Design Computing and Cognition ’06

Style is a broad term that could potentially refer to any features of a work, as well as a fluid concept that is subject to change and disagreement. A similarly flexible method of representing style is proposed based on the idea of an archetype, to which real designs can be compared, and tested with examples of architectural plans. Unlike a fixed, symbolic representation, both the measurements of features that define a style and the selection of those features themselves can be performed by the machine, making it able to generalise a definition automatically from a set of examples.

The augmentation of digital design representation with programmed analysis capabilities can result in a shift from structurebased to performance-based designing. This paper presents a system to translate a simple digital structure representation into information about the multi-dimensional highly integrated and dynamic physical behavior of the design object. The user interface uses an objectoriented representation familiar to the designer, while the physical behavior is calculated internally with an abstract and space-based model formulated in form of a constructive language. The system is intended to serve as a “digital bridge” in the circle of design activities to enable performance-based designing.

Reasoning about the connectivity within a product is an integral part of many core design activities. Due to the complexity of a product and the sheer number of potential links, designers often overlook vital connections resulting in problems later in the process, leading to errors or costly rework. Product connectivity models, which are essentially graphs, are a promising approach for capturing these links between components in a complex product. The primary visual representation used to create such connectivity models is the Design Structure Matrix (DSM). However, other representations of graphs may be superior for creating connectivity models of products. This paper presents node-link displays as equally valid representations for product connectivity models and reports on an experimental study that investigates whether DSMs or node-link diagrams are more suitable for building such models.

This paper describes our user model (Virtual User) for behavior simulation. The model simulates the goals, social traits, perception, and physical behaviors of users in built environments. It includes three major components: geometric modeling and motion control; cognitive modeling that enables Virtual Users to understand the environment model; and behavioral modeling that seamlessly integrates sources of theoretical and practical environment-behavior studies, statistics from a field study, and an Artificial Life approach. By inserting the Virtual Users into our environment model and letting them “explore” it on their own volition, our system reveals the interrelationship between the environment and its users.

This paper argues that sequences of exploratory drawings - constructed by designer’s movements and decisions - trace systematic and logical paths from ideas to designs. This argument has three parts. First, sequences of exploratory sketches produced by product designers, against the same task specification, are analyzed in terms of the cognitive categories of reinterpretation, emergence and abstracttion. Second, a computational model is outlined for the process of exploration through drawing and third the model is applied to elucidate the logic in the sequences of exploratory sketches examined earlier.

The paper discusses digital sketching in the framework of multi-actor design processes. The discussion focuses on the registration, analysis and feedback of annotations made with digital pens on prints of CAD drawings and early stage sketching, both in synchronous and asynchronous situations. It is proposed that the main advantages of this form of digital sketching are the registration of syntagmatic information and the ability to distinguish between different actors. This makes it possible to identify meaningful entities and clarify issues of common authorship or emergence.

We describe two domain oriented design tools that help novice designers design three-dimensional models that they can build using rapid manufacturing equipment. By embedding domain and manufacturing knowledge in the software and providing a sketching interface, novice designers can acquire and practice skills in modeling and manufacturing, without first having to master complicated CAD tools.

This paper presents IDS, a knowledge based system to support experts in the design and manufacturing of complex mechanical objects. Although many sophisticated integrated environments have been developed and are currently adopted by enterprises in the design of mechanical parts and components, they can be extended to further support design activities. Artificial Intelligence techniques are particularly suitable to provide such tools with knowledge based facilities derived from skilled designer’s expertise. IDS (Intelligent Design System) is a set of integrated AIbased facilities interacting the CATIA CAD software environment to support the design of dies for car body manufacturing.

Abstract. Structured methodologies have for some time been the dominant guiding means by which information systems have been designed and implemented. This paper argues that the process-based view that has underlied information system design (ISD) for so many years could usefully give way to a knowledge-based perspective since ISD is fundamentally a knowledge structuring activity. This paper includes a review of the evolution of systems development methodologies since the late 1960s and contrasts the intended benefits and problems in practice of using structured, process-oriented methodologies such as SSADM, with those of the agile methodologies, such as XP, which have emerged in the last few years. A framework is presented of how ideas from the fields of knowledge management and organizational learning can be applied to the analysis of ISD methodologies. We consider some higher-level considerations of possible future trends in ISD and our analysis suggests that the present preponderance of structured methodologies will give way to greater use of agile and open source approaches. We finish with a description of the work we have done to apply these ideas within current practice and make suggestions for further work in this area.

This research experiments with representations of function using analogical matching, trying to determine the benefits of using environment-centric (EC) vs. device-centric (DC) representations. We use the Structure Mapping Engine for matching, and seek to show the effect on quality and quantity of analogical matches when the representation is varied.

Organisational design is an important topic in the literature on organisations. Usually the design principles are addressed informally in this literature. This paper makes a first attempt to formally introduce design operators to formalize the design steps in the process of designing organisations. These operators help an organisation designer create an organisation design from scratch as well as offer the possibility to revise existing designs of organisations. The operators offer both top-down refinements and bottom-up grouping options. Importantly, the operators can be combined into complex operators that can serve as patterns for larger steps in an organisation design process. The usability of the design operators is demonstrated in a running example. This is demonstrated by an implemented prototype example tool.

A method for flexibly searching the conceptual design space using a stochastic approach is presented. From a database of previous design exemplars, a novel and inexpensive algorithm is used to induce a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) that represents the causal relationships between a design domain’s variables. This BBN is then used as part of an interactive tool for stochastically searching the conceptual design space using two search heuristics. This method is illustrated using a number of design scenarios based on a conceptual car design domain. The paper concludes with future research avenues to further the functionality of the BBN-based design search tool.

Problem framing is an essential element of the design process because it is an important design activity in solving design problems. It is the first part of a cyclical design process which involves “framing”, “moving”, and “reflecting”. Framing activities can be considered as a typical cognitive design process involving several levels. As an essential design activity, framing can be considered an indicator to trace whether digital media changes the way designers engage in their work. The results indicate that problem framing activities are significantly different in an online remote setting as compared to the two other settings. It appears that a chat line-based remote setting does not only facilitate a greater proportion of framing activities, particularly high level framing, but also shows more richly interlinked design activities.

Abstract. This paper uses Shannon’s entropy of information to measure linkographs of twelve design sessions which involved six architects in two separate design processes. In one they were not allowed to sketch (blindfolded condition), and in the other they were allowed to sketch. A previous study showed that the architects’ overall cognitive activity in the blindfolded condition dropped below their activity in the sketching condition, after 20 approximately minutes during the timeline of the design sessions. This study uses entropy measures as a quantitative tool to study this phenomenon. Assuming that moves in a linkograph are the manifestation of ideas and entropy indicates the idea development potential, we tested whether entropy of idea links would also drop after 20 minutes during the blindfolded sessions. The results show that the visuo-spatial working memory load does not have negative effects on idea development.

Computer graphics images are characterised by both object information and emotive 2mplications. To promote proper interpretation, it is important to convey incomplete or approximate object information in conceptual design, as well as emotive expressiveness, via the graphics interface. This paper presents a study of user perception and emotional responses to different rendering styles using Kansei Engineering. The investigation involved a sample comprising of 61 students and faculty, and 30 different rendering styles representing existing photorealistic (PR), non-photorealistic (NPR) and new vague rendering (VR) styles. The study has shown that VR styles are able to affect viewers of images in a different way than PR and NPR styles. That is, VR styles are most effective for conveying

affective

and

functional

content, PR styles for

affective

content, and NPR styles for

affective

, motivational and cognitive content.

A collaborative design environment makes assumptions about how the designers communicate and represent their design ideas. These assumptions, including the availability of sketching, 3D modelling, and walking around virtual worlds with avatars, effectively make some actions easier and others more difficult. An analysis of design behaviour in different virtual environments can highlight the impact and benefits of the different tools/environments and their assumptions. This paper reports on a study of three pairs of designers collaborating on design tasks of similar complexity using a different design environment for each task: face to face sketching, remote sketching, and 3D virtual world. Comparing the behaviour patterns and design actions we conclude that the characteristics of design process are quite different in sketching and 3D world environments. While sketching, the architects more frequently moved between the problem and solution spaces, dealing with analysis and synthesis of ideas. The same architects focused on synthesis of the objects, visually analysing the representation, and managing the tasks to model the design when they were in the 3D virtual world.

In this paper, we discuss about content-based design research. By means of it, we have separated four different types of thought processes, which occur during engineering design. We have used data which we have gathered during research into a large scale industrial design process, i.e., the design of the extended nip press (ENP) in paper machines. By means of interviews and documentary analyses, we have composed a picture of this complex design process. In it we have noticed that there are qualitatively different modes of thinking, which may be used to elaborate classical phase models of human thinking. We suggest that the human thought process entails such modes as apperception, restructuring, reflection and construction.

The notion of affordances has been used to represent functionality and usability in several design areas. The paper considers its applicability to architecture and buildings. It discusses a distinction between the affordances of building elements and spaces, and a number of dimensions for the mapping of different aspects.

The preconceptions that designers bring to the table when they are considering a particular design task are an unavoidable and necessary part of the design process. This paper first reviews the literature relating to the role of preconceptions in design, and then goes on to discuss computational tools that support the development and expression of such design preconceptions. As an example of such a tool, an outline is given of a generative evolutionary design system that allows designers to evolve families of designs that embody preconceived values and ideas.

Accounts of design practice suggest that how a designer ‘feels’ influences the way that a designer behaves. In this paper, we approach the notion of ‘feeling’ through the linguistic process of appraisal. Appraisal is the representation through language of favourable and unfavourable attitudes towards specific subjects. While the linguistic system of appraisal may not be completely isomorphic with the human system of emotions, characterising the language of emotions through a linguistic system allows us to begin an exploration of the affective aspects of the design process. The paper describes a taxonomy for a formal, grammatical analysis of appraisal of design processes, products and people. The taxonomy is used to analyze the way language is

structured

to adopt attitudinal stances in accounts of design experience. An analysis on design student blogs shows how the appraisal framework systematically accounts for the linguistic resources of appraisal in design and how appraisal inhabits design practice.

This paper shows how the function-behaviour-structure (FBS) ontology can be used to represent processes despite its original focus on representing objects. The FBS ontology provides a uniform framework for classifying processes and includes higher-level semantics in their representation. We demonstrate that this ontology supports a situated view of processes based on a model of three interacting worlds.

We describe a method of analogical reasoning for the task of constructing a Structure Behavior Function (SBF) model of a physical system from its drawing. A DSSBF (Drawing Shape Structure Behavior Function) model relates the SBF model of a system to its drawing. A DSSBF model of a target drawing is constructed by analogy to the DSSBF model of a very similar drawing. In this paper, we focus on the tasks of analogical mapping between target and source drawings and transfer of the DSSBF model of the source drawing to the target drawing. Archytas is a computer program that implements this analogical method for model construction in the domain of simple kinematics devices.

Abstract. We describe a design synthesizing process which has been pointed out to be a key to creative design. We describe two topics of design study. First, from the perspectives of creativity, the conceptsynthesizing process is formed with the 1st primitive of the conceptsynthesizing process being ‘concept abstraction’ with the principle of ‘similarity’ in ‘taxonomical relations’, the 2nd primitive being ‘concept blending,’ in which the principle is ‘similarity’ and ‘dissimilarity’ in ‘taxonomical relations’, and the 3rd primitive being ‘concept integration’ and with the principle of ‘thematic relations’. Second, design experiments using protocol analysis were conducted to identify what/how design primitives are related to higher creativity. As a result, in the process of synthesizing concepts, thematic relations between two concepts significantly extend the design space, which led to higher creativity. Given this, the creative design process can be driven by the 3rd primitive of the concept-synthesizing process.

Abstract. The purpose of this paper is to propose formal robustness criteria and a visualization concept for these criteria to be used in conceptual designing. The criteria, called the “Component Distance” and “Value Distance,” when added together form the “Configuration Distance.” The developed visualization concept, called “Design Solution Topography,” allows visualization of a population of design concepts in terms of their performance and their component and value distances. The proposed criteria address three sources of variance in engineering systems, namely manufacturing error, system degradation and parts availability. When incorporated into an evolutionary conceptual designing method, being developed by the first author, the criteria will enable designers to evaluate and ensure robustness in selected designs that also satisfy the desired performance objectives at a minimum threshold or greater.

This paper describes research carried out to develop a parametric urban shape grammar for the Zaouiat Lakhdar quarter of the Medina of Marrakech, in Morocco. The goal is to create the basis for a system that could capture some features of the existing urban fabric and apply them in contemporary urban planning. The methodology used is described, from the initial historical analysis and fieldwork to the identification of three sub-grammars necessary to encode the complexity of the urban pre-existences: the urban grammar, the negotiation grammar, and the housing grammar. Topdown and bottom-up approaches to grammar design are analyzed and compared. The bottom-up urban grammar developed is then described, and a hand-derivation of the existing urban fabric is proposed.

Shape grammars are types of non-linear formal grammars that have been used in a range of design domains such as architecture, industrial product design and PCB design. Graph grammars contain production rules with similar generational properties, but operating on graphs. This paper introduces CAD grammars, which combine qualities from shape and graph grammars, and presents new extensions to the theories that enhance their application in design and manufacturing. Details about the integration of CAD grammars into automated spatial design systems and standard CAD software are described. The benefits of this approach with regards to traditional shape grammar systems are explored.

Shape grammars have been used to generate new branded product design shapes in accordance with designer preferences in a number of product domains. In parallel, evolutionary algorithms have been established as random search techniques to evolve and optimize designs to meet specific requirements. The research reported in this paper investigated the use of a combined approach, bringing together the shape synthesis capability from shape grammars and the evolution and optimization capability from evolutionary algorithms, to support the generation and evaluation of new product shapes. A system architecture for the integration of shape grammars with evolutionary algorithms is presented. Prototype software based on this architecture is described and demonstrated using a Coca-Cola bottle grammar as a case study.

Grammars have been used for the generation of various product designs (e.g. coffeemakers, transmission towers, etc.). Like any other formal language in computer science, the correctness of the designs generated during the translation process possesses the three distinct aspects of

syntax, semantic

and

pragmatic

. While compilers can check the syntax and can guarantee the pragmatic correctness by constraint processing, the core question of the semantic correctness was still unresolved. In this work the semantic correctness is achieved through the introduction of the concept of a semantic hull for the language vocabulary. This allows to establish a semantic validation scheme for graph-based engineering design grammars despite the fact that computers are per se incapable of processing semantics.

A support vector machine is trained to produce optimal structures. The problem of structural optimisation is typically solved by a search procedure that samples and repeatedly evaluates a physicsbased model, but this process is computationally demanding. Instead, the use of a learning algorithm to generate new structures based on previously optimized examples is described that provides enormous computational saving. The results have shown that the predicted structures are accurate, and the process is highly efficient for cases in which similar optimisations must be performed repeatedly, especially as the number of such optimisations grows.

Recent research has suggested that it is more important to study expert designers than novices. Typically, however, design expertise has been seen by researchers as the accumulation and organization of domain-specific knowledge. This work, however, views design expertise not only as knowledge and skills-based, but also as directly linked to the designer’s critical and commercial success. This paper sets out to explore what makes six of the world’s most distinguished and expert designers working today both critically and commercially successful? Moreover, the paper seeks to identify if they possess uniqueness in their genetic make up? Adopting the Watson - Crick Model of living organisms as a speculative model for each of the designer’s “cultural DNA”, this paper illustrates the significant design and cultural factors which the designers possess and exploit in their work.

Abstract. In two experimental studies, the influence of question-based reflection on the quality of design solutions was investigated. The participants, experts with different know-how and professional experience, had to design an artefact that should meet a list of requirements. Subsequently, they were asked to answer non-productspecific questions with the opportunity to modify or revise their design. These interrogative questions (e.g. why, what for, how, where, etc.) aim at the semantic relations in systems, for example, causal, final, temporal, local, conditional relations, which are to be inferred in order to develop a mental representation of a system. These questions cause the participants to explain, justify and evaluate their finished design. We found significant solution improvements in both target groups, whereby the improvements of experts with a lower workexperience (job beginners) were significantly higher as those with higher experience.

Abstract. This paper presents an initial empirical test of a cognitive model of memory search in idea generation. In the experiment, we examined how manipulations in contexts and cues affect the struc-ture of subsequently generated ideas. The study shows that these manipulations change the categorical frequencies of generated ideas. The results are generally inline with central assumptions of the model.

AEC professionals commonly use discipline-specific computer-based information modeling and analysis processes today. However, these professionals lack simple, flexible, formal frameworks to communicate and integrate these processes and information amongst multiple disciplines. They therefore struggle to quickly and accurately achieve balanced and near-optimal multidisciplinary designs. Narratives are formal, visual descriptions of the design process that include representations, reasoning, and their interrelationships. This paper presents several conceptual and implemented Narratives, and discusses how they can help AEC professionals better communicate and integrate their design processes and information and thus potentially improve their designs.

The design process involves selecting between design alternatives based on the requirements and constraints defining the system being developed. The design alternatives and the reasons for selecting one over another form the Design Rationale (DR) for the system. This information represents the designers’ intent and can be used to evaluate the design alternatives and determine the impact on the design if requirements and constraints change. Here we introduce the Ontology-supported Rationale for Collaborative Argumentation (ORCA) system which uses DR to capture and evaluate alternatives for Engineering Design. Moreover, we motivate and demonstrate our system using a NASA spacecraft design study.

The goal of this research is to propose an integrated approach to incorporate structural engineering concerns into architectural schematic designs for timely and well-informed decision making. This is done through a platform that is based on two software prototypes, EsQUIsE for capturing and interpreting architectural sketches, and StAr for assisting engineers during conceptual structural design. An integrated information model is provided for communication. Given the dissimilar “quality” of the information managed by both prototypes, sketch interpretation mechanisms are also required to “tune-up” communications for bringing the sketch to a precise structural engineering definition. As a result, the engineer can propose feasible structural systems earlier than usual.

This paper presents a 3D virtual world environment augmented with software agents that provides real-time multi-user collaboration for designers in different locations. This virtual world collaborative environment allows designers in different disciplines to model their view of a building as different representations. A proprietary virtual world platform augmented with software agents extends the environment to facilitate the management of the different disciplines’ design representation. Agents monitor the virtual world and create, manage and display the different views of a design, and create and manage the relationships between these views. A synchronous design session with an architect and engineer demonstrates the capability and potential for the augmented virtual world for conceptual design.