme types: 1. Random colors: Colors for the various parts of the image are chosen purely at random. 2. Hue Saturation Value (HSV) colors: The user can choose the main hue (e.g. red or yellow), the saturation (purity) of the color scheme and the value (brightness/darkness) . The user also has to choose how much variation is allowed in the color scheme. A wide variation allows the various colors of the final image to depart a long way from the HSV settings. A smaller variation results in the final image using almost a single color. 3. Colors chosen from an image: The user can choose an image (for example a JPG file of a famous painting, or a digital photograph he took while on holiday in Greece) and Gliftic will select colors from that image. Only colors from the selected image will appear in the output image. 1.6 Interpretations in Gliftic V1 Interpretation in Gliftic is best decribed with a few examples. A pure geometric line could be interpreted as: 1) the branch of a tree 2) a long thin arabesque 3) a sequence of disks 4) a chain, 5) a row of diamonds. An pure geometric ellipse could be interpreted as 1) a lake, 2) a planet, 3) an eye. Gliftic V1 has the following interpretations: Standard, Circles, Flying Leap, Graphic Ivy, Diamond Bar, Sparkz, Ess Disk, Ribbons, George Haite, Arabesque, ZigZag. 1.7 Applications of Gliftic Currently Gliftic is mostly used for creating WEB graphics, often backgrounds as it has an option to enable "tiling" of the generated images. There is also a possibility that it will be used in the custom textile business sometime within the next year or two. The real application of Gliftic is that of generating new graphics ideas, and I suspect that, like Repligator, many users will only understand this later. 2. The future of Gliftic, 3 possibilties Completing Gliftic V1 gave me the experience to understand what problems and opportunities there will be in future development of the program. Here I divide my many ideas into three oversimplified possibilities, and the real result may be a mix of two or all three of them. 2.1 Continue the current development "linearly" Gliftic could grow simply by the addition of more forms and interpretations. In fact I am sure that initially it will grow like this. However this limits the possibilities to what is inside the program itself. These limits can be mitigated by allowing the user to add forms (as vector files). The user can already add color schemes (as images). The biggest problem with leaving the program in its current state is that there is no easy way to add interpretations. 2.2 Allow the artist to program Gliftic It would be interesting to add a language to Gliftic which allows the user to program his own form generators and interpreters. In this way Gliftic becomes a "platform" for the development of dynamic graphics styles by the artist. The advantage of not having to deal with the complexities of Windows programming could attract the more adventurous artists and designers. The choice of programming language of course needs to take into account the fact that the "programmer" is probably not be an expert computer scientist. I have seen how LISP (an not exactly easy artificial intelligence language) has become very popular among non programming users of AutoCAD. If, to complete a job which you do manually and repeatedly, you can write a LISP macro of only 5 lines, then you may be tempted to learn enough LISP to write those 5 lines. Imagine also the ability to publish (and/or sell) "style generators". An artist could develop a particular interpretation function, it creates images of a given character which others find appealing. The interpretation (which runs inside Gliftic as a routine) could be offered to interior designers (for example) to unify carpets, wallpaper, furniture coverings for single projects. As Adrian Ward [3] says on his WEB site: "Programming is no less an artform than painting is a technical process." Learning a computer language to create a single image is overkill and impractical. Learning a computer language to create your own artistic style which generates an infinite series of images in that style may well be attractive. 2.3 Add an artificial conciousness to Gliftic This is a wild science fiction idea which comes into my head regularly. Gliftic manages to surprise the users with the images it makes, but, currently, is limited by what gets programmed into it or by pure chance. How about adding a real artifical conciousness to the program? Creating an intelligent artificial designer? According to Igor Aleksander [1] conciousness is required for programs (computers) to really become usefully intelligent. Aleksander thinks that "the line has been drawn under the philosophical discussion of conciousness, and the way is open to sound scientific investigation". Without going into the details, and with great over-simplification, there are roughly two sorts of artificial intelligence: 1) Programmed intelligence, where, to all intents and purposes, the programmer is the "intelligence". The program may perform well (but often, in practice, doesn't) and any learning which is done is simply statistical and pre-programmed. There is no way that this type of program could become concious. 2) Neural network intelligence, where the programs are based roughly on a simple model of the brain, and the network learns how to do specific tasks. It is this sort of program which, according to Aleksander, could, in the future, become concious, and thus usefully intelligent. What could the advantages of an artificial artist be? 1) There would be no need for programming. Presumbably the human artist would dialog with the artificial artist, directing its development. 2) The artificial artist could be used as an apprentice, doing the "drudge" work of art, which needs intelligence, but is, anyway, monotonous for the human artist. 3) The human artist imagines "concepts", the artificial artist makes them concrete. 4) An concious artificial artist may come up with ideas of its own. Is this science fiction? Arthur C. Clarke's 1st Law: "If a famous scientist says that something can be done, then he is in all probability correct. If a famous scientist says that something cannot be done, then he is in all probability wrong". Arthur C Clarke's 2nd Law: "Only by trying to go beyond the current limits can you find out what the real limits are." One of Bertrand Russell's 10 commandments: "Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric" 3. References 1. "From Ramon Llull to Image Idea Generation". Ransen, Owen. Proceedings of the 1998 Milan First International Conference on Generative Art. 2. "How To Build A Mind" Aleksander, Igor. Wiedenfeld and Nicolson, 1999 3. "How I Drew One of My Pictures: or, The Authorship of Generative Art" by Adrian Ward and Geof Cox. Proceedings of the 1999 Milan 2nd International Conference on Generative Art.
series	other
email
more	http://www.generativeart.com/
last changed	2003/08/07 17:25

_id	841a
authors	Bartnicka, Malgorzata
year	1997
title	The Animal, Full Blood maybe, but Untamed
source	AVOCAAD First International Conference [AVOCAAD Conference Proceedings / ISBN 90-76101-01-09] Brussels (Belgium) 10-12 April 1997, pp. 103-108
summary	So far yet, even the most advanced technology has not been able to substitute a human, his thoughts, feelings, dreams, longings, visions. It can though, removing need for all kind of effort from our everyday life, surrounding a human with unprecedented comfort, create feeling of peace and security. Task of a computer is to provide assistance, helping in calculations, forming of refined solids, It contains a compendium of knowledge and memory - but not creative skills. So far it's only a machine, with help of which a possibility of creative expression is expanded. It only can solve problems for a human faster and more efficient way, does not have the ability to describe (formulate) problems. Even while providing a support, does it do that honestly? It means, does it support us in those of our doings where we truly need it? Computers have enormous possibilities of use that are not exploited sufficiently and all the time new generations of yet quicker machines with unbelievable power are being created. Every new type of computer appears to be obsolete and insufficient within a few months. Insufficient for what?
series	AVOCAAD
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

_id	bfe9
authors	Suwa, M. and Tversky, B.
year	1997
title	What do architects and students perceive in their design sketches? A protocol analysis
source	Design Studies 18, pp 385-403.
summary	The present research aims at examining what information architects think of and read off from their own freehand sketches, and at revealing how they perceptually interact with and benefit from sketches. We explored this in a protocol analysis of retrospective reports; each participant worked on an architectural design task while drawing freehand sketches and later reported what she/he had been thinking of during the design task. This research lies within the scope of examinations of why freehand sketches as external representation are essential for crystallizing design ideas in early design processes.
series	journal paper
last changed	2003/04/23 15:50

_id	730e
authors	Af Klercker, Jonas
year	1997
title	Implementation of IT and CAD - what can Architect schools do?
source	AVOCAAD First International Conference [AVOCAAD Conference Proceedings / ISBN 90-76101-01-09] Brussels (Belgium) 10-12 April 1997, pp. 83-92
summary	In Sweden representatives from the Construction industry have put forward a research and development program called: "IT-Bygg 2002 -Implementation". It aims at making IT the vehicle for decreasing the building costs and at the same time getting better quality and efficiency out of the industry. A seminar was held with some of the most experienced researchers, developers and practitioners of CAD in construction in Sweden. The activities were recorded and annotated, analysed and put together afterwards; then presented to the participants to agree on. Co-operation is the key to get to the goals - IT and CAD are just the means to improve it. Co-operation in a phase of implementation is enough problematic without the technical difficulties in using computer programs created by the computer industry primarily for commercial reasons. The suggestion is that cooperation between software companies within Sweden will make a greater market to share than the sum of all individual efforts. In the short term, 2 - 5 years, implementation of CAD and IT will demand a large amount of educational efforts from all actors in the construction process. In the process of today the architect is looked upon as a natural coordinator of the design phase. In the integrated process the architect's methods and knowledge are central and must be spread to other categories of actors - what a challenge! At least in Sweden the number of researchers and educators in CAAD is easily counted. How do we make the most of it?
series	AVOCAAD
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

_id	0992
authors	Belibani, R. and Gadola, A.
year	1997
title	On Digital Architecture
source	Challenges of the Future [15th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-3-0] Vienna (Austria) 17-20 September 1997
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1997.x.r1n
summary	One of the main aims of this research was to highlight the influence of computer as a designing tool. Their wide acceptance as drawing tools might occult the importance of their role in architectural design. We will try to apprehend, with the help of synthetic images, that computers mark a historic step forward in drawing and representation, as well as a major progress in the understanding of creative processes. Together these features offer a broader horizon to architectural design. New source of inspiration can be found in virtual reality that makes visible what does not really exist, permitting design to suggest itself with its primordial image. We mean a kind of architectural imprint, where the first three-dimensional lines suggest in some way the designer with their shape, and encourage the definition process. Through the visualisation of some images, it is possible to show the modifications of language and style, to examine the transformation modalities of the design process and to propose an essay of the new methods to communicate architecture.
series	eCAADe
email
more	http://info.tuwien.ac.at/ecaade/proc/belibani/belibani.htm
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

_id	d60a
authors	Casti, J.C.
year	1997
title	Would be Worlds: How simulation is changing the frontiers of science
source	John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
summary	Five Golden Rules is caviar for the inquiring reader. Anyone who enjoyed solving math problems in high school will be able to follow the author's explanations, even if high school was a long time ago. There is joy here in watching the unfolding of these intricate and beautiful techniques. Casti's gift is to be able to let the nonmathematical reader share in his understanding of the beauty of a good theory.-Christian Science Monitor "[Five Golden Rules] ranges into exotic fields such as game theory (which played a role in the Cuban Missile Crisis) and topology (which explains how to turn a doughnut into a coffee cup, or vice versa). If you'd like to have fun while giving your brain a first-class workout, then check this book out."-San Francisco Examiner "Unlike many popularizations, [this book] is more than a tour d'horizon: it has the power to change the way you think. Merely knowing about the existence of some of these golden rules may spark new, interesting-maybe even revolutionary-ideas in your mind. And what more could you ask from a book?"-New Scientist "This book has meat! It is solid fare, food for thought . . . makes math less forbidding, and much more interesting."-Ben Bova, The Hartford Courant "This book turns math into beauty."-Colorado Daily "John Casti is one of the great science writers of the 1990s."-San Francisco Examiner In the ever-changing world of science, new instruments often lead to momentous discoveries that dramatically transform our understanding. Today, with the aid of a bold new instrument, scientists are embarking on a scientific revolution as profound as that inspired by Galileo's telescope. Out of the bits and bytes of computer memory, researchers are fashioning silicon surrogates of the real world-elaborate "artificial worlds"-that allow them to perform experiments that are too impractical, too costly, or, in some cases, too dangerous to do "in the flesh." From simulated tests of new drugs to models of the birth of planetary systems and galaxies to computerized petri dishes growing digital life forms, these laboratories of the future are the essential tools of a controversial new scientific method. This new method is founded not on direct observation and experiment but on the mapping of the universe from real space into cyberspace. There is a whole new science happening here-the science of simulation. The most exciting territory being mapped by artificial worlds is the exotic new frontier of "complex, adaptive systems." These systems involve living "agents" that continuously change their behavior in ways that make prediction and measurement by the old rules of science impossible-from environmental ecosystems to the system of a marketplace economy. Their exploration represents the horizon for discovery in the twenty-first century, and simulated worlds are charting the course. In Would-Be Worlds, acclaimed author John Casti takes readers on a fascinating excursion through a number of remarkable silicon microworlds and shows us how they are being used to formulate important new theories and to solve a host of practical problems. We visit Tierra, a "computerized terrarium" in which artificial life forms known as biomorphs grow and mutate, revealing new insights into natural selection and evolution. We play a game of Balance of Power, a simulation of the complex forces shaping geopolitics. And we take a drive through TRANSIMS, a model of the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to discover the root causes of events like traffic jams and accidents. Along the way, Casti probes the answers to a host of profound questions these "would-be worlds" raise about the new science of simulation. If we can create worlds inside our computers at will, how real can we say they are? Will they unlock the most intractable secrets of our universe? Or will they reveal instead only the laws of an alternate reality? How "real" do these models need to be? And how real can they be? The answers to these questions are likely to change the face of scientific research forever.
series	other
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	db13
authors	Jacobsen, K., Eastman, C. and Tay, S.J.
year	1997
title	Information management in creative engineering design and capabilities of database transactions
source	Automation in Construction 7 (1) (1997) pp. 55-69
summary	This paper examines the information management requirements and sets forth the general criteria for collaboration and concurrency control in creative engineering design. Our work attempts to recognize the full range of concurrency, collaboration and complex transactions structure now practiced in manual and semi-automated design and the range of capabilities needed as the demands for enhanced but flexible electronic information management unfolds.The objective of this paper is to identify new issues that may advance the use of databases to support creative engineering design. We start with a generalized description of the structure of design tasks and how information management in design is dealt with today. After this review, we identify extensions to current information management capabilities that have been realized and/or proposed to support/augment what designers can do now.Given this capability-based starting point, we review existing database and information management capabilities, as presented in the literature. In the review, we identify the gaps between current concurrency and collaboration technology and what is needed or would be desirable. Our objective is to assess current research and to identify new issues that may advance the use of databases to support creative engineering design.
series	journal paper
more	http://www.elsevier.com/locate/autcon
last changed	2003/05/15 21:22

_id	873a
authors	Ng, Edward
year	1997
title	An Evaluative Approach to Architectural Visualization
source	CAADRIA ‘97 [Proceedings of the Second Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia / ISBN 957-575-057-8] Taiwan 17-19 April 1997, pp. 449-463
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.1997.449
summary	In the forthcoming globalization and virtual almost everything, we are indeed reliving a moment of history when, at the turn of the century, machines replace craftsman in mass-producing goods quicker, cheaper, ‘better’ and faster for the mass market regardless of the appropriateness in using the machine. So much so that the recent proliferation of computer graphics has reached a stage where many are questioning their validity and usefulness in the advancement of architectural discourse. This paper argues that the pedagogy of the use of the new tools should be effective communication in vision and in representation. In short, saying what you do and doing what you say, no more and no less, or to be ‘true’ and ‘honest’. The paper tries to provide a hypothetical framework whereby the rationale of drawing could be more systematically understood and criticised, and it reports ways the framework is introduced in the teaching of design studio. The focus of the experimental studio (Active Studio 1.6 beta) is to enable the substantiation of ideas and feelings through a critical manipulation of medium and techniques. The results are narratives whereby the expression of intention as well as the drawings are both on trial.
series	CAADRIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:58

_id	c6e1
authors	Smulevich, Gerard
year	1997
title	Berlin-Crane City: Cardboard, Bits, and the Post-industrial Design Process
source	Design and Representation [ACADIA ‘97 Conference Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-06-3] Cincinatti, Ohio (USA) 3-5 October 1997, pp. 139-153
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1997.139
summary	This paper explores the impact of information technology on the architectural design process as seen through different design studios from three schools of architecture in Southern California over a two year period. All three studios tested notions of representation, simulation and the design process in relation to a post-industrial world and its impact on how we design for it. The sites for two of these studios were in the city of Berlin, where the spearhead of the information age and a leftover of the industrial revolution overlap in an urban condition that is representative of our world after the cold war. The three studios describe a progressive shift in the use of information technology in the design process, from nearly pure image-driven simulation to a more low-tech, highly creative uses of everyday computing tools. Combined, all three cases describe an array of scenarios for content-supportive uses of digital media in a design studio. The first studio described here, from USC, utilized computer modeling and visualization to design a building for a site located within the former no-mans' land of the Berlin Wall. The second studio, from SCI-Arc, produced an urban design proposal for an area along the former Berlin Wall and included a pan-geographic design collaboration via Internet between SCI-Arc/Los Angeles and SCI-Arc/Switzerland. The third and last studio from Woodbury University participated in the 1997 ACSA/Dupont Laminated Glass Competition designing a consulate general for Germany and one for Hong Kong. They employed a hybrid digital/non-digital process extracting experiential representations from simple chipboard study models and then using that information to explore an "enhanced model" through digital imaging processes. The end of the cold war was coincidental with the explosive popularization of information technology as a consumer product and is poised to have huge impact on how and what we design for our cities. Few places in world express this potential as does the city of Berlin. These three undergraduate design studios employed consumer-grade technology in an attempt to make a difference in how we design, incorporating discussions of historical change, ideological premise and what it means to be an architect in a world where image and content can become easily disconnected from one another.
series	ACADIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:56

_id	8c6f
authors	Zarnowiecka, J.
year	1997
title	Information Structures in the Designing Process
source	Challenges of the Future [15th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-3-0] Vienna (Austria) 17-20 September 1997
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1997.x.q5q
summary	Nowadays we deal with a real revolution in the computer science. Present times explorers no longer look for information in vast library files but rather they surf on Internet. The technological progress in the realm of computer studies made “the fathers unable to keep pace with their children”. That’s one of the reasons why it is so difficult to introduce new techniques into the routinized designing process. The problem is that some know “what” and the others “how”. At the times when drawing pens were ousted by rapidographs, communication between different generations of designers was easier. Both of these tools are, in fact very similar. It is the other way with the new computer science technique, which consists of complicated systems not so easy to access because of various economical, emotional, routine and habitual reasons. Changes in the designing process go step by step, in a much slower pace than the progress in computer hardware and software. It is difficult to accept the fact in professional environment that computer technique can assist the designer as a medium.
series	eCAADe
email
more	http://info.tuwien.ac.at/ecaade/proc/zarnow/zarnow.htm
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

_id	411c
authors	Ataman, Osman and Bermúdez (Ed.)
year	1999
title	Media and Design Process [Conference Proceedings]
source	ACADIA ‘99 Proceedings / ISBN 1-880250-08-X / Salt Lake City 29-31 October 1999, 353 p.
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.1999
summary	Throughout known architectural history, representation, media and design have been recognized to have a close relationship. This relationship is inseparable; representation being a means for engaging in design thinking and making and this activity requiring media. Interpretations as to what exactly this relationship is or means have been subject to debate, disagreement and change along the ages. Whereas much has been said about the interactions between representation and design, little has been elaborated on the relationship between media and design. Perhaps, it is not until now, surrounded by all kinds of media at the turn of the millennium, as Johnson argues (1997), that we have enough context to be able to see and address the relationship between media and human activities with some degree of perspective.
series	ACADIA
email
more	http://www.acadia.org
last changed	2022/06/07 07:49

_id	debf
authors	Bertol, D.
year	1997
title	Designing Digital Space - An Architect's Guide to Virtual Reality
source	John Wiley & Sons, New York
summary	The first in-depth book on virtual reality (VR) aimed specifically at architecture and design professionals, Designing Digital Space steers you skillfully through the learning curve of this exciting new technology. Beginning with a historical overview of the evolution of architectural representations, this unique resource explains what VR is, how it is being applied today, and how it promises to revolutionize not only the design process, but the form and function of the built environment itself. Vividly illustrating how VR fits alongside traditional methods of architectural representation, this comprehensive guide prepares you to make optimum practical use of this powerful interactive tool, and embrace the new role of the architect in a virtually designed world. Offers in-depth coverage of the virtual universe-data representation and information management, static and dynamic worlds, tracking and visual display systems, control devices, and more. Examines a wide range of current VR architectural applications, from walkthroughs, simulations, and evaluations to reconstructions and networked environments Includes insightful essays by leading VR developers covering some of today's most innovative projects Integrates VR into the historical framework of architectural development, with detailed sections on the past, present, and future Features a dazzling array of virtual world images and sequential displays Explores the potential impact of digital architecture on the built environment of the future
series	other
last changed	2003/04/23 15:14

_id	a05b
authors	Clements-Croome, T.D.J.
year	1997
title	What do we mean by intelligent buildings?
source	Automation in Construction 6 (5-6) (1997) pp. 395-400
summary	Various common definitions of intelligent buildings are discussed. A systems view of building design is a starting point for considering business, space and building management. An intelligent building helps an organisation to fulfil its objectives by facilitating the management of these resources and thereby increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the organisation. At an even more fundamental level intelligent buildings can cope with social and technological change and also are adaptable to human needs.
series	journal paper
more	http://www.elsevier.com/locate/autcon
last changed	2003/05/15 21:22

_id	811e
authors	Coyne, Richard and Mclachlan, Fiona
year	1997
title	The Legacy of Surrealism in the Electronic Design Studio
source	CAAD Futures 1997 [Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-7923-4726-9] München (Germany), 4-6 August 1997, pp. 733-748
summary	We examine how Surrealist themes are evident in the world of information technology, and in the electronic design studio. We show that much of the current popular appeal of the computer in design schools is attributable to the computer's apparent surrealistic possibilities rather than the potentialities traditionally put forward by exponents of formalism, design methods and systems theory. We discuss developments on Surrealism, including the application of Freud's concept of the uncanny and Lacan's understanding of the image, before concluding that Surrealism and its developments support a "hermeneutics of suspicion", which is one way of interpreting what occurs in the design studio.
series	CAAD Futures
email
more	http://www.caad.ed.ac.uk/
last changed	1999/04/06 09:19

_id	598d
authors	Davies, P.
year	1997
title	Case study - Multiprofessional
source	Automation in Construction 6 (1) (1997) pp. 51-57
summary	IT is just a tool, but the most powerful one ever to be offered to us. This case study deals with the areas at which IT can be targeted within the Building Design Partnership. Firstly, should anything be done and if so, what criteria should be used to choose the priorities?A SWOT analysis is one way way to identify goals. Strengths/weeknesses, opportunities/threats are the positive/negative pairs. We have to build our strength and perceive and take opportunities while at the same time countering weaknesses and threats.It is a threat that the industry sets a moving target of IT capability without wanting to meet its cost. It is an opportunity that only a few practices will be at the leading edge and that they will secure the key projects. IT could help us to overcome technical weaknesses and liability and reduce staff and premises costs. It could also increase our exposure to fixed capital costs in a cyclical business. IT could increase the success of integrated practice or it could make it easier for separate firms. We believe the likelihood is that IT will do as it has for financial services and favour the large, multi-national, well prepared and technologically advanced firms. New services will emerge and become assential and will separate the `sheep from the goats.'
series	journal paper
more	http://www.elsevier.com/locate/autcon
last changed	2003/05/15 21:22

_id	f5f8
id	f5f8
authors	Goldman, Glen
year	1997
title	ARCHITECTURAL GRAPHICS: TRADITIONAL AND DIGITAL COMMUNICATION
source	Prentice Hall (ISBN: 0-13-341967)
summary	The media used to create architectural drawings are now more varied than ever before. Basic principles of drawing types, from two-dimensional orthographic projections (plans, elevations, etc.) to perspective to axonometrics are media independent. While "what the images are" may be constant, the way in which they are created and modified is, at time, media dependent and therefore variable. Because we can only modify what we create, the way an image or model is created (and therefore the media employed) affects its future uses and possibilities. Architectural Graphics is written from the point of view of today's architects - one who must be comfortable working in a variety of media. A variety of diagrams, photos, and simple drawings combine with well-executed finished samples to illustrate the basic principles of graphic communication, as well as the specific characteristics of both traditional and digital media.
series	other
type	normal paper
last changed	2004/09/18 19:06

_id	c4a6
authors	Haapasalo, Harri
year	1997
title	The Role of CAD In Creative Architectural Sketching
source	Challenges of the Future [15th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-3-0] Vienna (Austria) 17-20 September 1997
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1997.x.o2b
summary	The history of computers in architectural design is very short; only a few decades; when compared to the development of methods in practical design (Gero 1983). However, the development of the user interfaces has been very fast. According to the practical observations of over one hundred architects, user interfaces are at present inflexible in sketching, although computers can make drafts and the creation of alternatives quicker and more effective in the final stages of designing (Haapasalo 1997). Based on our research in the field of practical design we would wish to stimulate a wider debate about the theory of design. More profound perusal compels us to examine human modes, pre-eminently different levels of thinking and manners of inference. What is the meaning of subconscious and conscious thinking in design? What is the role of intuition in practical design? Do the computer aided design programs apply to creative architectural sketching? To answer such questions, distinct, profound and broad understanding from different disciplines is required. Even then, in spite of such specialist knowledge we cannot hope to unambiguously and definitively answer such questions.
keywords	Creativity, Design Process, Architectural Design, Sketching, Computer Aided Design
series	eCAADe
email
more	http://info.tuwien.ac.at/ecaade/proc/haapas/haapas.htm
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

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