- Email: [email protected]
An introduction to the special issue
Automation in Construction 14 (2005) 163 – 164 www.elsevier.com/locate/autcon
Editorial
An introduction to the special issue The 21st international ECAADE conference was held in September of 2003 in the Austrian city of Graz under the theme of dDigital DesignT. In the cover text of the proceedings that had also been sent out as part of the call for papers, this theme was fleshed out as follows: There is no longer any question about whether the computer can be used as an effective tool in creating and producing architecture. In fact, digital technology has become so indispensable in architecture that offices or schools that don’t use computers have all but disappeared. However, drafting and visualization are still the dominant applications. The power of the computer as a design tool has still to be fully exploited. At the same time, the possibilities of digital technology keep expanding and their application in architecture is becoming increasingly varied. Today, the computer is a production tool as well as a communication medium. It is a device for simulation as well as stimulation. Information technology is an important aspect of what we design and how we design it, produce it, manage it, but it is also a part of the environment we design in. The initial notion of the computer as an aid in design has to give way to a much broader vision of digital design. The architect’s role in this broader vision is all but clear. Much will depend on how digital media education at architecture schools will cope with this growing field of possibilities and applications. The question of positioning computer-related subjects demands a well-founded approach; an approach based on informed research, knowledge of education and architectural design processes. The 2003 ECAADE conference considers a range of issues that impinge on 0926-5805/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.autcon.2004.07.010
how digital technology is changing architectural design. This notion of a broader vision of digital design was also guiding the selection of papers compiled in this special ECAADE 2003 edition of Automation in Construction. Some of the papers are situated at the very perimeter of the growing field of computer-aided architectural design and stake claims in neighboring research areas. Mao-Lin Chiu’s paper Information and IN-formation puts forward an idea how information mining can become productive in collaborative design. An Agent approach to Supporting Collaborative Design in 3D Virtual Worlds is proposed by Mary Lou Maher, Pak San Liew, Ning Gu and Lan Ding, thus fusing immersive collaborative environments with approaches from artificial intelligence. Others originate from the very core of the discipline’s tradition. In Building upon Negroponte, Tristan d’Estree Sterk seeks inspiration from one of the founding fathers of the digital architecture field to formulate an interesting, if not altogether convincing update of Negroponte’s ideas on responsive architecture. The Generative Logic in Digital Design is the focus of Robert Flanagan’s paper that reviews the current situation in a much longer historic context and comments on the current situation with educational case studies. Rapid prototyping has become a hot topic at architecture schools as well as in digital design research. In Thomas Fischer, Mark Burry and John Frazer’s paper on Triangulation of Generative Form for Parametric Design and Rapid Prototyping, it is examined as an extension of a toolkit for generative form finding. In Thomas Modeen’s paper on CADCAMing, a more experimental path is taken to propose a methodology for fabricating architecture
164
Editorial
that is innate to this mode of production. Starting from an inclusive sensory approach to design, Modeen’s dempirical naiveteT leads to some thought-provoking applications of digital production processes. The integration of planning requirements into the design environment is a more traditional topic by comparison. Vincent Tabak and Bauke de Vries deal with it at an urban scale (Interactive Urban Design using integrated planning requirements control), while Georg Reichard and Konstantinos Papamichael propose the integration of decision making aids at the level of building design (Decision-Making Through Performance Simulation and Code Compliance from the Early, Schematic Phases of Building Design). Two papers propose new ways to include performancebased feedback into the design tool: Kristina Shea, Robert Aish and Marina Gourtovaia describe an object oriented dassociative modeling systemT based on XML as a step Towards Integrated PerformanceBased Generative Design Tools. In Spot! Fetch Light, Sebastien Bund and Ellen Yi-Luen Do introduce a simple environment for direct sun light manipulation built from scratch in Java 3D. It is brave to tackle such a topic from scratch and to build your own interactive 3D viewer, like Bund and Do have done. bYes, but is it wise?Q ECAADE co-founder Tom Maver once asked me back, when I told him about a similar project. Of course, reinventing the wheel is not wise. But certain new insights one can only gain by reworking things from the ground up. Similarly, entering a different field with your own agenda can be very valuable. In An Empirical Approach To The
Experience Of Architectural Space In VR, Gerald Franz, Markus von der Heyde and Heinrich H. Bqlthoff, a group from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, bring their research methods to the field of architecture. An interdisciplinary endeavour that lead to some interesting conclusions. Finally, in A Discoursive Grammar for Customizing Mass Housing, Jose P. Duarte is applying research in shape grammars to the architecture of Alvaro Siza, thus bringing together a mature research field in artificial intelligence with concepts of this icon of Portuguese Architecture, in a step towards developing viable strategies in mass-customized housing. Indeed, digital design has become a vast and varied field. The Graz ECAADE conference, of which this selection is a sampling, made this very clear. I want to thank Yehuda Kalay for offering us the chance to compile this special edition of Automation in Construction, and to all authors for their cooperation and their contributions. Graz in April 2004, Urs Hirschberg and Wolfgang Dokonal ECAADE 2003 conference chairs U. Hirschberg Institute of Architecture and Media, Graz University of Technology, lInffeldgasse 10/2, A-8010, Graz, Australia Corresponding author. Tel.: +43 316 873 4721; fax: +43 316 873 4723
Editorial
An introduction to the special issue The 21st international ECAADE conference was held in September of 2003 in the Austrian city of Graz under the theme of dDigital DesignT. In the cover text of the proceedings that had also been sent out as part of the call for papers, this theme was fleshed out as follows: There is no longer any question about whether the computer can be used as an effective tool in creating and producing architecture. In fact, digital technology has become so indispensable in architecture that offices or schools that don’t use computers have all but disappeared. However, drafting and visualization are still the dominant applications. The power of the computer as a design tool has still to be fully exploited. At the same time, the possibilities of digital technology keep expanding and their application in architecture is becoming increasingly varied. Today, the computer is a production tool as well as a communication medium. It is a device for simulation as well as stimulation. Information technology is an important aspect of what we design and how we design it, produce it, manage it, but it is also a part of the environment we design in. The initial notion of the computer as an aid in design has to give way to a much broader vision of digital design. The architect’s role in this broader vision is all but clear. Much will depend on how digital media education at architecture schools will cope with this growing field of possibilities and applications. The question of positioning computer-related subjects demands a well-founded approach; an approach based on informed research, knowledge of education and architectural design processes. The 2003 ECAADE conference considers a range of issues that impinge on 0926-5805/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.autcon.2004.07.010
how digital technology is changing architectural design. This notion of a broader vision of digital design was also guiding the selection of papers compiled in this special ECAADE 2003 edition of Automation in Construction. Some of the papers are situated at the very perimeter of the growing field of computer-aided architectural design and stake claims in neighboring research areas. Mao-Lin Chiu’s paper Information and IN-formation puts forward an idea how information mining can become productive in collaborative design. An Agent approach to Supporting Collaborative Design in 3D Virtual Worlds is proposed by Mary Lou Maher, Pak San Liew, Ning Gu and Lan Ding, thus fusing immersive collaborative environments with approaches from artificial intelligence. Others originate from the very core of the discipline’s tradition. In Building upon Negroponte, Tristan d’Estree Sterk seeks inspiration from one of the founding fathers of the digital architecture field to formulate an interesting, if not altogether convincing update of Negroponte’s ideas on responsive architecture. The Generative Logic in Digital Design is the focus of Robert Flanagan’s paper that reviews the current situation in a much longer historic context and comments on the current situation with educational case studies. Rapid prototyping has become a hot topic at architecture schools as well as in digital design research. In Thomas Fischer, Mark Burry and John Frazer’s paper on Triangulation of Generative Form for Parametric Design and Rapid Prototyping, it is examined as an extension of a toolkit for generative form finding. In Thomas Modeen’s paper on CADCAMing, a more experimental path is taken to propose a methodology for fabricating architecture
164
Editorial
that is innate to this mode of production. Starting from an inclusive sensory approach to design, Modeen’s dempirical naiveteT leads to some thought-provoking applications of digital production processes. The integration of planning requirements into the design environment is a more traditional topic by comparison. Vincent Tabak and Bauke de Vries deal with it at an urban scale (Interactive Urban Design using integrated planning requirements control), while Georg Reichard and Konstantinos Papamichael propose the integration of decision making aids at the level of building design (Decision-Making Through Performance Simulation and Code Compliance from the Early, Schematic Phases of Building Design). Two papers propose new ways to include performancebased feedback into the design tool: Kristina Shea, Robert Aish and Marina Gourtovaia describe an object oriented dassociative modeling systemT based on XML as a step Towards Integrated PerformanceBased Generative Design Tools. In Spot! Fetch Light, Sebastien Bund and Ellen Yi-Luen Do introduce a simple environment for direct sun light manipulation built from scratch in Java 3D. It is brave to tackle such a topic from scratch and to build your own interactive 3D viewer, like Bund and Do have done. bYes, but is it wise?Q ECAADE co-founder Tom Maver once asked me back, when I told him about a similar project. Of course, reinventing the wheel is not wise. But certain new insights one can only gain by reworking things from the ground up. Similarly, entering a different field with your own agenda can be very valuable. In An Empirical Approach To The
Experience Of Architectural Space In VR, Gerald Franz, Markus von der Heyde and Heinrich H. Bqlthoff, a group from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, bring their research methods to the field of architecture. An interdisciplinary endeavour that lead to some interesting conclusions. Finally, in A Discoursive Grammar for Customizing Mass Housing, Jose P. Duarte is applying research in shape grammars to the architecture of Alvaro Siza, thus bringing together a mature research field in artificial intelligence with concepts of this icon of Portuguese Architecture, in a step towards developing viable strategies in mass-customized housing. Indeed, digital design has become a vast and varied field. The Graz ECAADE conference, of which this selection is a sampling, made this very clear. I want to thank Yehuda Kalay for offering us the chance to compile this special edition of Automation in Construction, and to all authors for their cooperation and their contributions. Graz in April 2004, Urs Hirschberg and Wolfgang Dokonal ECAADE 2003 conference chairs U. Hirschberg Institute of Architecture and Media, Graz University of Technology, lInffeldgasse 10/2, A-8010, Graz, Australia Corresponding author. Tel.: +43 316 873 4721; fax: +43 316 873 4723