Pascal Humbert

A Method for Constructing a Reference Image Database to Assist with Design Process. Application to the Wooden Architecture Domain

Designing architectural projects requires the introduction of references, because design is an activity oriented towards a result which does not yet exist. If we summarise the current categories used in Artificial Intelligence to characterise the different forms of reasoning, we are able to consider that design is more the concern of the induction or the abduction mechanism than the deduction mechanism. Moreover, the main characteristic of the designers activity is to work towards non-routine situations with the use of many references. In this paper we will present method principles to construct a reference image database. These references will enable the designer to further in solving the design problem. To illustrate these reference usage, we choose photographic images belonging to the wooden construction domain We also present at the end of the paper an experiment which aims to evaluate the real help that this reference image database can bring to designers during their creation task.

Digital Synchronous Collaboration Workspace and 3D Interactions for an AEC Project. Decision-Making Scenario Evaluation

The success of a digitally developed architecture project requires a new vision of collaboration and design practices and the adaptation of the current ones. The recent innovative tools and media extend the design capabilities, and foster the proposal of complex architectural solutions.

Hypermedia Structuring of the Technical Documentation for the Architectural Aided Design

The definition of an universal structuring model of the technical documentation is arduous, indeed Utopian considering the great number of products and the diversity of relative information. To answer this situation we are trying to develop a general approach of the documentation. The document is the base entity of documentation structuring and it represents a coherent informative unit. We propose a model of document hypermedia structuring. This model allows the definition, the presentation, the navigation and the retrieval of general information on building products by a document manipulation. It is associated with a hypermedia design method adapted to document management. This method proposes, after the identification of the user, three phases of hypermedia definition: data definition, navigation definition and user interface definition. The model of a hypermedia structuring of the technical documentation proposed in this article is at once independent of avalaible information on products, open, and makes easier the addition of new navigational functions.