Chengzhi Peng

Exploring communication in collaborative design: co-operative architectural modelling

An exploration of communication in collaborative design from the perspective of co-operative architectural modelling is reported. The objectives and problems of communication in collaborative design are described and anaysed by viewing design as, basically, disciplines of modelling complex objects. Three cases of teamwork in architectural modelling are studied, each demonstrating a rich and informative approach to collaboration. Looking at the cases from the co-operative modelling perspective, important conditions for communication are observed: firstly, the participation and co-ordination among heterogeneous systems of representation and action that individual members of a design team work with; and secondly, the interconnection between common goals shared by all participants and domain-oriented goals pursued by individuals. In exploring how the conditions were met, it was found useful to characterize communication in terms of the inter-relations between common images and distributed design developments. Two generic patterns of communication in collaborative design were found, which suggest two alternative conceptual frameworks for developing computational representations.

Exploring urban history and space online: Design of the virtual Sheffield application

Abstract The Sheffield Urban Contextual Databank project was set up to develop digital means of transferring the physical database amassed in the Sheffield Urban Study project to suitable formats accessible through multiple routes. We have developed a Web-based virtual city platform capable of displaying urban contextual information containing 3D models and other related documents in a user-centred way. With this prototype, we explored an alternative way of building virtual cities that is beyond conventional static urban modelling. The ability to retrieve urban contextual information according to user-specified locations and boundaries is essential for future uses of the system in supporting collaborative design and research relating to the city of Sheffield.

Survey of collaborative drawing support tools

Along with recent experiments in the design of communication or computer tools for supporting various kinds of group working, the development ofcollaborative drawing systems has emerged as a notable research area within the field of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. This paper reports a survey of the experiments in collaborative drawing support tools with an objective of reviewing how the issues of supportingcollaborative design have been addressed by the research prototypes. The survey is presented in three parts: (1) findings from the observations of group interaction in drawing and design activities, (2) a framework for classifying the design issues experimented with by prototypes developers, and (3) a categorisation of the current prototype systems by interrelating the patterns of group use observed with the system features classified. The survey indicates that there are currently at least three different strategies of developing collaborative drawing support tools, which reflect the existence of diversified understanding and technological responses to what and how human collaboration in design may be supported.

Microclimate Change Outdoor and Indoor Coupled Simulation for Passive Building Adaptation Design

Abstract How to deploy passive building design strategy adaptive to climate change scenarios at urban neighbourhood level is currently not well understood. A microclimate change outdoor and indoor coupled simulation assessment framework for passive building adaptation design in an urban neighborhood context is proposed. Based on computational modelling, it was developed to investigate summer overheating and to apply to a passive design strategy in an existing green building case study, taking into account the seasonal conditions in 2012 and 2050 as projected by a current climate change scenario. Through a series of numerical modelling and prognostic visualization, the results from applying the framework show how building indoor thermal performance interacts with specific outdoor microclimates. This study shows the importance of outdoor and indoor coupled assessment at microclimate level to deploy passive design features to changing climate.

uCampus: Can an open source 3D interactive virtual campus modelling platform support institutional learning and innovation?

This paper reports and reflects on the key findings from the UK JISC funded weCAMP-uCampus project undertaken at the University of Sheffield in which a Web-based 3D interactive campus visualization modelling platform was developed and deployed using the latest Java and XML-based open source technologies. The project evolved rapidly along three strands of development on software design, content generation, and user/stakeholder engagement. One of the key outcomes is a novel approach to visualising large complex datasets in conjunction with multi-scale and multi-layered 3D campus modelling. To test the adaptability of uCampus, the Augustine House Experiment was later carried out in collaboration with the iBorrow project based at the Canterbury Christ Church University campus. The question on the prospect of uCampus to support learning and innovation at an institutional level is discussed by revisiting the earlier works of the Oregon Experiment and the Seeding-Reseeding Meta-Design Framework.

On an alternative framework for building virtual cities: supporting urban contextual modelling on demand

For various purposes, virtual city applications have been developed around the globe to provide users with online resources and services over the Internet. Following our research on the Sheffield Urban Contextual Databank (SUCoD) project, this paper presents an alternative framework for building virtual cities, which goes beyond conventional static urban modelling. A three-tier system framework is described in conjunction with the design and implementation of the SUCoD prototype. We demonstrate SUCoDs novel functionalities by showing that complex urban contextual information sets, including three-dimensional interactive models, multilayer interactive maps, and hypermedia documents, can be retrieved dynamically by user-specified urban contextual attributes, spatial locations, and boundaries. The three-tier framework also facilitates system development in an extensible way, allowing continuous parallel extensions of system functionalities, user-interface components, and contextual data resources. SUCoDs dynamic capabilities are considered crucial in its future uses for urban contextual modelling on demand in relation to the past, present, and future of the City of Sheffield.

An outdoor-indoor coupled simulation framework for Climate Change-conscious Urban Neighborhood Design

Only recently, research communities and professional organizations have started to incorporate the factor of climate change in software-based environmental simulation with a view to inform climate adaptation planning and design. Based on the results from simulating a neighborhood design proposed for New Cairo, Egypt, we develop a conceptual framework and an environmental simulation workflow aimed at achieving Climate Change–conscious Urban Neighborhood Design (C3UND). Central to the C3UND approach is the coupling of neighborhood outdoor simulation and building indoor simulation and taking into account climate change scenarios as projected by today’s meteorological modeling. Utilizing two existing software systems, ENVI-met for urban neighborhood outdoor simulation and Ecotect for building indoor simulation, we demonstrate how a workflow can be implemented to play out climate change scenarios on urban neighborhoods and the buildings located within. The C3UND simulation framework and workflow was further applied to a neighborhood site at the Sheffield University campus in England with weather data input of the present day (2012) and of the 2050s generated by the CCWorldWeatherGen tool. Our current study suggests that environmental simulation of climate change scenarios at an urban neighborhood scale is currently achievable but not without considerable gaps. Use of additional three-dimensional virtual neighborhood models, for instance, is required to bring outdoor and indoor simulation outcomes together through graphic overlay to enable more intuitive and holistic understanding of potential climate change impacts. The implications of the C3UND framework for sustainable urban and architecture design are discussed, leading to a list of research questions to be further investigated.

Climate change simulation for intelligent green building adaptation design

A climate change simulation framework for intelligent green building adaptation design is proposed. The simulation framework is developed for studying environmental performance of existing or proposed green buildings under present and future urban microclimate conditions. It draws on a synthesis of environmental computer simulation in three areas: (1) overall climate change scenario modelling at city level, (2) outdoor urban microclimate modelling at neighbourhood level, and (3) indoor environmental simulation at building level. A case study of applying the climate change simulation framework to an existing university campus green building is presented for 2012 and 2050. In response to the simulation results, strategies for adapting the case study green building in relation to its changing urban neighbourhood are assessed as an example. The case study shows that the simulation framework can generate requirements for intelligent green building adaptation design by linking urban microclimate change projection to simulated energy demand in maintaining building indoor thermal comfort.

e-service as a new paradigm for interactive multidimensional city modeling

We present our recent attempt to develop interactive multidimensional city modeling through an e-service approach. We experiment with a multitier Web service architecture in developing a prototype interactive city modeling platform. Some advantages of the e-service approach are identified in terms of supporting sustainable urban data development and of delivering user-centered retrieval and interactions. We show that e-service can open up new possibilities of how interactive multidimensional city modeling can be better created, evolved and accessible to wider applications over time.

Flexible generic frameworks and multidisciplinary synthesis of built form

Abstract This paper presents an explanatory study of teamwork in architectural design where team members of different disciplines collaborate to achieve a coherent architectural whole. The study shows that some kind of flexible generic frameworks can be employed to sustain group dynamism through a projects lifetime. Along with our case studies, properties of teamwork-sustaining frameworks are analysed. An overview of the recent development of computer-based collaborative drawing and design support tools is given. To support more effectively the complexity and spontaneity observed in our current study of multidisciplinary collaborative architectural design, an outline of a pilot collaborative modelling environment is presented.