Cumincad : CUMINCAD Papers : Search Results

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	avocaad_2001_02
id	avocaad_2001_02
authors	Cheng-Yuan Lin, Yu-Tung Liu
year	2001
title	A digital Procedure of Building Construction: A practical project
source	AVOCAAD - ADDED VALUE OF COMPUTER AIDED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Nys Koenraad, Provoost Tom, Verbeke Johan, Verleye Johan (Eds.), (2001) Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst - Departement Architectuur Sint-Lucas, Campus Brussel, ISBN 80-76101-05-1
summary	In earlier times in which computers have not yet been developed well, there has been some researches regarding representation using conventional media (Gombrich, 1960; Arnheim, 1970). For ancient architects, the design process was described abstractly by text (Hewitt, 1985; Cable, 1983); the process evolved from unselfconscious to conscious ways (Alexander, 1964). Till the appearance of 2D drawings, these drawings could only express abstract visual thinking and visually conceptualized vocabulary (Goldschmidt, 1999). Then with the massive use of physical models in the Renaissance, the form and space of architecture was given better precision (Millon, 1994). Researches continued their attempts to identify the nature of different design tools (Eastman and Fereshe, 1994). Simon (1981) figured out that human increasingly relies on other specialists, computational agents, and materials referred to augment their cognitive abilities. This discourse was verified by recent research on conception of design and the expression using digital technologies (McCullough, 1996; Perez-Gomez and Pelletier, 1997). While other design tools did not change as much as representation (Panofsky, 1991; Koch, 1997), the involvement of computers in conventional architecture design arouses a new design thinking of digital architecture (Liu, 1996; Krawczyk, 1997; Murray, 1997; Wertheim, 1999). The notion of the link between ideas and media is emphasized throughout various fields, such as architectural education (Radford, 2000), Internet, and restoration of historical architecture (Potier et al., 2000). Information technology is also an important tool for civil engineering projects (Choi and Ibbs, 1989). Compared with conventional design media, computers avoid some errors in the process (Zaera, 1997). However, most of the application of computers to construction is restricted to simulations in building process (Halpin, 1990). It is worth studying how to employ computer technology meaningfully to bring significant changes to concept stage during the process of building construction (Madazo, 2000; Dave, 2000) and communication (Haymaker, 2000).In architectural design, concept design was achieved through drawings and models (Mitchell, 1997), while the working drawings and even shop drawings were brewed and communicated through drawings only. However, the most effective method of shaping building elements is to build models by computer (Madrazo, 1999). With the trend of 3D visualization (Johnson and Clayton, 1998) and the difference of designing between the physical environment and virtual environment (Maher et al. 2000), we intend to study the possibilities of using digital models, in addition to drawings, as a critical media in the conceptual stage of building construction process in the near future (just as the critical role that physical models played in early design process in the Renaissance). This research is combined with two practical building projects, following the progress of construction by using digital models and animations to simulate the structural layouts of the projects. We also tried to solve the complicated and even conflicting problems in the detail and piping design process through an easily accessible and precise interface. An attempt was made to delineate the hierarchy of the elements in a single structural and constructional system, and the corresponding relations among the systems. Since building construction is often complicated and even conflicting, precision needed to complete the projects can not be based merely on 2D drawings with some imagination. The purpose of this paper is to describe all the related elements according to precision and correctness, to discuss every possibility of different thinking in design of electric-mechanical engineering, to receive feedback from the construction projects in the real world, and to compare the digital models with conventional drawings.Through the application of this research, the subtle relations between the conventional drawings and digital models can be used in the area of building construction. Moreover, a theoretical model and standard process is proposed by using conventional drawings, digital models and physical buildings. By introducing the intervention of digital media in design process of working drawings and shop drawings, there is an opportune chance to use the digital media as a prominent design tool. This study extends the use of digital model and animation from design process to construction process. However, the entire construction process involves various details and exceptions, which are not discussed in this paper. These limitations should be explored in future studies.
series	AVOCAAD
email
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

_id	8a8c
authors	Choi, J.W., Kwon, D.-Y. and Lee, H.-S.
year	2001
title	DesignBUF: Exploring and Extending 2D Boolean Set Operations with Multiple Modes in the Early Design Phase
source	Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 0-7923-7023-6] Eindhoven, 8-11 July 2001, pp. 589-602
summary	Boolean set operations have been a powerful design function set for any CAD systems including 2D and 3D domains. Their capacity to provide even more powerful design tools have not, however, been fully explored in the 2D system. The purpose of this study is to further explore 2D Boolean set operations with multiple modes, which include a pick mode, a wait mode, a drag-and-drop mode, and a draw-and-action mode. We develop a prototype design tool, called DesignBUF. It introduces a new concept of “design object buffer,” an intermediate design zone in which a designer freely sketches his/her design with design objects in a brainstorming fashion since valuable design ideas are ephemeral? and the designer needs to generate design schemes rapidly before the ideas disappear or are forgotten. After finishing such fast brainstorming processes, especially in the early design phase, the designer gets a stable and refined form of a floor plan, which in turn becomes a well structured form to maintain building and design information systematically. Therefore, the designer keeps switching back and forth between the “design object buffer” and structured floor plans. We believe that this dual working memory will not only increase system flexibility, but also reduce computation with unnecessarily complex design objects. This study also develops a robust algorithm to transform the intermediate design objects into a well-structured floor plan. In fact, the algorithm is also used for the extended Boolean set operations described above. A structured floor plan can also be transformed into non-structured forms. Research issues for future development are also identified at the end of the paper.
keywords	Design Buffer, Extended Boolean Set Operations, Structured Floor Plan.
series	CAAD Futures
email
last changed	2006/11/07 07:22

_id	avocaad_2001_22
id	avocaad_2001_22
authors	Jos van Leeuwen, Joran Jessurun
year	2001
title	XML for Flexibility an Extensibility of Design Information Models
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	The VR-DIS research programme aims at the development of a Virtual Reality – Design Information System. This is a design and decision support system for collaborative design that provides a VR interface for the interaction with both the geometric representation of a design and the non-geometric information concerning the design throughout the design process. The major part of the research programme focuses on early stages of design. The programme is carried out by a large number of researchers from a variety of disciplines in the domain of construction and architecture, including architectural design, building physics, structural design, construction management, etc.Management of design information is at the core of this design and decision support system. Much effort in the development of the system has been and still is dedicated to the underlying theory for information management and its implementation in an Application Programming Interface (API) that the various modules of the system use. The theory is based on a so-called Feature-based modelling approach and is described in the PhD thesis by [first author, 1999] and in [first author et al., 2000a]. This information modelling approach provides three major capabilities: (1) it allows for extensibility of conceptual schemas, which is used to enable a designer to define new typologies to model with; (2) it supports sharing of conceptual schemas, called type-libraries; and (3) it provides a high level of flexibility that offers the designer the opportunity to easily reuse design information and to model information constructs that are not foreseen in any existing typologies. The latter aspect involves the capability to expand information entities in a model with relationships and properties that are not typologically defined but applicable to a particular design situation only; this helps the designer to represent the actual design concepts more accurately.The functional design of the information modelling system is based on a three-layered framework. In the bottom layer, the actual design data is stored in so-called Feature Instances. The middle layer defines the typologies of these instances in so-called Feature Types. The top layer is called the meta-layer because it provides the class definitions for both the Types layer and the Instances layer; both Feature Types and Feature Instances are objects of the classes defined in the top layer. This top layer ensures that types can be defined on the fly and that instances can be created from these types, as well as expanded with non-typological properties and relationships while still conforming to the information structures laid out in the meta-layer.The VR-DIS system consists of a growing number of modules for different kinds of functionality in relation with the design task. These modules access the design information through the API that implements the meta-layer of the framework. This API has previously been implemented using an Object-Oriented Database (OODB), but this implementation had a number of disadvantages. The dependency of the OODB, a commercial software library, was considered the most problematic. Not only are licenses of the OODB library rather expensive, also the fact that this library is not common technology that can easily be shared among a wide range of applications, including existing applications, reduces its suitability for a system with the aforementioned specifications. In addition, the OODB approach required a relatively large effort to implement the desired functionality. It lacked adequate support to generate unique identifications for worldwide information sources that were understandable for human interpretation. This strongly limited the capabilities of the system to share conceptual schemas.The approach that is currently being implemented for the core of the VR-DIS system is based on eXtensible Markup Language (XML). Rather than implementing the meta-layer of the framework into classes of Feature Types and Feature Instances, this level of meta-definitions is provided in a document type definition (DTD). The DTD is complemented with a set of rules that are implemented into a parser API, based on the Document Object Model (DOM). The advantages of the XML approach for the modelling framework are immediate. Type-libraries distributed through Internet are now supported through the mechanisms of namespaces and XLink. The implementation of the API is no longer dependent of a particular database system. This provides much more flexibility in the implementation of the various modules of the VR-DIS system. Being based on the (supposed to become) standard of XML the implementation is much more versatile in its future usage, specifically in a distributed, Internet-based environment.These immediate advantages of the XML approach opened the door to a wide range of applications that are and will be developed on top of the VR-DIS core. Examples of these are the VR-based 3D sketching module [VR-DIS ref., 2000]; the VR-based information-modelling tool that allows the management and manipulation of information models for design in a VR environment [VR-DIS ref., 2000]; and a design-knowledge capturing module that is now under development [first author et al., 2000a and 2000b]. The latter module aims to assist the designer in the recognition and utilisation of existing and new typologies in a design situation. The replacement of the OODB implementation of the API by the XML implementation enables these modules to use distributed Feature databases through Internet, without many changes to their own code, and without the loss of the flexibility and extensibility of conceptual schemas that are implemented as part of the API. Research in the near future will result in Internet-based applications that support designers in the utilisation of distributed libraries of product-information, design-knowledge, case-bases, etc.The paper roughly follows the outline of the abstract, starting with an introduction to the VR-DIS project, its objectives, and the developed theory of the Feature-modelling framework that forms the core of it. It briefly discusses the necessity of schema evolution, flexibility and extensibility of conceptual schemas, and how these capabilities have been addressed in the framework. The major part of the paper describes how the previously mentioned aspects of the framework are implemented in the XML-based approach, providing details on the so-called meta-layer, its definition in the DTD, and the parser rules that complement it. The impact of the XML approach on the functionality of the VR-DIS modules and the system as a whole is demonstrated by a discussion of these modules and scenarios of their usage for design tasks. The paper is concluded with an overview of future work on the sharing of Internet-based design information and design knowledge.
series	AVOCAAD
email
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

_id	7526
authors	Tsou, J.-Y., Yimin, Z. and Lam, S.
year	2001
title	Improving Air Quality of Public Transport Interchanges - Design Strategies to integrate CFD simulation in early design process
source	Architectural Information Management [19th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-8-1] Helsinki (Finland) 29-31 August 2001, pp. 54-59
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2001.054
summary	Indoor public transport interchanges (PTI) are ubiquitous in Hong Kong. In the hyperdense urban context, land use has been optimized through the design of complex public facilities. Owing to the use of diesel engines by public transport vehicles, the main pollutants are sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxides. Although the Hong Kong Government took measurements to improve the air quality in PTI, unfortunately, the problem has not been solved up to now. To effectively integrate the architectural design with efficient ventilation system to remove pollutants, designers and engineers need to predict and visualize the pollutant concentration and the time history of pollutant transfer during early stage of design. With time dependent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation and the scientific visualization technology, architects and engineers could visualize the pollutant distribution in real time, and “what-if” scenarios could be investigated collaboratively. In this project, we have established a time-dependent CFD multiphase model to describe the pollutant concentration and the time history of pollutant transfer in PTI. On the basis of simulation results, several new design schemes are proposed and tested.
keywords	Public Transport Interchanges, Early Design Process, Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation (CFD) & Scientific Visualization
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:57

_id	avocaad_2001_09
id	avocaad_2001_09
authors	Yu-Tung Liu, Yung-Ching Yeh, Sheng-Cheng Shih
year	2001
title	Digital Architecture in CAD studio and Internet-based competition
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	Architectural design has been changing because of the vast and creative use of computer in different ways. From the viewpoint of designing itself, computer has been used as drawing tools in the latter phase of design (Mitchell 1977; Coyne et al. 1990), presentation and simulation tools in the middle phase (Liu and Bai 2000), and even critical media which triggers creative thinking in the very early phase (Maher et al. 2000; Liu 1999; Won 1999). All the various roles that computer can play have been adopted in a number of professional design corporations and so-called computer-aided design (CAD) studio in schools worldwide (Kvan 1997, 2000; Cheng 1998). The processes and outcomes of design have been continuously developing to capture the movement of the computer age. However, from the viewpoint of social-cultural theories of architecture, the evolvement of design cannot be achieved solely by designers or design processes. Any new idea of design can be accepted socially, culturally and historically only under one condition: The design outcomes could be reviewed and appreciated by critics in the field at the time of its production (Csikszentmihalyi 1986, 1988; Schon and Wiggins 1992; Liu 2000). In other words, aspects of design production (by designers in different design processes) are as critical as those of design appreciation (by critics in different review processes) in the observation of the future trends of architecture.Nevertheless, in the field of architectural design with computer and Internet, that is, so-called computer-aided design computer-mediated design, or internet-based design, most existing studies pay more attentions to producing design in design processes as mentioned above. Relatively few studies focus on how critics act and how they interact with designers in the review processes. Therefore, this study intends to investigate some evolving phenomena of the interaction between design production and appreciation in the environment of computer and Internet.This paper takes a CAD studio and an Internet-based competition as examples. The CAD studio includes 7 master's students and 2 critics, all from the same countries. The Internet-based competition, held in year 2000, includes 206 designers from 43 counties and 26 critics from 11 countries. 3 students and the 2 critics in the CAD studio are the competition participating designers and critics respectively. The methodological steps are as follows: 1. A qualitative analysis: observation and interview of the 3 participants and 2 reviewers who join both the CAD studio and the competition. The 4 analytical criteria are the kinds of presenting media, the kinds of supportive media (such as verbal and gesture/facial data), stages of the review processes, and interaction between the designer and critics. The behavioral data are acquired by recording the design presentation and dialogue within 3 months. 2. A quantitative analysis: statistical analysis of the detailed reviewing data in the CAD studio and the competition. The four 4 analytical factors are the reviewing time, the number of reviewing of the same project, the comparison between different projects, and grades/comments. 3. Both the qualitative and quantitative data are cross analyzed and discussed, based on the theories of design thinking, design production/appreciation, and the appreciative system (Goodman 1978, 1984).The result of this study indicates that the interaction between design production and appreciation during the review processes could differ significantly. The review processes could be either linear or cyclic due to the influences from the kinds of media, the environmental discrepancies between studio and Internet, as well as cognitive thinking/memory capacity. The design production and appreciation seem to be more linear in CAD studio whereas more cyclic in the Internet environment. This distinction coincides with the complementary observations of designing as a linear process (Jones 1970; Simon 1981) or a cyclic movement (Schon and Wiggins 1992). Some phenomena during the two processes are also illustrated in detail in this paper.This study is merely a starting point of the research in design production and appreciation in the computer and network age. The future direction of investigation is to establish a theoretical model for the interaction between design production and appreciation based on current findings. The model is expected to conduct using revised protocol analysis and interviews. The other future research is to explore how design computing creativity emerge from the process of producing and appreciating.
series	AVOCAAD
email
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

_id	7ff9
authors	Choi, J.-W., Lee, H.-S., Hwang, J.-E. and Kim, M.-J.
year	2001
title	The Wooden Construction data modeling of korean traditional architecture - Focused on the structure of Gongpo in Buseoksa MuRyangsujun
source	CAADRIA 2001 [Proceedings of the Sixth Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia / ISBN 1-86487-096-6] Sydney 19-21 April 2001, pp. 265-274
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.2001.265
summary	Finding national identities from its traditional heritages might be an important research issue especially for Asian architects and researchers. Nevertheless, it is noticed that the structure of Korean traditional architecture has not been fully explored in a systematical or computational manner and its information is not shared efficiently. This study thus explores a computational way of structuring construction knowledge and building information of Korean traditional architecture.Ý To do this, we select a well-known old temple building, Buseoksa Muryangsujun, one of the oldest Buddhist temple in Korea, as a prototype. We first build an accurateÝ three-dimensional model of the building with an aid of a traditional building expert, categorize its building components, and then analyze their connectivity and the connectivity patterns and rules by especially focusing on the capital order system, called Gongpo. The result of the study shows several schema diagrams representing the wooden construction data model carefully designed for an intelligent building simulation and generative system that will be developed in the near future.Ý The paper also demonstrates a way of computationally describing some shape grammars that explain the components' connectivity.
series	CAADRIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:56

_id	7897
authors	Achten, Henri and De Vries, Bauke
year	2001
title	Multiple Sketch Users in DDDoolz
source	Stellingwerff, Martijn and Verbeke, Johan (Eds.), ACCOLADE - Architecture, Collaboration, Design. Delft University Press (DUP Science) / ISBN 90-407-2216-1 / The Netherlands, pp. 153-162 [Book ordering info: m.c.stellingwerff@bk.tudelft.nl]
summary	This paper presents DDDoolz, a desktop-VR three-dimensional voxel sketchtool. DDDoolz is developed in the Design Systems Group to explore the use of Virtual Reality technology in the early design stage. The aim is to offer a sketch-like environment in VR with an unobtrusive interface. The paper presents DDDoolz, how it is used in education and with partners in architectural practice, and some future developments. As an extension to current functionality, the possibility of multiple users at the same time will be developed in the system for the {ACCOLADE} workshop.
series	other
email
last changed	2001/09/14 21:30

_id	12e3
authors	Ahmad Rafi, M.E., Che Zulkhairi, A. and Karboulonis, P.
year	2002
title	Interactive Storytelling and Its Role in the Design Process
source	CAADRIA 2002 [Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia / ISBN 983-2473-42-X] Cyberjaya (Malaysia) 18–20 April 2002, pp. 151-158
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.2002.151
summary	Projects of ever increasing complexity and size have incited the need for new and robust design methodologies and tools in an effort to manage complexity, lower costs, ascertain quality and reduce risk. Technology convergence through the growing availability of networked computers, rapid progress in Computer Aided Design (CAD) and information management have encouraged the undertaking of even more complex designs that demand high degrees of interaction, collaboration and the efficient sharing and dissemination of information. It is suggested that interactive storytelling and interactive design (Rafi and Karboulonis, 2001) techniques that use non-linear information mapping systems can be deployed to assist users as they navigate information that is structured to address localized needs as they arise. The design process is a collaborative effort that encompasses diverse knowledge disciplines and demands the management and utilization of available resources to satisfy the needs of a single or set of goals. It is thought that building industry specialists should work close together in an organised manner to solve design problems as they emerge and find alternatives when designs fall short. The design process involves the processing of dynamic and complex information, that can be anything from the amount of soil required to level lands - to the needs of specific lightings systems in operation theatres. Other important factors that affect the design process are related to costs and deadlines. This paper will demonstrate some of our early findings in several experiments to establish nonlinear storytelling. It will conclude with a recommendation for a plausible design of such a system based on experimental work that is currently being conducted and is reaching its final stages. The paper will lay the foundations of a possible path to implementation based on the concept of multi-path animation that is appropriate for structuring the design process as used in the building industry.
series	CAADRIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	avocaad_2001_10
id	avocaad_2001_10
authors	Bige Tunçer, Rudi Stouffs, Sevil Sariyildiz
year	2001
title	Facilitating the complexity of architectural analyses
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	It is common practice for architecture students to collect documents on prominent buildings relevant to their design task in the early stage of design. While practitioners can rely on a body of design experience of their own, during the process of a new design, students can only draw from the examples of success and failure from other architects. In the past, such precedent based learning was implicit in the master-apprentice relationship common in the educational system. Nowadays academics commonly no longer have the possibility to maintain an extensive design practice, and instead introduce important outside precedents to the students. Thus, the study of important historical precedents or designs plays an important role in design instruction and in the students’ design processes. While there is no doubt that the most effective outcome of such a study would be achieved when the student does entire the study herself, students also benefit from a collaboration with peers, where they form groups to do an analysis of various aspects of a same building or over a group of buildings. By integrating the respective results into a common, extensible, library, students can draw upon other results for comparisons and relationships between different aspects or buildings. The complexity this introduces is best supported in a computer medium.The Web offers many examples of architectural analyses on a wide variety of subjects. Commonly, these analyses consist of a collection of documents, categorized and hyperlinked to support navigation through the information space. More sophisticated examples rely on a database for storage and management of the data, and offer a more complex categorization of the information entities and their relationships. These studies present effective ways of accessing and browsing information, however, it is precluded within these analyses to distinguish and relate different components within the project documents. If enabled, instead, this would offer a richer information structure presenting new ways of accessing, viewing, and interpreting this information. Hereto, documents can be decomposed by content. This implies both expanding the document structure, replacing document entities by detailed substructures, and augmenting the structure’s relatedness with content information. The relationships between the resulting components make the documents inherently related by content.We propose a methodology to integrate project documents into a single model, and present an application for the presentation of architectural analyses in an educational setting. This approach provides the students with a simple interface and mechanisms for the presentation of an analysis of design precedents, and possibly their own designs. Since all the information is integrated within a single environment, students will benefit from each others’ studies, and can draw new conclusions across analyses and presentations from their peers.
series	AVOCAAD
email
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

_id	cf2011_p051
id	cf2011_p051
authors	Cote, Pierre; Mohamed-Ahmed Ashraf, Tremblay Sebastien
year	2011
title	A Quantitative Method to Compare the Impact of Design Mediums on the Architectural Ideation Process.
source	Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures 2011 [Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures / ISBN 9782874561429] Liege (Belgium) 4-8 July 2011, pp. 539-556.
summary	If we compare the architectural design process to a black box system, we can assume that we now know quite well both inputs and outputs of the system. Indeed, everything about the early project either feasibility studies, programming, context integration, site analysis (urban, rural or natural), as well as the integration of participants in a collaborative process can all be considered to initiate and sustain the architectural design and ideation process. Similarly, outputs from that process are also, and to some extent, well known and identifiable. We are referring here, among others, to the project representations or even to the concrete building construction and its post-evaluation. But what about the black box itself that produces the ideation. This is the question that attempts to answer the research. Currently, very few research works linger to identify how the human brain accomplishes those tasks; how to identify the cognitive functions that are playing this role; to what extent they operate and complement each other, and among other things, whether there possibly a chain of causality between these functions. Therefore, this study proposes to define a model that reflects the activity of the black box based on the cognitive activity of the human brain. From an extensive literature review, two cognitive functions have been identified and are investigated to account for some of the complex cognitive activity that occurs during a design process, namely the mental workload and mental imagery. These two variables are measured quantitatively in the context of real design task. Essentially, the mental load is measured using a Bakan's test and the mental imagery with eyes tracking. The statistical software G-Power was used to identify the necessary subject number to obtain for significant variance and correlation result analysis. Thus, in the context of an exploratory research, to ensure effective sample of 0.25 and a statistical power of 0.80, 32 participants are needed. All these participants are students from 3rd, 4th or 5th grade in architecture. They are also very familiar with the architectural design process and the design mediums used, i.e., analog model, freehand drawing and CAD software, SketchUp. In three experimental sessions, participants were asked to design three different projects, namely, a bus shelter, a recycling station and a public toilet. These projects were selected and defined for their complexity similarity, taking into account the available time of 22 minutes, using all three mediums of design, and this in a randomly manner to avoid the order effect. To analyze the two cognitive functions (mental load and mental imagery), two instruments are used. Mental imagery is measured using eye movement tracking with monitoring and quantitative analysis of scan paths and the resulting number and duration of participant eye fixations (Johansson et al, 2005). The mental workload is measured using the performance of a modality hearing secondary task inspired by Bakan'sworks (Bakan et al.; 1963). Each of these three experimental sessions, lasting 90 minutes, was composed of two phases: 1. After calibrating the glasses for eye movement, the subject had to exercise freely for 3 minutes while wearing the glasses and headphones (Bakan task) to get use to the wearing hardware. Then, after reading the guidelines and criteria for the design project (¬± 5 minutes), he had 22 minutes to execute the design task on a drawing table allowing an upright posture. Once the task is completed, the subject had to take the NASA TLX Test, on the assessment of mental load (¬± 5 minutes) and a written post-experimental questionnaire on his impressions of the experiment (¬± 10 minutes). 2. After a break of 5-10 minutes, the participant answered a psychometric test, which is different for each session. These tests (¬± 20 minutes) are administered in the same order to each participant. Thus, in the first experimental session, the subject had to take the psychometric test from Ekstrom et al. (1978), on spatial performance (Factor-Referenced Cognitive Tests Kit). During the second session, the cognitive style is evaluated using Oltman's test (1971). Finally, in the third and final session, participant creativity is evaluated using Delis-Kaplan test (D-KEFS), Delis et al. (2001). Thus, this study will present the first results of quantitative measures to establish and validate the proposed model. Furthermore, the paper will also discuss the relevance of the proposed approach, considering that currently teaching of ideation in ours schools of architecture in North America is essentially done in a holistic manner through the architectural project.
keywords	design, ideation process, mental workload, mental imagery, quantitative mesure
series	CAAD Futures
email
last changed	2012/02/11 19:21

_id	7e02
authors	Elger, Dietrich and Russell, Peter
year	2002
title	The Virtual Campus: A new place for (lifelong) learning?
source	Connecting the Real and the Virtual - design e-ducation [20th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9541183-0-8] Warsaw (Poland) 18-20 September 2002, pp. 472-477
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2002.472
summary	472 eCAADe 20 [design e-ducation] Modeling Real and Virtual Worlds Session 13 In the early spring of 2001 a collection of German universities founded a virtual faculty of architecture, which was named „Liquid Campus“. Current thinking about future forms of education in the field of architecture combined with over 4 years of experience with net-based design studios, led to questions about the future of existing universities, their buildings and their use. This problem was put to 43 students in the form of a design exercise to create a place for a virtual university. In the current situation, in which the administration of knowledge is more and more located on the internet, and even the so-called meeting places themselves can be virtualised through the help of video-conference-software, the exercise was to design a virtual campus in the framework and to carry out this design work in a simulation of distributed practice. Initial criticism of the project came from the students in that exemplary working methods were not described, but left for the students to discover on their own. The creation of a concept for the Liquid Campus meant that the participants had to imagine working in a world without the face to face contacts that form the basis (at present) of personal interaction. Additionally, the assignment to create or design possible links between the real and the virtual was not an easy task for students who normally design and plan real physical buildings. Even the tutors had difficulties in producing focused constructive criticism about a virtual campus; in effect the virtualisation of the university leads to a distinctive blurring of its boundaries. The project was conducted using the pedagogical framework of the netzentwurf.de; a relatively well established Internet based communication platform. This means that the studio was organised in the „traditional“ structure consisting of an initial 3 day workshop, a face to face midterm review, and a collective final review, held 3,5 months later in the Museum of Communication in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In teams of 3 (with each student from a different university and a tutor located at a fourth) the students worked over the Internet to produce collaborative design solutions. The groups ended up with designs that spanned a range of solutions between real and virtual architecture. Examples of the student’s work (which is all available online) as well as their working methods are described. It must be said that the energy invested in the studio by the organisers of the virtual campus (as well as the students who took part) was considerably higher than in normal design studios and the paper seeks to look critically at the effort in relation to the outcomes achieved. The range and depth of the student’s work was surprising to many in the project, especially considering the initial hurdles (both social and technological) that had to overcome. The self-referential nature of the theme, the method and the working environment encouraged the students to take a more philosophical approach to the design problem. The paper explores the implications of the student’s conclusions on the nature of the university in general and draws conclusions specific to architectural education and the role of architecture in this process.
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	2004_444
id	2004_444
authors	Ham, Jeremy J. and Dawson, Anthony
year	2004
title	Managing Digital Resources for Design Education
source	Architecture in the Network Society [22nd eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9541183-2-4] Copenhagen (Denmark) 15-18 September 2004, pp. 444-450
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2004.444
summary	This paper outlines the evolution of digital management systems used in the School of Architecture and building at Deakin University from 2001 to the present. These systems have been implemented to support a curriculum development programme in the design, construction and computing units. Two school-based information management systems are discussed in depth: low-tech network submission system and Bentley Systems Inc’s ProjectWise. Early experiences in using a universitybased system are also reported on. Lessons learnt from three years experience in managing digital resources for design education have informed the development of a growing digital culture in the architectural and construction management curricula. Whilst digital curriculum design and management systems supporting this curriculum have been developed effectively in this school, full optimization of IT to enhance design education is reliant on fundamental changes within traditional academic culture.
keywords	Digital Management, Digital Curriculum, Design Education
series	eCAADe
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

_id	6430
authors	Jabi, Wassim (Ed.)
year	2001
title	ACADIA 2001 [Conference Proceedings]
source	Proceedings of the Twenty First Annual Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture / ISBN 1-880250-10-1/ Buffalo (New York) 11-14 October 2001, 415 p.
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2001
summary	The theme, which preceded my knowledge of ACADIA’s true age, resulted from a realization regarding the development and current state of CAD in Research, Education, and Practice. While I only got involved with ACADIA in the last half of its current life to date, I had the honor of studying with some of the early pioneers of CAD: 1) Harold Borkin, a founding member of ACADIA, 2) Jim Turner, a longtime ACADIAn, and a past ACADIA Conference organizer (actually the very first conference I attended), and 3) Ted Hall, another longtime ACADIAn. What I have learned from conversations with them and later witnessed for myself is a fundamental shift of focus in CAD from building tools to using tools. That is, while early CAD students, including myself, used to learn how to create software and tools to solve a particular problem, the current focus in the majority of schools that include a CAD component in their curriculum is on teaching the use of commercial software and/or the use of digital media in the design studio. One need only take a look at old list of courses that used to be offered in the CAD area and compare it with a new list to see this shift. Yet, one form of tool building that is continuing in a significant number of schools is the creation of scripts or small software modules (usually built using a visual editor) to create interactive systems for delivery over the web or on CD-ROM. Examples include the use of Macromedia Director or Flash for creating interactive digital titles. While this current state of affairs has increased the receptivity to digital tools and media, it does obscure an important fact. For knowledge to advance in this area, we need researchers who can not only use tools, but also invent new ones to solve new problems that are not addressed by the existing crop of commercial software. The more time we spend not educating our students in the art and science of building digital tools, the harder it will be to: 1) find teachers in the future with those skills, 2) advance and influence the development of the state-of-the-art in CAD, and 3) erase the use of CAD as a euphemism for slick computer-generated imagery. While not common, the tradition of tool building is still going on most notably in architecture schools with strong financial resources and those that offer doctoral level education. Commercial, governmental and business/education entities are also continuing the research tradition of tool building. ACADIA, as a reflection of the field it focuses on, has widened its scope to solicit papers that deal with CAD education and the use of CAD in practice. Thus, you will read in this book papers that focus on all three aspects: research, education, and practice and in some cases the intersection of two or more of those areas. Thankfully, ACADIA, while concerned with CAD in education has maintained its receptivity to basic research papers as well as a willingness to publish innovative papers in the area of practice. As chair of the technical committee, I made sure that the call for papers and the final selection reflects this desire. We should continue to emphasize the need for presenting this diversity of work in our annual conferences and I am optimistic that the ACADIA community is in support of this notion.
series	ACADIA
email
more	www.acadia.org
last changed	2022/06/07 07:49

_id	7313
authors	Mahdavi, A., Brahme, R. and Gupta, S.
year	2001
title	Performance-based computational design via differential modeling and two-staged mapping
source	Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 0-7923-7023-6] Eindhoven, 8-11 July 2001, pp. 667-680
summary	Computational performance-based building design support faces a conflict. It is important to provide building performance feed back to the designer as early as possible in the design process. But many aspects of building performance are significantly affected by the design of the building’s technical systems, which are typically configured in detail only in the later stages of design. The challenge is thus to find a method to use detailed simulation tools even during the early stages of design when values for many of the variables for the building’s technical sub-systems are not yet available. In this paper, we demonstrate how this problem can be partially solved by combining two levels of automation. The first level consists of differential building representation involving a number of domain (application-specific) object models that are derived from a shared object model automatically. The second level uses generative agents that create reference designs for the technical sub-systems of the building. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach, we use the building energy systems domain (heating, cooling, ventilation, and air-conditioning) as a case in point.
keywords	Building Performance Simulation, Homology-Based Mapping, Intelligent Design Agents
series	CAAD Futures
email
last changed	2006/11/07 07:22

_id	avocaad_2001_20
id	avocaad_2001_20
authors	Shen-Kai Tang
year	2001
title	Toward a procedure of computer simulation in the restoration of historical architecture
source	AVOCAAD - ADDED VALUE OF COMPUTER AIDED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Nys Koenraad, Provoost Tom, Verbeke Johan, Verleye Johan (Eds.), (2001) Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst - Departement Architectuur Sint-Lucas, Campus Brussel, ISBN 80-76101-05-1
summary	In the field of architectural design, “visualization¨ generally refers to some media, communicating and representing the idea of designers, such as ordinary drafts, maps, perspectives, photos and physical models, etc. (Rahman, 1992; Susan, 2000). The main reason why we adopt visualization is that it enables us to understand clearly and to control complicated procedures (Gombrich, 1990). Secondly, the way we get design knowledge is more from the published visualized images and less from personal experiences (Evans, 1989). Thus the importance of the representation of visualization is manifested.Due to the developments of computer technology in recent years, various computer aided design system are invented and used in a great amount, such as image processing, computer graphic, computer modeling/rendering, animation, multimedia, virtual reality and collaboration, etc. (Lawson, 1995; Liu, 1996). The conventional media are greatly replaced by computer media, and the visualization is further brought into the computerized stage. The procedure of visual impact analysis and assessment (VIAA), addressed by Rahman (1992), is renewed and amended for the intervention of computer (Liu, 2000). Based on the procedures above, a great amount of applied researches are proceeded. Therefore it is evident that the computer visualization is helpful to the discussion and evaluation during the design process (Hall, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998; Liu, 1997; Sasada, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 1998). In addition to the process of architectural design, the computer visualization is also applied to the subject of construction, which is repeatedly amended and corrected by the images of computer simulation (Liu, 2000). Potier (2000) probes into the contextual research and restoration of historical architecture by the technology of computer simulation before the practical restoration is constructed. In this way he established a communicative mode among archeologists, architects via computer media.In the research of restoration and preservation of historical architecture in Taiwan, many scholars have been devoted into the studies of historical contextual criticism (Shi, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995; Fu, 1995, 1997; Chiu, 2000). Clues that accompany the historical contextual criticism (such as oral information, writings, photographs, pictures, etc.) help to explore the construction and the procedure of restoration (Hung, 1995), and serve as an aid to the studies of the usage and durability of the materials in the restoration of historical architecture (Dasser, 1990; Wang, 1998). Many clues are lost, because historical architecture is often age-old (Hung, 1995). Under the circumstance, restoration of historical architecture can only be proceeded by restricted pictures, written data and oral information (Shi, 1989). Therefore, computer simulation is employed by scholars to simulate the condition of historical architecture with restricted information after restoration (Potier, 2000). Yet this is only the early stage of computer-aid restoration. The focus of the paper aims at exploring that whether visual simulation of computer can help to investigate the practice of restoration and the estimation and evaluation after restoration.By exploring the restoration of historical architecture (taking the Gigi Train Station destroyed by the earthquake in last September as the operating example), this study aims to establish a complete work on computer visualization, including the concept of restoration, the practice of restoration, and the estimation and evaluation of restoration.This research is to simulate the process of restoration by computer simulation based on visualized media (restricted pictures, restricted written data and restricted oral information) and the specialized experience of historical architects (Potier, 2000). During the process of practicing, communicates with craftsmen repeatedly with some simulated alternatives, and makes the result as the foundation of evaluating and adjusting the simulating process and outcome. In this way we address a suitable and complete process of computer visualization for historical architecture.The significance of this paper is that we are able to control every detail more exactly, and then prevent possible problems during the process of restoration of historical architecture.
series	AVOCAAD
email
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

_id	3e51
authors	Cerulli, C., Peng, C. and Lawson, B.
year	2001
title	Capturing Histories of Design Processes for Collaborative Building Design Development. Field Trial of the ADS Prototype
source	Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 0-7923-7023-6] Eindhoven, 8-11 July 2001, pp. 427-437
summary	The ADS Project - Advanced Design Support for the Construction Design Process - builds on the technological results of the previous COMMIT Project to exploit and demonstrate the benefits of a CAD based Design Decision Support System. COMMIT provides a system for storing knowledge about knowledge within the design process. It records design decisions, the actors who take them and the roles they play when doing so. ADS links COMMIT to an existing object-oriented CAD system, MicroStation/J from Bentley Systems. The project focuses on tackling the problem of managing design information without intruding too much on the design process itself. It provides the possibility to effectively link design decisions back to requirements, to gather rationale information for later stages of the building lifecycle, and to gather knowledge of rationale for later projects. The system enables members of the project team, including clients and constructors, to browse and search the recorded project history of decision making both during and after design development. ADS aims to facilitate change towards a more collaborative process in construction design, to improve the effectiveness of decision-making throughout the construction project and to provide clients with the facility to relate design outcomes to design briefs across the whole building life cycle. In this paper we will describe the field trials of the ADS prototype carried out over a three-month period at the Building Design Partnership (BDP) Manchester office. The objective of these trials is to assess the extent, to which the approach underlying ADS enhances the design process, and to gather and document the views and experiences of practitioners. The ADS prototype was previously tested with historical data of real project (Peng, Cerulli et al. 2000). To gather more valuable knowledge about how a Decision Support System like ADS can be used in practice, the testing and evaluation will be extended to a real project, while it is still ongoing. The live case study will look at some phases of the design of a mixed residential and retail development in Leeds, UK, recording project information while it is created. The users’ feedback on the system usability will inform the continuous redevelopment process that will run in parallel to the live case study. The ADS and COMMIT Projects were both funded by EPSRC.
keywords	Design Rationale, Design Support Systems, Usability Evaluation
series	CAAD Futures
email
last changed	2006/11/07 07:22

_id	avocaad_2001_19
id	avocaad_2001_19
authors	Shen-Kai Tang, Yu-Tung Liu, Yu-Sheng Chung, Chi-Seng Chung
year	2001
title	The visual harmony between new and old materials in the restoration of historical architecture: A study of computer simulation
source	AVOCAAD - ADDED VALUE OF COMPUTER AIDED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Nys Koenraad, Provoost Tom, Verbeke Johan, Verleye Johan (Eds.), (2001) Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst - Departement Architectuur Sint-Lucas, Campus Brussel, ISBN 80-76101-05-1
summary	In the research of historical architecture restoration, scholars respectively focus on the field of architectural context and architectural archeology (Shi, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995; Fu, 1995, 1997; Chiu, 2000) or on architecture construction and the procedure of restoration (Shi, 1988, 1989; Chiu, 1990). How to choose materials and cope with their durability becomes an important issue in the restoration of historical architecture (Dasser, 1990; Wang, 1998).In the related research of the usage and durability of materials, some scholars deem that, instead of continuing the traditional ways that last for hundreds of years (that is to replace new materials with old ones), it might be better to keep the original materials (Dasser, 1990). However, unavoidably, some of the originals are much worn. Thus we have to first establish the standard of eliminating components, and secondly to replace identical or similar materials with the old components (Lee, 1990). After accomplishing the restoration, we often unexpectedly find out that the renewed historical building is too new that the sense of history is eliminated (Dasser, 1990; Fu, 1997). Actually this is the important factor that determines the accomplishment of restoration. In the past, some scholars find out that the contrast and conflict between new and old materials are contributed to the different time of manufacture and different coating, such as antiseptic, pattern, etc., which result in the discrepancy of the sense of visual perception (Lee, 1990; Fu, 1997; Dasser, 1990).In recent years, a number of researches and practice of computer technology have been done in the field of architectural design. We are able to proceed design communication more exactly by the application of some systematic softwares, such as image processing, computer graphic, computer modeling/rendering, animation, multimedia, virtual reality and so on (Lawson, 1995; Liu, 1996). The application of computer technology to the research of the preservation of historical architecture is comparatively late. Continually some researchers explore the procedure of restoration by computer simulation technology (Potier, 2000), or establish digital database of the investigation of historical architecture (Sasada, 2000; Wang, 1998). How to choose materials by the technology of computer simulation influences the sense of visual perception. Liu (2000) has a more complete result on visual impact analysis and assessment (VIAA) about the research of urban design projection. The main subjects of this research paper focuses on whether the technology of computer simulation can extenuate the conflict between new and old materials that imposed on visual perception.The objective of this paper is to propose a standard method of visual harmony effects for materials in historical architecture (taking the Gigi Train Station destroyed by the earthquake in last September as the operating example).There are five steps in this research: 1.Categorize the materials of historical architecture and establish the information in digital database. 2.Get new materials of historical architecture and establish the information in digital database. 3.According to the mixing amount of new and old materials, determinate their proportion of the building; mixing new and old materials in a certain way. 4.Assign the mixed materials to the computer model and proceed the simulation of lighting. 5.Make experts and the citizens to evaluate the accomplished computer model in order to propose the expected standard method.According to the experiment mentioned above, we first address a procedure of material simulation of the historical architecture restoration and then offer some suggestions of how to mix new and old materials.By this procedure of simulation, we offer a better view to control the restoration of historical architecture. And, the discrepancy and discordance by new and old materials can be released. Moreover, we thus avoid to reconstructing ¡§too new¡¨ historical architecture.
series	AVOCAAD
email
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

_id	2715
authors	Yaqüinto, E.N., Pampinella, S.T., Bressan, E.J. and Florio, P.A.
year	2001
title	OBRAS, SITIOS Y CIUDAD. INFOGRAFIAS (Works, Sites and City. Digital Infographics)
source	SIGraDi biobio2001 - [Proceedings of the 5th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics / ISBN 956-7813-12-4] Concepcion (Chile) 21-23 november 2001, pp. 43-45
summary	We are proposing a graphic reconstruction of the condition of the significant fragments of Rosario Architecture and its history as a comparative sequence throughout the time in relation to the transformation of the site. We are looking forward to producing systematic documentation with multiple application using the CAD to generate an atlas: a platform that provides information. The redrawing of the buildings conditions proposes that the digital patrimony is transformed into a place of memory of the city architecture. Each building is entailed to possible presentations that this platform gives, generating a system always going on and never ending.
series	SIGRADI
email
last changed	2016/03/10 10:03

_id	avocaad_2001_05
id	avocaad_2001_05
authors	Alexander Koutamanis
year	2001
title	Analysis and the descriptive approach
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	The rise of consciousness concerning the quality of working and living conditions has been a permanent though frequently underplayed theme in architecture and building since the reconstruction period. It has led to an explosive growth of programmatic requirements on building behaviour and performance, thus also stimulating the development of design analysis. The first stage of development was characterized by the evolution of prescriptive systems. These reversed the structure of pre-existing proscriptive systems into sequences of known steps that should be taken in order to achieve adequate results. Prescriptive systems complemented rather than replaced proscriptive ones, thereby creating an uncertain mixture of orthodoxy and orthopraxy that failed to provide design guidance for improving design performance and quality.The second stage in the development of design analysis focuses on descriptive methods and techniques for analyzing and supporting evaluation. Technologies such as simulation and scientific visualization are employed so as to produce detailed, accurate and reliable projections of building behaviour and performance. These projections can be correlated into a comprehensive and coherent description of a building using representations of form as information carriers. In these representations feedback and interaction assume a visual character that fits both design attitudes and lay perception of the built environment, but on the basis of a quantitative background that justifies, verifies and refines design actions. Descriptive analysis is currently the most promising direction for confronting and resolving design complexity. It provides the designer with useful insights into the causes and effects of various design problems but frequently comes short of providing clear design guidance for two main reasons: (1) it adds substantial amounts of information to the already unmanageable loads the designer must handle, and (2) it may provide incoherent cues for the further development of a design. Consequently the descriptive approach to analysis is always in danger of been supplanted by abstract decision making.One way of providing the desired design guidance is to complement the connection of descriptive analyses to representations of form (and from there to synthesis) with two interface components. The first is a memory component, implemented as case-bases of precedent designs. These designs encapsulate integrated design information that can be matched to the design in hand in terms of form, function and performance. Comparison between precedents with a known performance and a new design facilitate identification of design aspects that need be improved, as well as of wider formal and functional consequences. The second component is an adaptive generative system capable of guiding exploration of these aspects, both in the precedents and the new design. The aim of this system is to provide feedback from analysis to synthesis. By exploring the scope of the analysis and the applicability of the conclusions to more designs, the designer generates a coherent and consistent collection of partial solutions that explore a relevant solution space. Development of the first component, the design case-bases, is no trivial task. Transformability in the representation of cases and flexible classification in a database are critical to the identification and treatment of a design aspect. Nevertheless, the state of the art in case-based reasoning and the extensive corpus of analysed designs provide the essential building blocks. The second component, the adaptive generative system, poses more questions. Existing generative techniques do not possess the necessary richness or multidimensionality. Moreover, it is imperative that the designer plays a more active role in the control of the process than merely tweaking local variables. At the same time, the system should prevent that redesigning degenerates into a blind trial-and-error enumeration of possibilities. Guided empirical design research arguably provides the means for the evolutionary development of the second component.
series	AVOCAAD
email
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

_id	avocaad_2001_13
id	avocaad_2001_13
authors	Alexander Koutamanis
year	2001
title	Modeling irregular and complex forms
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	Computational technologies provide arguably the first real opportunity architectural design has had for a comprehensive description of built form. With the advent of affordable computer-aided design systems (including drafting, modeling, visualization and simulation tools), architects believe they can be in full control of geometric aspects and, through these, of a wide spectrum of other aspects that are implicit or explicit in the geometric representation. This belief is based primarily on the efficiency and effectiveness of computer systems, ranging from the richness and adaptability of geometric primitives to the utility of geometric representations in simulations of climatic aspects. Such capabilities support attempts to design and construct more irregular or otherwise complex forms. These fall under two main categories: (1) parsing of irregularity into elementary components, and (2) correlation of the form of a building with complex geometric structures.The first category takes advantage of the compactness and flexibility of computational representations in order to analyse the form of a design into basic elements, usually elementary geometric primitives. These are either arranged into simple, unconstrained configurations or related to each other by relationships that define e.g. parametric relative positioning or Boolean combinations. In both cases the result is a reduction of local complexity and an increase of implicit or explicit relationships, including the possibility of hierarchical structures.The second category attempts to correlate built form with constraints that derive usually from construction but can also be morphological. The correlation determines the applicability of complex geometric structures (minimally ruled surfaces) to the description of a design. The product of this application is generally variable in quality, depending upon the designer's grounding in geometry and his ability to integrate constraints from different aspects in the definition of the design's geometry.Both categories represent a potential leap forward but are also equally hampered by the rigidity of the implementation mechanisms upon which they rely heavily. The paper proposes an approach to making these mechanisms subordinate to the cognitive and technical aspects of architectural thinking through fuzzy modeling. This way of modeling involves a combination of (a) canonical forms, (b) tolerances around canonical forms and positions, (c) minimal and maximal values, (d) fuzzy boundaries, and (e) plastic interaction between elements based on the dual principles of local intelligence and autonomy. Fuzzy models come therefore closer to the intuitive manners of sketching, while facilitating transition to precise and complex forms. The paper presents two applications of fuzzy modeling. The first concerns the generation of schematic building layouts, including adaptive control of programmatic requirements. The second is a system for designing stairs that can adapt themselves to changes in their immediate environment through a fuzzy definition of geometric and topological parametrization.
series	AVOCAAD
email
last changed	2005/09/09 10:48

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