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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Hits 1 to 20 of 717

_id ec4d
authors Croser, J.
year 2001
title GDL Object
source The Architect’s Journal, 14 June 2001, pp. 49-50
summary It is all too common for technology companies to seek a new route to solving the same problem but for the most part the solutions address the effect and not the cause. The good old-fashioned pencil is the perfect example where inventors have sought to design-out the effect of the inherent brittleness of lead. Traditionally different methods of sharpening were suggested and more recently the propelling pencil has reigned king, the lead being supported by the dispensing sleeve thus reducing the likelihood of breakage. Developers convinced by the Single Building Model approach to design development have each embarked on a difficult journey to create an easy to use feature packed application. Unfortunately it seems that the two are not mutually compatible if we are to believe what we see emanating from Technology giants Autodesk in the guise of Architectural Desktop 3. The effect of their development is a feature rich environment but the cost and in this case the cause is a tool which is far from easy to use. However, this is only a small part of a much bigger problem, Interoperability. You see when one designer develops a model with one tool the information is typically locked in that environment. Of course the geometry can be distributed and shared amongst the team for use with their tools but the properties, or as often misquoted, the intelligence is lost along the way. The effect is the technological version of rubble; the cause is the low quality of data-translation available to us. Fortunately there is one company, which is making rapid advancements on the whole issue of collaboration, and data sharing. An old timer (Graphisoft - famous for ArchiCAD) has just donned a smart new suit, set up a new company called GDL Technology and stepped into the ring to do battle, with a difference. The difference is that GDL Technology does not rely on conquering the competition, quite the opposite in fact their success relies upon the continued success of all the major CAD platforms including AutoCAD, MicroStation and ArchiCAD (of course). GDL Technology have created a standard data format for manufacturers called GDL Objects. Product manufacturers such as Velux are now able to develop product libraries using GDL Objects, which can then be placed in a CAD model, or drawing using almost any CAD tool. The product libraries can be stored on the web or on CD giving easy download access to any building industry professional. These objects are created using scripts which makes them tiny for downloading from the web. Each object contains 3 important types of information: · Parametric scale dependant 2d plan symbols · Full 3d geometric data · Manufacturers information such as material, colour and price Whilst manufacturers are racing to GDL Technologies door to sign up, developers and clients are quick to see the benefit too. Porsche are using GDL Objects to manage their brand identity as they build over 300 new showrooms worldwide. Having defined the building style and interior Porsche, in conjunction with the product suppliers, have produced a CD-ROM with all of the selected building components such as cladding, doors, furniture, and finishes. Designing and detailing the various schemes will therefore be as straightforward as using Lego. To ease the process of accessing, sizing and placing the product libraries GDL Technology have developed a product called GDL Object Explorer, a free-standing application which can be placed on the CD with the product libraries. Furthermore, whilst the Object Explorer gives access to the GDL Objects it also enables the user to save the object in one of many file formats including DWG, DGN, DXF, 3DS and even the IAI's IFC. However, if you are an AutoCAD user there is another tool, which has been designed especially for you, it is called the Object Adapter and it works inside of AutoCAD 14 and 2000. The Object Adapter will dynamically convert all GDL Objects to AutoCAD Blocks during placement, which means that they can be controlled with standard AutoCAD commands. Furthermore, each object can be linked to an online document from the manufacturer web site, which is ideal for more extensive product information. Other tools, which have been developed to make the most of the objects, are the Web Plug-in and SalesCAD. The Plug-in enables objects to be dynamically modified and displayed on web pages and Sales CAD is an easy to learn and use design tool for sales teams to explore, develop and cost designs on a Notebook PC whilst sitting in the architects office. All sales quotations are directly extracted from the model and presented in HTML format as a mixture of product images, product descriptions and tables identifying quantities and costs. With full lifecycle information stored in each GDL Object it is no surprise that GDL Technology see their objects as the future for building design. Indeed they are not alone, the IAI have already said that they are going to explore the possibility of associating GDL Objects with their own data sharing format the IFC. So down to the dirty stuff, money and how much it costs? Well, at the risk of sounding like a market trader in Petticoat Lane, "To you guv? Nuffin". That's right as a user of this technology it will cost you nothing! Not a penny, it is gratis, free. The product manufacturer pays for the license to host their libraries on the web or on CD and even then their costs are small costing from as little as 50p for each CD filled with objects. GDL Technology has come up trumps with their GDL Objects. They have developed a new way to solve old problems. If CAD were a pencil then GDL Objects would be ballistic lead, which would never break or loose its point. A much better alternative to the strategy used by many of their competitors who seek to avoid breaking the pencil by persuading the artist not to press down so hard. If you are still reading and you have not already dropped the magazine and run off to find out if your favorite product supplier has already signed up then I suggest you check out the following web sites www.gdlcentral.com and www.gdltechnology.com. If you do not see them there, pick up the phone and ask them why.
series journal paper
email
last changed 2003/04/23 15:14

_id avocaad_2001_06
id avocaad_2001_06
authors Giovanni De Paoli
year 2001
title Architectural design and procedural models - A radical change of language to design in 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 The history of architecture and its teaching clearly reveal how representations of the image and drawing have changed over centuries. Today, computers are increasingly found at the desks of architecture professionals and students, but their usage remains restricted to technical functions and what is commonly known as CAD (computer-assisted design), in architecture is often simply the other CAD (computer-assisted drawing).This presentation deals with architectural design, particularly at its earliest stage. Our objective is to propose a model for describing the architectural concept that meets the needs of architects through software. Only then will they really be able to use computers as an aid to design by overcoming the obstacles that presently keep us from making full use of them.This has led me to propose an avenue of exploration that examines projection through an object’s properties, and a method of computer-assisted design that makes use of procedural models. These procedural models consist of geometric operators and operators that define the properties, characteristics and performance of a building — operators which I have termed “semantic”.This research fits into a paradigm that leads to representation of the building through functions that can be called with parameters and encapsuled in an algorithm, making it possible to create procedural models that assist with the design. This approach opens up a means of integrating the logos with the figurative representation where drawing is used instead of words to convey the architectural concept.The example of a procedural model shows how we can use a generic model to produce a volume model with all the characteristics belonging to the same family of objects. This type of model can serve not only to illustrate the result of a process, or to draw connections among buildings on the basis of their construction process, or to test the validity of a rule typical of a set of objects, but also to integrate, through a functional language, semantic operators which to date have been excluded from the initial design phase. This descriptive mechanism is extremely powerful in making it possible to establish relationships among the functions and properties of a building and the purpose of the architectural project.The scientific contribution of this research is to test the hypothesis that we can use computer tools to manipulate operators which enable the architect to reappropriate a complex design of the building, and open up new lines of investigation into integrating geometric and knowledge-based systems into a unified representation. The declarative approach for creating three-dimensional scenes fits into this perspective.It is now a matter of exploring the possibility of working on a “common morphology” shared by everyone involved in the design process by rewriting the functions or by converting the functions used for representation, or else through a functional dialect (language) that allows for dialectic relationships among all types of operators and the actions of the protagonists in the architectural design process.
series AVOCAAD
email
last changed 2005/09/09 10:48

_id 1af4
authors Kalay, Yehuda E. and Marx, John
year 2001
title Architecture and the Internet: Designing Places in Cyberspace
source Reinventing the Discourse - How Digital Tools Help Bridge and Transform Research, Education and Practice in Architecture [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, pp. 230-241
doi https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2001.230
summary Cyberspace, as the information space is called, has become accessible in the past decade through the World Wide Web. And although it can only be experienced through the mediation of computers, it is quickly becoming an alternative stage for everyday economic, cultural, and other human activities. As such, there is a potential and a need to design it according to place-like principles. Making places for human inhabitation is, of course, what architects, landscape architects, town planners, and interior designers have been doing in physical space for thousands of years. It is curious, therefore, that Cyberspace designers have not capitalized on the theories, experiences, and practices that have been guiding physical place-making. Rather, they have adopted the woefully inadequate ‘document metaphor’: instead of ‘web-places’ we find ‘web-pages.’ 3D environments that closely mimic physical space are not much better suited for making Cyber-places: they are, by and large, devoid of essential characteristics that make a ‘place’ different from a mere ‘space,’ and only rarely are they sensitive to, and take advantage of, the peculiarities of Cyberspace. We believe that this state of affairs is temporary, characteristic of early adoption stages of new technologies. As the Web matures, and as it assumes more fully its role as a space rather than as means of communication, there will be a growing need to design it according to place-making principles rather than document-making ones. By looking at physical architecture as a case study and metaphor for organizing space into meaningful places, this paper explores the possibility of organizing Cyberspace into spatial settings that not only afford social interaction, but, like physical places, also embody and express cultural values. At the same time, because Cyberspace lacks materiality, is free from physical constraints, and because it can only be ‘inhabited’ by proxy, these ‘places’ may not necessarily resemble their physical counterparts.
keywords Place, Internet, Cyberspace
series ACADIA
email
last changed 2022/06/07 07:52

_id 071a
authors Myers, B., Hudson, S.E. and Pausch, R.
year 2001
title Past, Present, and Future of User Interface Software Tools
source Carroll, J. (eds), Human-Computer Interaction in the New Millennium, Addison Wesley, ACM Press, New York, pp. 213–233
summary A user interface software tool helps developers design and implement the user interface. Research on past tools has had enormous impact on today's developers-virtually all applications today were built using some form of user interface tool. In this paper, we consider cases of both success and failure in past user interface tools. From these cases we extract a set of themes which can serve as lessons for future work. Using these themes, past tools can be characterized by what aspects of the user interface they addressed, their threshold and ceiling, what path of least resistance they offer, how predictable they are to use, and whether they addressed a target that became irrelevant. We believe the lessons of these past themes are particularly important now, because increasingly rapid technological changes are likely to significantly change user interfaces. We are at the dawn of an era where user interfaces are about to break out of the "desktop" box where they have been stuck for the past 15 years. The next millenium will open with an increasing diversity of user interfaces on an increasing diversity of computerized devices. These devices include hand-held personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, pagers, computerized pens, computerized notepads, and various kinds of desk, and wall-size computers, as well as devices in everyday objects (such as mounted on refrigerators, or even embedded in truck tires). The increased connectivity of computers, initially evidenced by the World-Wide Web, but spreading also with technologies such as personal-area networks, will also have a profound effect on the user interface to computers. Another important force will be recognitionbased user interfaces, especially speech, and camera-based vision systems. Other changes we see are an increasing need for 3D and end-user customization, programming, and scripting. All of these changes will require significant support from the underlying user interface software tools.
series other
last changed 2003/04/23 15:50

_id cf2011_p115
id cf2011_p115
authors Pohl, Ingrid; Hirschberg Urs
year 2011
title Sensitive Voxel - A reactive tangible surface
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. 525-538.
summary Haptic and tactile sensations, the active or passive exploration of our built surroundings through our sense of touch, give us a direct feeling and detailed information of space, a sense of architecture (Pallasmaa 2005). This paper presents the prototype of a reactive surface system, which focuses its output on the sense of touch. It explains how touch sensations influence the perception of architecture and discusses potential applications that might arise from such systems in the future. A growing number of projects demonstrate the strong impact of interaction design on the human senses and perception. They offer new ways of sensing and experiencing architectural space. But the majority of these interaction concepts focus on visual and auditory output-effects. The sense of touch is typically used as an input generator, but neglected as as a potential receiver of stimuli. With all the possibilities of sensors and micro-devices available nowadays, there is no longer a technical reason for this. It is possible to explore a much wider range of sense responding projects, to broaden the horizon of sensitive interaction concepts (Bullivant 2006). What if the surfaces of our surroundings can actively change the way it feels to touch them? What if things like walls and furniture get the ability to interactively respond to our touch? What new dimensions of communication and esthetic experience will open up when we conceive of tangibility in this bi-directional way? This paper presents a prototype system aimed at exploring these very questions. The prototype consists of a grid of tangible embedded cells, each one combining three kinds of actuators to produce divergent touch stimuli. All cells can be individually controlled from an interactive computer program. By providing a layering of different combinations and impulse intensities, the grid structure enables altering patterns of actuation. Thus it can be employed to explore a sort of individual touch aesthetic, for which - in order to differentiate it from established types of aesthetic experiences - we have created the term 'Euhaptics' (from the Greek ευ = good and άπτω = touch, finger). The possibility to mix a wide range of actuators leads to blending options of touch stimuli. The sense of touch has an expanded perception- spectrum, which can be exploited by this technically embedded superposition. The juxtaposed arrangement of identical multilayered cell-units offers blending and pattern effects of different touch-stimuli. It reveals an augmented form of interaction with surfaces and interactive material structures. The combination of impulses does not need to be fixed a priori; it can be adjusted during the process of use. Thus the sensation of touch can be made personally unique in its qualities. The application on architectural shapes and surfaces allows the user to feel the sensations in a holistic manner – potentially on the entire body. Hence the various dimensions of touch phenomena on the skin can be explored through empirical investigations by the prototype construction. The prototype system presented in the paper is limited in size and resolution, but its functionality suggests various directions of further development. In architectural applications, this new form of overlay may lead to create augmented environments that let inhabitants experience multimodal touch sensations. By interactively controlling the sensual patterns, such environments could get a unique “touch” for every person that inhabit them. But there may be further applications that go beyond the interactive configuration of comfort, possibly opening up new forms of communication for handicapped people or applications in medical and therapeutic fields (Grunwald 2001). The well-known influence of touch- sensations on human psychological processes and moreover their bodily implications suggest that there is a wide scope of beneficial utilisations yet to be investigated.
keywords Sensitive Voxel- A reactive tangible surface
series CAAD Futures
email
last changed 2012/02/11 19:21

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

_id cf2003_m_040
id cf2003_m_040
authors BAY, Joo-Hwa
year 2003
title Making Rebuttals Available Digitally for Minimising Biases in Mental Judgements
source Digital Design - Research and Practice [Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures / ISBN 1-4020-1210-1] Tainan (Taiwan) 13–15 October 2003, pp. 147-156
summary The problem of heuristic biases (illusions) discussed by Tversky and Kahneman (1982) that can lead to errors in judgement by human designers, when they use precedent knowledge presented graphically (Bay 2001). A Cognitive framework of belief, goal, and decision, and a framework of representation of architectural knowledge by Tzonis are used to map out the problem of heuristic biases in the human mind. These are used to discuss what aspects of knowledge can be presented explicitly and digitally to users to make rebuttal more available for human thinking at the cognitive level. The discussion is applicable to both inductive and analytic digital knowledge systems that use precedent knowledge. This discussion is targeted directly at means of addressing bias in the human mind using digital means. The problem of human bias in machine learning and generalisation are discussed in a different paper, and the problems of international or non-intentional machine bias are not part of discussion in this paper.
keywords analogy, bias, design thinking, environmental design, heuristics
series CAAD Futures
last changed 2003/11/22 07:26

_id 2178
authors Chevrier, C. and Perrin, J.P.
year 2001
title Interactive 3D reconstruction for urban areas. An image based tool
source Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 0-7923-7023-6] Eindhoven, 8-11 July 2001, pp. 753-765
summary Urban applications (for example arrangement, new buildings, virtual sightseeing and walkthrough) require a three dimensional (3D) geometrical model of town areas. However, most of them do not need an accurate model of reality. Such model would occupy a considerable memory space and would be too slow to handle. Architects, urban designers and civil engineers can find in our tool a medium to conceive their projects. Some types of software exist but they do not correspond exactly to our needs. Consequently we have conceived and developed an interactive tool for virtual 3D rough reconstruction of buildings. The software development has been performed in the Maya environment (ALIAS Wavefront) with C++ language and MEL (Maya Embedded Language). A constraint we set for ourselves was the use of only light devices (for easy transportation) at low price (everybody can buy such devices). The principle is to overlay on the scanned photograph of the area we want to deal with, the two dimensional (2D) cadastral plan displayed from the same viewpoint as the picture. Then each building body can be extruded from its ground polygon and the roof can be created from what the user sees on the picture. A constraint is the flatness of the polygonal surfaces. Our application context was the town of Nancy in France for which some areas have been reconstructed. Some pictures have been used as textures for polygonal surfaces, giving more reality effect to the simulation.
keywords Geometrical Modelling, Architecture, Urban Area, Virtual Visit
series CAAD Futures
email
last changed 2006/11/07 07:22

_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 57b1
authors Glanville, Ranulph
year 2001
title Not Aping the Past: Mirror Men
source Stellingwerff, Martijn and Verbeke, Johan (Eds.), ACCOLADE - Architecture, Collaboration, Design. Delft University Press (DUP Science) / ISBN 90-407-2216-1 / The Netherlands, pp. 29-42 [Book ordering info: m.c.stellingwerff@bk.tudelft.nl]
summary To collaborate is to work together. To work, in my thinking, together presumes participation. When I talk of collaboration, I talk with the notion of participation in mind. I shall often write of participation as an alternative term to collaboration, in this paper. I am interested in anything that may enhance our creativity (as designers). There are those whose interest in collaboration is different, and equally justifiable. The main part of the title is from a quote by the composer Harrison Birtwistle, who said: ìTradition is not aping the past but making the future.î The intention in what I write is to suggest ways in which Information and Communication Technology can be used, not to ape the past, but to make the future, especially by enhancing our potential to act creatively. I do this by introducing facets of ideas in fragments, so they can interact with each other, rather than forming the great, separate arches of traditional arguments, one after the other. For me, collaboration is more than co-operation or co-ordination. It must involve novelty, the creation of something beyond the expected and more than an improvement a quantum step.
series other
last changed 2001/09/14 21:30

_id cf2011_p027
id cf2011_p027
authors Herssens, Jasmien; Heylighen Ann
year 2011
title A Framework of Haptic Design Parameters for Architects: Sensory Paradox Between Content and Representation
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. 685-700.
summary Architects—like other designers—tend to think, know and work in a visual way. In design research, this way of knowing and working is highly valued as paramount to design expertise (Cross 1982, 2006). In case of architecture, however, it is not only a particular strength, but may as well be regarded as a serious weakness. The absence of non-visual features in traditional architectural spatial representations indicates how these are disregarded as important elements in conceiving space (Dischinger 2006). This bias towards vision, and the suppression of other senses—in the way architecture is conceived, taught and critiqued—results in a disappearance of sensory qualities (Pallasmaa 2005). Nevertheless, if architects design with more attention to non visual senses, they are able to contribute to more inclusive environments. Indeed if an environment offers a range of sensory triggers, people with different sensory capacities are able to navigate and enjoy it. Rather than implementing as many sensory triggers as possible, the intention is to make buildings and spaces accessible and enjoyable for more people, in line with the objective of inclusive design (Clarkson et al. 2007), also called Design for All or Universal Design (Ostroff 2001). Within this overall objective, the aim of our study is to develop haptic design parameters that support architects during design in paying more attention to the role of haptics, i.e. the sense of touch, in the built environment by informing them about the haptic implications of their design decisions. In the context of our study, haptic design parameters are defined as variables that can be decided upon by designers throughout the design process, and the value of which determines the haptic characteristics of the resulting design. These characteristics are based on the expertise of people who are congenitally blind, as they are more attentive to non visual information, and of professional caregivers working with them. The parameters do not intend to be prescriptive, nor to impose a particular method. Instead they seek to facilitate a more inclusive design attitude by informing designers and helping them to think differently. As the insights from the empirical studies with people born blind and caregivers have been reported elsewhere (Authors 2010), this paper starts by outlining the haptic design parameters resulting from them. Following the classification of haptics into active, dynamic and passive touch, the built environment unfolds into surfaces that can act as “movement”, “guiding” and/or “rest” plane. Furthermore design techniques are suggested to check the haptic qualities during the design process. Subsequently, the paper reports on a focus group interview/workshop with professional architects to assess the usability of the haptic design parameters for design practice. The architects were then asked to try out the parameters in the context of a concrete design project. The reactions suggest that the participating architects immediately picked up the underlying idea of the parameters, and recognized their relevance in relation to the design project at stake, but that their representation confronts us with a sensory paradox: although the parameters question the impact of the visual in architectural design, they are meant to be used by designers, who are used to think, know and work in a visual way.
keywords blindness, design parameters, haptics, inclusive design, vision
series CAAD Futures
email
last changed 2012/02/11 19:21

_id 98bb
authors Li, Andrew
year 2001
title A shape grammar for teaching the architectural style of the Yingzao Fashi
source Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture
summary The Yingzaofashi [Building standards] is a Chinese building manual written by Li Jie (d. 1110) and published in 1103. I present a shape grammar for teaching the architectural style - the language of designs - described in this manual. This grammar is distinguished by two objectives, and the technical means used to accomplish them. First, the grammar is for teaching. Usually, the author of a grammar of a style aims to generate all and only the designs in the language. To do this, he not only writes the grammar, but also judges whether the designs it generates are members of the language. In the Yingzaofashi grammar, on the other hand, I want to generate all and more than the designs in the language. It is then the student who evaluates the designs - does this design belong to the language? - and adjusts the grammar accordingly. Thus the student participates actively in defining the language of designs, and learns that style is a human construct. Second, the grammar is designerly. As already observed, most authors of style grammars focus on the language of designs; they do not consider how to structure the user's interaction with the grammar. By contrast, I consider explicitly what the user decides and when he decides it, and organize the grammar accordingly. In other words, I consider process as well as products. The grammar exploits several technical devices for the first time: the design as an n-tuple of drawings, descriptions, and other elements; the generation of descriptions in the n-tuple; and techniques that are made possible by these devices.
series thesis:PhD
email
last changed 2003/02/12 22:37

_id avocaad_2001_07
id avocaad_2001_07
authors Stefan Wrona, Adam Gorczyca
year 2001
title Complexity in Architecture - How CAAD can be involved to Deal with it. - "Duality"
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 “Complexity “ is for us a very ambigous notion. It may be understood in two contexts.1.Thorough solution of a problem.Complexity means full recognition of design area, followed by appropriate work. That work must be thorough and interdisciplinary – if necessary, separated to different co-operatives. These trade designers reqiure a branch coordination and – the most important- all of them must have a „common denominator”. Such as a proper CAAD platform and office standards. That will reduce costs of changes, improve an interplay between designers and somtimes enable to face up a new challenge.Nowadays architects are no longer “solitary” individualists working alone – they must concern a team – they become a member, a part of a huge design machine. “Import/export”, compatibility, interplay – these words must appear and we have to put a stress on them. How to organize work for different trade-designers? How to join in common database architectural design ,engineering design, HVAC design, electricity design, technology design, computer network design and all other trades ?...A key to solve this range of problems is in good work organization. Universal prescription does not exist, but some evergreen rules can be observed. We are going to present a scheme of work in CAAD application ALLPLAN FT v.16 with a Group manager , which starts to conquest polish market and is widely spread in Germany. “Golden rules” of ALLPLAN FT There is one database – it is placed on server. It includes all projects. There is a well-developed office standard. It must be created at the beginning of collaboration, although it is possible to improve it later. It consist of hatches, fonts, symbols, macros, materials, pen-widths, and – the most important –layers . A layer set – predefined structure divided into functional groups – e.g. drafting, text, dimensioning, architecture, HVAC, engineering, urban design, etc.That stucture is a part of an office standard – all workers use a relevant part of it. No name duplicates, no misunderstandings... If however design extends, and a new group of layers is required, it can be easily added, e.g. computer networks, fireguard systems. Administrator of ALLPLAN network defines different users and gives them different permitions of access. For example – an electrician will be able to draft on layer “electricity”, but he won’t modify anything at layer “architecture – walls”, and he won’t even see a layer “engineering- slabs”, because he doesn’t need it..At the same time our electrician will be able to see , how architect moves some walls and how HVAC moved and started to cross with his wires. Every user is able to see relevant changes, after they are saved by author. Two different users can not access at the same time the same file. That excludes inconsistent or overlapping changes . All users operate on a 3D model. While putting some data into a model, they must remember about a “Z” coordinate at work-storey. But at the same time all create a fully-integrated, synchronous database, which can be used later for bills of quantities, specifications, and – of course – for visuaisation. That method can be described as “model-centric”. To simplify complex structure of architectural object -ALLPLAN offers files. Usually one file means one storey, but at special designs it might become a functional part of a storey, or whatever you wish. Files connected with layers easy enable to separate certain structural elements, e.g. if we want to glance only at concrete slabs and columns in the building – we will turn on all files with “layer filter” – “slabs” and “columns”. ALLPLAN is of course one of possible solutions. We described it , because we use it in our workshop. It seems to be stretchy enough to face up every demand and ever-increasing complexity of current projects. The essence of the matter, however, is not a name or version of application – it is a set of features, we mentioned above, which allows to deal with EVERY project. The number of solutions is infinite.2. Increasing difficulties during design process. It may be associated with more and more installations inside of new buildings, especially some “high-tech” examples. The number of these installations increases as well as their complexity. Now buildings are full of sensors, video-screens, computer networks, safety-guard systems... Difficulties are connected with some trends in contemporary architecture, for example an organic architecture, which conceives “morphed” shapes, “moving” surfaces, “soft” solids. This direction is specially supported by modelling or CAD applications. Sometimes it is good – they allow to realize all imaginations, but often they lead to produce “unbuildable” forms, which can exist only in virtual world.Obstacles appear, when we design huge cubatures with “dense” functional scheme. Multi-purposed objects, exhibition halls, olimpic stadium at Sydney – all of them have to be stretchy, even if it requires sliding thousands pound concrete blocks! Requirements were never so high.The last reason, why designs become so complex is obvious - intensifying changes due to specific requirements of clients/developers.We could say “ signum tempori” – everything gets more and more complicated , people have to become specialists, to face up new technology. But how CAAD can help us with it? How?! We have already answered that question. Sometimes CAAD is the only way to imagine and sketch something, to visualize something, to compute a construction , to prepare a simulation... So that human must “only” interprete ready solutions. Sometimes CAAD help us to notify a problem. It works exactly in the same way, as spy-glasses does. For example – without a real-time visualization we we would have never realised (until finished!) some strange interference of solids, which have occured in the upper roof part of our new appartment-house.ConclusionsTemporary CAAD is an integral part of design process – not only as a tool, but sometimes as an inspiration. It helps to organize our work, to define problems, to filter relevant elements and to render our visions. It becomes an integral part of our senses – and that will be a real complexity in architecture...
series AVOCAAD
email
last changed 2005/09/09 10:48

_id 5b1e
authors Stellingwerff, Martijn
year 2001
title The concept of Carrying in Collaborative Virtual Environments
source Stellingwerff, Martijn and Verbeke, Johan (Eds.), ACCOLADE - Architecture, Collaboration, Design. Delft University Press (DUP Science) / ISBN 90-407-2216-1 / The Netherlands, pp. 195-208 [Book ordering info: m.c.stellingwerff@bk.tudelft.nl]
summary Collaborative Architectural Design can take place within a virtual environment with a team of remote but virtually present people. However, in most virtual environments, the ability to perform actions is still limited to the availability of some interactive objects and a set of tools for the specific purposes of the system. As the interface of most systems is designed for unshared use, the graphic feedback signals are limited to local information about the state of objects and tools. If multiuser interaction is added to such Virtual Environments, many new possibilities and problems emerge. Users of shared applications should not only be informed about the state of local objects, tools and their own actions, they should also be made aware of what the other users undertake. Aspects, which are in daily life so obvious, should be restudied thoroughly for the application within Virtual Environments for Collaborative Design. Much research has to be undertaken in order to make such virtual places as intuitively interactive as ordinary shared working places. The 'concept of carrying', which is proposed and explained in this paper, is expected to become a useful metaphoric mechanism for solving several issues related to Spatial User Interfaces (SUI's) and Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVE's). The visual feedback from 'carrying-events' should provide more mutual understanding about ongoing processes in shared applications and it should add a more 'natural' interface for processes concerning people, tools and content in virtual and digitally augmented environments. At the start of this paper some basic human action patterns for tasks on a 2Ddesktop are compared to tasks in a 3D-environment. These action patterns are checked for their implementation in Windows Icons Menus and Pointer (WIMP) interfaces and Virtual Reality systems. Carrying is focused upon as an important interactive event in Virtual Environments. Three carrying actions related to Collaborative Architectural Design are explained by means of prototypes in Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML). Finally the usefulness of a general carrying concept as part of a new Visual Language is considered. The research at hand is in its first exploring phases and draws from a running PhD research about SUI's for Context Related Architectural Design and from recent experiences in CVE's.
series other
email
last changed 2001/09/14 21:30

_id 8c88
authors Tweed, Christopher
year 2001
title Highlighting the affordances of designs. Mutual realities and vicarious environments
source Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 0-7923-7023-6] Eindhoven, 8-11 July 2001, pp. 681-696
summary Computer-aided evaluation of predicted design performance is an enduring theme within CAAD research and practice. However, most evaluative systems address aspects of design that are readily amenable to formal or quantitative treatments. Analyses of how people use and interact with designs rarely progress beyond a narrow functionalism, in which ‘the user’ figures as a type with poorly defined needs and characteristics. This paper outlines a theory of actor-environment interaction based on Gibson’s notion of affordance as a precursor to exploring how computers can be used to highlight the affordances of designs. Two simple prototypes are described. The main conclusion is that while computers are unlikely to be able to detect affordances, they can generate and present information in ways that will enable human designers to appreciate more fully the possible implications of their designs for a broader range of potential occupants.
keywords Affordances, Human-Environment Interaction, Design Evaluation, Agents
series CAAD Futures
email
last changed 2006/11/07 07:22

_id avocaad_2001_16
id avocaad_2001_16
authors Yu-Ying Chang, Yu-Tung Liu, Chien-Hui Wong
year 2001
title Some Phenomena of Spatial Characteristics of Cyberspace
source AVOCAAD - ADDED VALUE OF COMPUTER AIDED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Nys Koenraad, Provoost Tom, Verbeke Johan, Verleye Johan (Eds.), (2001) Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst - Departement Architectuur Sint-Lucas, Campus Brussel, ISBN 80-76101-05-1
summary "Space," which has long been an important concept in architecture (Bloomer & Moore, 1977; Mitchell, 1995, 1999), has attracted interest of researchers from various academic disciplines in recent years (Agnew, 1993; Benko & Strohmayer, 1996; Chang, 1999; Foucault, 1982; Gould, 1998). Researchers from disciplines such as anthropology, geography, sociology, philosophy, and linguistics regard it as the basis of the discussion of various theories in social sciences and humanities (Chen, 1999). On the other hand, since the invention of Internet, Internet users have been experiencing a new and magic "world." According to the definitions in traditional architecture theories, "space" is generated whenever people define a finite void by some physical elements (Zevi, 1985). However, although Internet is a virtual, immense, invisible and intangible world, navigating in it, we can still sense the very presence of ourselves and others in a wonderland. This sense could be testified by our naming of Internet as Cyberspace -- an exotic kind of space. Therefore, as people nowadays rely more and more on the Internet in their daily life, and as more and more architectural scholars and designers begin to invest their efforts in the design of virtual places online (e.g., Maher, 1999; Li & Maher, 2000), we cannot help but ask whether there are indeed sensible spaces in Internet. And if yes, these spaces exist in terms of what forms and created by what ways?To join the current interdisciplinary discussion on the issue of space, and to obtain new definition as well as insightful understanding of "space", this study explores the spatial phenomena in Internet. We hope that our findings would ultimately be also useful for contemporary architectural designers and scholars in their designs in the real world.As a preliminary exploration, the main objective of this study is to discover the elements involved in the creation/construction of Internet spaces and to examine the relationship between human participants and Internet spaces. In addition, this study also attempts to investigate whether participants from different academic disciplines define or experience Internet spaces in different ways, and to find what spatial elements of Internet they emphasize the most.In order to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the spatial phenomena in Internet and to overcome the subjectivity of the members of the research team, the research design of this study was divided into two stages. At the first stage, we conducted literature review to study existing theories of space (which are based on observations and investigations of the physical world). At the second stage of this study, we recruited 8 Internet regular users to approach this topic from different point of views, and to see whether people with different academic training would define and experience Internet spaces differently.The results of this study reveal that the relationship between human participants and Internet spaces is different from that between human participants and physical spaces. In the physical world, physical elements of space must be established first; it then begins to be regarded as a place after interaction between/among human participants or interaction between human participants and the physical environment. In contrast, in Internet, a sense of place is first created through human interactions (or activities), Internet participants then begin to sense the existence of a space. Therefore, it seems that, among the many spatial elements of Internet we found, "interaction/reciprocity" Ñ either between/among human participants or between human participants and the computer interface Ð seems to be the most crucial element.In addition, another interesting result of this study is that verbal (linguistic) elements could provoke a sense of space in a degree higher than 2D visual representation and no less than 3D visual simulations. Nevertheless, verbal and 3D visual elements seem to work in different ways in terms of cognitive behaviors: Verbal elements provoke visual imagery and other sensory perceptions by "imagining" and then excite personal experiences of space; visual elements, on the other hand, provoke and excite visual experiences of space directly by "mapping".Finally, it was found that participants with different academic training did experience and define space differently. For example, when experiencing and analyzing Internet spaces, architecture designers, the creators of the physical world, emphasize the design of circulation and orientation, while participants with linguistics training focus more on subtle language usage. Visual designers tend to analyze the graphical elements of virtual spaces based on traditional painting theories; industrial designers, on the other hand, tend to treat these spaces as industrial products, emphasizing concept of user-center and the control of the computer interface.The findings of this study seem to add new information to our understanding of virtual space. It would be interesting for future studies to investigate how this information influences architectural designers in their real-world practices in this digital age. In addition, to obtain a fuller picture of Internet space, further research is needed to study the same issue by examining more Internet participants who have no formal linguistics and graphical training.
series AVOCAAD
email
last changed 2005/09/09 10:48

_id 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 1b10
id 1b10
authors Bay, Joo-Hwa
year 2001
title Cognitive Biases - The case of tropical architecture
source Delft University of Technology
summary This dissertation investigates, i) How cognitive biases (or illusions) may lead to errors in design thinking, ii) Why architects use architectural precedents as heuristics despite such possible errors, and iii) Develops a design tool that can overcome this type of errors through the introduction of a rebuttal mechanism. The mechanism controls biases and improves accuracy in architectural thinking. // The research method applied is interdisciplinary. It employs knowledge from cognitive science, environmental engineering, and architectural theory. The case study approach is also used. The investigation is made in the case of tropical architecture. The investigation of architectural biases draws from work by A. Tversky and D. Kahneman in 1982 on “Heuristics and biases”. According to Tversky and Kahneman, the use of heuristics of representativeness (based on similarity) and availability (based on ease of recall and imaginability) for judgement of probability can result in cognitive biases of illusions of validity and biases due to imaginability respectively. This theory can be used analogically to understand how errors arise in the judgement of environmental behaviour anticipated from various spatial configurations, leading to designs with dysfunctional performances when built. Incomplete information, limited time, and human mental resources make design thinking in practice difficult and impossible to solve. It is not possible to analyse all possible alternative solutions, multiple contingencies, and multiple conflicting demands, as doing so will lead to combinatorial explosion. One of the ways to cope with the difficult design problem is to use precedents as heuristic devices, as shortcuts in design thinking, and at the risk of errors. This is done with analogical, pre-parametric, and qualitative means of thinking, without quantitative calculations. Heuristics can be efficient and reasonably effective, but may not always be good enough or even correct, because they can have associated cognitive biases that lead to errors. Several debiasing strategies are discussed, and one possibility is to introduce a rebuttal mechanism to refocus the designer’s thinking on the negative and opposite outcomes in his judgements, in order to debias these illusions. The research is carried out within the framework of design theory developed by the Design Knowledge System Research Centre, TUDelft. This strategy is tested with an experiment. The results show that the introduction of a rebuttal mechanism can debias and improve design judgements substantially in environmental control. The tool developed has possible applications in design practice and education, and in particular, in the designing of sustainable environments.
keywords Design bias; Design knowledge; Design rebuttal; Design Precedent; Pre-parametric design; Tropical architecture; Sustainability
series thesis:PhD
type normal paper
email
last changed 2006/05/28 07:42

_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 0f49
authors Burry, M., Coulson, J., Preston, J. and Rutherford, E.
year 2001
title Computer-aided design decision support: interfacing knowledge and information
source Automation in Construction 10 (2) (2001) pp. 203-215
summary Computer-aided design decision support has proved to be an elusive and intangible project for many researchers as they seek to encapsulate information and knowledge-based systems as useful multifunctional data structures. Definitions of `knowledge', `information', `facts', and `data' become semantic footballs in the struggle to identify what designers actually do, and what level of support would suit them best, and how that support might be offered. The Construction Primer is a database-drivable interactive multimedia environment that provides readily updated access to many levels of information aimed to suit students and practitioners alike. This is hardly a novelty in itself. The innovative interface and metadata structures, however, combine with the willingness of national building control legislators, standards authorities, materials producers, building research organisations, and specification services to make the Construction Primer a versatile design decision support vehicle. It is both compatible with most working methodologies while remaining reasonably future-proof. This paper describes the structure of the project and highlights the importance of sound planning and strict adhesion to library-standard metadata protocols as a means to avoid the support becoming too specific or too paradigmatic.
series journal paper
more http://www.elsevier.com/locate/autcon
last changed 2003/05/15 21:22

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