Abstract
This study is a critical review of General Design Theory (GDT), a mathematical theory of design. It reviews the assumptions (axioms) and predictions (theorems) of GDT with respect to design and illustrates them with simple examples. The scope of GDT with respect to design, the guidelines it provides for building computer-aided design (CAD) systems, and the possibility of implementing these guidelines are examined. GDT assumptions are too restrictive to apply directly to design, and several potential avenues for modifying the theory to attempt to broaden its scope are discussed. Nevertheless, these modifications may not lead to proving strong predictions about design. Treating GDT as a model, rather than as an accurate reflection of design, allows treating the guidelines as hypotheses to be tested empirically. The article discusses these guidelines and some experimental implementations that embody some of them.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arciszewski, T. (1990) Design theory and methodology in Eastern Europe, inDesign Theory and Methodology — DTM'90 (Chicago, Ill.), pages 209–218. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York.
Boothroyd, G. and Dewhurst, P. (1989)Product Design for Assembly, 3rd edition. Boothroyd Dewhurst, Wakefield, RI.
Čech, E. (1966)Topological Spaces. Wiley, London.
Christenson, C. O. and Voxman, W. L. (1977)Aspects of Topology. Marcel Dekker, New York.
Eastman, C. M. (1991) Use of data modeling in the conceptual structuring of design problems, in Schmitt, G. N., editor,CAAD Futures '91: Proceedings (Zürich), pages 207–223. Zürich. Department of Architecture, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
Eder, W. E. (1990) Engineering design — a perspective on U.K. and Swiss developments, inDesign Theory and Methodology — DTM'90 (Chicago, Ill.), pages 225–234. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York.
Finger, S. and Dixon, J. R. (1989) A review of research in mechanical engineering design. Part I: Descriptive, prescriptive, and computer-based models of design processes,Research in Engineering Design, 1(1): 51–67.
Hubka, V. and Eder, W. E. (1988)Theory of Technical Systems: a Total Concept Theory For Engineering Design. Springer, Berlin.
Hundal, M. S. (1990) Research in design theory and methodology in West Germany, inDesign Theory and Methodology — DTM'90 (Chicago, Ill.), pages 235–238. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York.
Konda, S., Monarch, I., Sargent, P. and Subrahmanian, E. (1992) Shared memory in design: A unifying theme for research and practice,Research in Engineering Design, 4(1): 23–42.
Kurumatani, K. and Yoshikawa, H. (1987) Representation of design knowledge based on general design theory, in Eder, W. E., editor,Proceedings of the 1987 International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED-87 (Boston, Mass.), pages 723–730. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York.
Levy, S., Subrahmanian, E., Konda, S. L., Coyne, R. F., Westerberg, A. W. and Reich, Y. (1993) An overview of then-dim environment. Technical Report EDRC-05-65-93, Engineering Design Research Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Nagata, J. (1950) On a necessary and sufficient condition of metrizability,Journal Institute of Polytechnics, 1: 93–100.
Reich, Y. and Fenves, S. J. (1992) Inductive learning of synthesis knowledge,International Journal of Expert Systems: Research and Applications, 5(4): 275–297.
Schubert, H. (1968)Topology. MacDonald, London.
Smirnov, Y. M. (1953) On metrization of topological spaces,American Mathematical Society Translation, Series 1, 8: 62–77.
Subrahmanian, E., Konda, S. L., Levy, S. N., Reich, Y., Westerberg, A. W. and Monarch, I. A. (1993) Equations aren't enough: Informal modeling in design,Artificial Intelligence in Engineering Design, Analysis, and Manufacturing, 7(4): 257–274.
Suh, N. P. (1984) Development of the science base for the manufacturing field through the axiomatic approach,Robotics & Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, 1(3/4): 397–415.
Sutherland, W. A. (1975)Introduction to Metric and Topological Spaces. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Taura, T. and Yoshikawa, H. (1991) The generation of design solutions using metric space methods, in Yoshikawa, H., Arbab, F., and Tomiyama, T., editors,Proceedings, Third IFIP WG 5.2 Workshop On Intelligent CAD, Osaka, Japan, 1989, pages 273–278, North-Holland, Amsterdam.
Tomiyama, T. (1990) Engineering design research in Japan. InDesign Theory and Methodology — DTM'90), pages 219–224. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York.
Tomiyama, T. (1994) From General Design Theory to knowledge intensive engineering,Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis, and Manufacturing, 8(4): (in press).
Tomiyama, T., Kiriyama, T., Takeda, H., Xue, D. and Yoshikawa, H. (1989) Metamodel: A key to intelligent CAD systems,Research in Engineering Design, 1(1): 19–34.
Tomiyama, T. and Ten Hagen, P. J. W. (1987a) The concept of intelligent integrated interactive CAD systems. Technical Report CS-R8717, Centre For Mathematics and Computer Science, Amsterdam.
Tomiyama, T. and Ten Hagen, P. J. W. (1987b) Organization of design knowledge in an intelligent CAD environment, in Gero, J. S., editor,Expert Systems in Computer-Aided Design, pages 119–152, North-Holland, Amsterdam.
Tomiyama, T. and Ten Hagen, P. J. W. (1990). Representing knowledge in two distinct descriptions: Extensional vs. intensional,Artificial Intelligence in Engineering, 5(1): 23–32.
Tomiyama, T., Xue, D. and Ishida, Y. (1991) An experience with developing a design knowledge representation language, in ten Hagen P. J. W. and Veerkamp, P. J., editors,Intelligent CAD Systems III: Practical Experience and Evaluation, pages 131–154. Springer, Berlin.
Tomiyama, T. and Yoshikawa, H. (1985) Knowledge engineering and CAD, in Yoshikawa, H., editor,Design and Synthesis, Proceedings of the International Symposium on Design and Synthesis (Tokyo), pages 3–8. North-Holland, Amsterdam.
Tomiyama, T. and Yoshikawa, H. (1986) Extended general design theory. Technical Report CS-R8604, Centre For Mathematics and Computer Science, Amsterdam.
Veerkamp, P., Kwiers, P. R. and ten Hagen, P. J. W. (1991) Design process representation in ADDL, in ten Hagen, P. J. W. and Veerkamp, P. J., editors,Intelligent CAD Systems III: Practical Experience and Evaluation, pages 155–167. Springer, Berlin.
Veth, B. (1987) An integrated data description language for coding design knowledge, in Ten Hagen, P. J. N. and Tomiyama, T., editors,Intelligent CAD Systems I, pages 295–313. Springer, Berlin.
Warfield, J. N. (1990)A Science of Generic Design. Intersystems Publications, Salinas, Calif.
Yoshikawa, T. (1981) General Design Theory and a CAD system, in Sata, T. and Warman, E., editors,Man-Machine Communication in CAD/CAM, Proceedings of The IFIP WG5.2–5.3 Working Conference 1980), pages 35–57. North-Holland, Amsterdam.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reich, Y. A critical review of General Design Theory. Research in Engineering Design 7, 1–18 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01681909
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01681909