Henri Achten

Typological Knowledge Acquisition through a Schema of Generic Representations

Architectural design is highly knowledge intensive with a diversity of classes of knowledge necessary for design expertise. Despite the centrality of knowledge in design, acquisition procedures for the extraction and formalisation of design knowledge are scarce. The paper presents a schema of generic representations that are proposed as a framework for the modeling of generic design of building types. The general graphical schema of generic design can function as a knowledge extraction and representation tool. It enables the identification of knowledge required for design decisions and provides a framework for representing and instantiating this knowledge in a sequential graphical form. The schema has been implemented for typological knowledge (building types in architectural design). The general schema has also been exploited in order to develop a design-support system for the generic design of a specific building type. The paper presents the theoretical rationale and background for the development of the general schema and demonstrates its utility.

DDDoolz: designing with modular masses

Abstract 3D modelling in the inception phase of architectural design is typically not supported in CAD. Moreover 3D modelling is still far from intuitive with the common interface techniques. This paper introduces a 3D modelling tool for architects, named DDDoolz, which is limited in its purposes but yet very powerful in its use. A cube is the basic drawing element to construct arrays representing building masses. Modification of the design is achieved by dragging sets of cubes, resulting in the creation or deletion of new cubes. Building upon the grid structure of DDDoolz, a design methodology has been developed. To analyse its strengths and weaknesses, DDDoolz is compared with traditional scale modelling.

Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures 2001

CAAD Futures is a bi-annual conference that aims to promote the advancement of computer-aided architectural design in the service of those concerned with the quality of the built environment. The conferences are organized under the auspices of the CAAD Futures Foundation, which has its secretariat at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. This volume provides state-of-the-art articles in the following areas: capturing design, information modelling, CBR techniques, Virtual Reality, CAAD education, (hyper) media, design evaluation, design systems development, collaboration, generation, design representation, knowledge management, form programming, simulation, architectural analysis, and urban design.

Design Case Retrieval by Generic Representations

Case-Based Reasoning and Case-Based Design have been proposed to utilize knowledge of previous design solutions to understand or solve current design problems. Case retrieval is often performed on the basis of verbal indexing systems, whereas in design the use of graphic representations is predominant. Case retrieval therefore, requires verbalization from the designer, which can interrupt the flow of thought during design. This paper aims to demonstrate how the theoretical work on generic representations in architectural design can form a graphic indexing scheme for cases that are graphic representations. The paper outlines three techniques: a decision-tree for graphic unit recognition, a query composition algorithm, and a lookup table for case retrieval. These three techniques are worked out in the context of a Case-Based Design Aid System.

Towards an Architectural Design System Based on Generic Representations

Computer Aided Architectural Design systems offer a broad scope of drawing and modeling techniques for the designer. Nevertheless, they offer limited support for the early phases of the design process. One reason is that the level of abstraction is too low: the user can define walls and such in great precision, but no support is offered to define global or structural characteristics of the design. In previous research, structuring representations such as zones, grids, and axial systems, as well as object representations such as element vocabularies and contours have been identified as formative elements in architectural design. They have been defined and described as so-called graphic units. Furthermore, sets of graphic units form generic representations, in which the relationships between graphic units are well defined and meaningful to the architect. Graphic units and generic representations, or their equivalents, are not supported in current CAAD systems. In this paper, a system is proposed that is based on graphic units and generic representations. It has tools for making graphic units and also provides a way to define and maintain changes in the relations between graphic units. This is implemented on the basis of a graph representation where the nodes represent graphic units and the edges relations between graphic units. Changes in the graphic units are propagated through the graph. The paper shows how the theoretical work on graphic units and generic representations leads to the current implementation. The system structure is explained and the way changes in graphic units are propagated through the graph representation.

The Tangible Interface : experiments as an integral part of a research strategy

The Human-Computer interface is crucial to good design support tools. It has to be non-interruptive and non-distracting, yet allow the architect to interact with the computer software. The physical reality of the interface, such as the shape and manipulability of devices like the mouse, keyboard, joystick, or data-glove, has to be mapped on actions and commands in the software. Already the current user interfaces are felt to be inadequate for a good support of design, and the functionality of design tools is growing, requiring even more and new physical interface devices. In this paper, we present research on new tangible interfaces for architectural design support. In particular, we focus on the research methodological question how to investigate such devices. The research strategy is introduced and discussed, after which concrete implementations of this strategy are shown. Based on this work, we conclude that the combination of interface and the context of its use in terms of design method and user needs form crucial aspects for such research and cannot be considered separately.

New Design Methods for Computer Aided Architectural Design Methodology Teaching

Architects and architectural students are exploring new ways of design using Computer Aided Architectural Design software. This exploration is seldom backed up from a design methodological viewpoint. In this paper, a design methodological framework for reflection on innovate design processes by architects that has been used in an educational setting is introduced. The framework leads to highly specific, weak design methods, that clarify the use of the computer in the design process. The framework allows students to grasp new developments, use them in their own design work, and to better reflect on their own position relative to CAAD and architectural design.Architects and architectural students are exploring new ways of design using Computer Aided Architectural Design software.This exploration is seldom backed up from a design methodological viewpoint. In this paper, a design methodological framework for reflection on innovate design processes by architects that has been used in an educational setting is introduced.The framework leads to highly specific, weak design methods, that clarify the use of the computer in the design process.The framework allows students to grasp new developments, use them in their own design work, and to better reflect on their own position relative to CAAD and architectural design.

A Multi-Agent Mah Jong Playing System: Towards Real-Time Recognition of Graphic Units in Graphic Representations

In architectural design, sketching is an important means to explore the first conceptual developments in the design process. It is necessary to understand the conventions of depiction and encoding in sketches and drawings if we want to support the architect in the sketching activity. The theory of graphic units provides a comprehensive list of conventions of depiction and encoding that are widely used among architects. These graphic units form useful building blocks to understand design drawings. We investigate whether it is possible to build a system that can recognize graphic units. The technology we are looking at is multi-agent systems. It was chosen for the following reasons: agents can specialize in graphic units, a multi-agent system can deal with ambiguity through negotiation and conflict resolution, and multi-agent systems function in dynamically changing environments. Currently there is no general approach or technology available for multi-agent systems. Therefore, in our research we first set out to make such a multi-agent system. In order to keep the complexity low, we first aim to make a system that can do something simple: playing Mah Jong solitary. The Mah Jong solitary system shares the following important features with a multi-agent system that can recognize graphic units: (1) specialized agents for moves; (2) negotiation between agents to establish the best move; (3) a dynamically changing environment; and (4) search activity for more advanced strategies. The paper presents the theoretical basis of graphic units and multi-agents systems, followed by a description of the multi-agent framework and its implementation. A number of systems that can play Mah Jong at various degrees of competence and accordingly degrees of complexity of multi-agent system, are distinguished. Finally, the paper demonstrates how the findings are informative for a system that can recognize graphic units.

Feature-Based High Level Design Tools

The VR-DIS project aims to provide design support in the early design stage using a Virtual Reality environment. The initial brief of the design system is based on an analysis of a design case. The paper describes the process of analysis and extraction of design knowledge and design concepts in terms of Features. It is demonstrated how the analysis has lead to a classification of design concepts. This classification forms one of the main specifications for the VR-based design aid system that is being developed in the VR-DIS programme. The paper concludes by discussing the particular approach used in the case analysis and discusses future work in the VR-DIS research programme.

Structural Sketcher: Representing and Applying Well-Structured Graphic Representations in Early Design:

Computational drawing support has the potential to improve design support in the early phase. Much work in this area is devoted to input of design information, manipulation, and presentation. Based on a review of current work, we note that among other things, digital drawing tools should be close to the conventions and techniques already used by architects. This is, in principle, possible by processing strokes in a more or less traditional sketch approach, or by offering specialised commands that provide a direct implementation of such conventions. The latter approach is covered by Structural Sketcher. A subset of drawing conventions developed earlier, called graphic units, is adopted within the system. In order to contribute to design support, the application of such graphic units should be fast and intuitive, and the definition of internal relationships should be quick and straightforward. For intuitive manipulation, Structural Sketcher incorporates the “paper and scissors” metaphor, and introduces a novel UI-concept called the KITE. To achieve an easy and fast maintenance of relationships, a graph based on anchor-points is built-up on the fly. Performance of the system has been tested on a quantitative and qualitative basis. The system shows the benefit that graphic units can bring to drawing support, and how these can be implemented. To conclude, limitations and further work are discussed.