International Journal of Architectural Computing

In this paper we examine the quest for seamless computer interaction from the point of view of cultural theory, in so far as this study draws on Freud and his critics. The paper adopts Ricoeur's critical stance, examining the roles of metaphor, repetition, resistance and a time-based perturbation, as means of challenging the imperative towards the seamless interface. We also draw on our experience in teaching and creating interactive digital media works.

This study offers an insight to architectural students' problem framing activities using digital and paper media. The role of problem framing in design processes and its contribution to design learning has been studied by others. Here, we investigate the effects of media on framing activities. Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate problem framing under three settings, namely online co-located, online remote and paper-based co-located. Student pairs were asked to spend forty minutes in solving collaboratively a wicked design problem. The results show that problem framing activities are significantly different in the online remote setting compared to those in the two co-located settings. We find more density of framing activities happened in the online remote setting than in the other two settings while there is no significant difference between online co-located and paper-based co- located settings.

Though there have been many successful examples of Virtual Design Studio, there still exist unsuccessful cases in which participants felt dissatisfied or even frustrated, especially at synchronous stages of design_communication. A discussion that required designers to refer to 3D models was one of the situations where technical support was insufficient to satisfy the expectation of designers. Assuming that an interactive viewing of 3D models and use of a mark-up utility on a shared PC window could enhance such design communications (though this also requires network bandwidth and computational power) the author conducted experiments in design discussion between two designers to test the capability and effects of these tools for network collaborations. This paper discusses the framework and results of the experiments, and proposes the next step for system developments.

By merging a range of digital and physical media, the architectural design process is enriched by different perceptions, comprehensions and conceptions of spatial volumes within both physical and virtual environments. The use of digital media often confines the design process to only the digital realm; in this class, students moved fluidly back and forth from digital to physical using digital tools in unorthodox ways. These different media transformed the design process from a tangible portrayal of architectural design to a virtual portrayal, and vice versa. With this interchanging and crossing over of design environments from reality to virtuality the limits of each one are dismantled, both realms can be brought together in an overall process that led to alternative form findings and resulting designs. This work lies in the tradition of artists who push media to explore new interpretations both of the media themselves and of their artwork.

This paper is concerned with how two different computational approaches to design – shape grammars and space syntax – can be combined into a single common framework for formulating, generating, and evaluating designs. The main goal is to explore how the formal principles applied in the design process interact with the spatial properties of the designed objects. Results suggest that space syntax is (1) useful in determining the universe of solutions generated by the grammar and (2) in evaluating the evolving designs in terms of spatial properties and, therefore, in guiding the generation of designs.

A computational framework for design is presented to show that certain social structures can determine how novel solutions are created and spread. This paper suggests that creativity transcends the individual inasmuch as situational factors such as the role of gatekeepers can determine who is considered creative in a society.