Table Of ContentComputational Design
Technology, Cognition
and Environments
Rongrong Yu
Lecturer, Griffith Centre for Design and Innovation Research
School of Engineering and Built Environment
Griffith University, Australia
Ning Gu
Professor in Architecture
University of South Australia, Australia
Michael J. Ostwald
Associate Dean of Research and
Professor of Architectural Analytics
University of New South Wales, Australia
p,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Yu, Rongrong, 1981- author. | Gu, Ning, 1975- author. | Ostwald,
Michael J., author.
Title: Computational design : technology, cognition and environments /
Rongrong Yu, lecturer, Grifth Centre for Design and Innovation
Research, School of Engineering and Built Environment, Grifth
University, Qld, Australia, Ning Gu, professor in architecture,
University of South Australia, Australia, Michael Ostwald, associate
dean of research and professor of architectural analytics, UNSW, Sydney,
Australia.
Description: First edition. | Boca Raton : CRC Press, Taylor & Francis
Group, 2021. | "A science publishers book." | Includes bibliographical
references and index. | Summary: "With the rapid emergence and adoption
of new computational design technologies in the design feld, it is
important to critically understand how designers response to those new
environments. Tis book systematically explores the impact of emerging
computational design environments on design and designers. It ofers an
unique opportunity to look into design thinking in the current digital
age"-- Provided by publisher.
Identifers: LCCN 2021004499 | ISBN 9780367203061 (hbk)
Subjects: LCSH: Computer-aided design. | Engineering design.
Classifcation: LCC TA345 .Y83 2021 | DDC 670.285--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004499
ISBN: 978-0-367-20306-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-77493-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-26078-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Palatino Roman
by Innovative Processors
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for the support and contributions from our
extended team of professional colleagues, associates and assistants, who
have all made the road to this research destination possible. The following
co-authors have helped us to develop several ideas and projects contained
in this book and we fully acknowledge their contributions: Professor John
Gero, Professor Mary Lou Maher, Dr Peiman Amini Behbahani, John
Wells and Professor Mi Jeong Kim. In addition, this book was proofread
by Maria Roberts.
Some sections of this book are based on materials, projects and data
that were previously published in journals, books and conference papers.
Chapter 2 includes material adapted from: Gu N., Yu R., and Behbahani P.
A., (2018), Parametric Design: Theoretical Development and Algorithmic
Foundation for Design Generation in Architecture, by B. Sriraman (Ed.),
Handbook of the Mathematics of the Arts and Sciences, Springer. Chapter 3
includes expanded and revised work based on: Yu R., Gu N., Ostwald M.,
and Gero J. (2015), Empirical Support for Problem-Solution Co-Evolution
in a Parametric Design Environment, Artificial Intelligence for Engineering
Design, Analysis, and Manufacturing (AIEDAM), Vol. 29, Issue 01; Gero J.,
Yu R., and Wells J. (2019), The Effect of Design Education on Creative
Design Cognition of High School Students, International Journal of Design
Creativity and Innovation, Vol. 7 Issue 04; Yu R. (2014), Exploring the Impact
of Rule Algorithms on Designers’ Cognitive Behaviour in a Parametric Design
Environment, PhD Thesis, University of Newcastle, Australia. Yu R., Gu N.,
Ostwald M., and Gero J. (2015), Empirical Support for Problem-Solution
Co-Evolution in a Parametric Design Environment, Artificial Intelligence for
Engineering Design, Analysis, and Manufacturing (AIEDAM), Vol. 29, Issue
01 and Yu R. and Gero J. (2018), Using eye-tracking to study designers’
cognitive behaviour while designing with CAAD, 52nd International
Conference of the Architectural Science Association (ASA 2018), Melbourne.
Chapter 4 includes materials adapted from: Yu R. (2014), Exploring the
Impact of Rule Algorithms on Designers’ Cognitive Behaviour in a Parametric
Design Environment, PhD Thesis, University of Newcastle, Australia; Gu
iv Acknowledgements
N., Kim M. J., and Maher M. L., (2011), Technological Advancements in
Synchronous Collaboration: The Effect of 3D Virtual Worlds and Tangible
User Interfaces on Architectural Design, Automation in Construction, Vol.
20, Issue 03; Gu N. (2015), Generative Design Grammars: An Intelligent
Approach Towards Dynamic and Autonomous Design, in: K. William’s
and M. J. Ostwald’s (Eds.) Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to
the Future, Volume II: The 1500s to the Future, Springer; Gu N., and Maher
M. L. (2014), Designing Adaptive Virtual Worlds, De Gruyter; Yu R. and Gero
J. (2018), Using eye-tracking to study designers’ cognitive behaviour while
designing with CAAD, 52nd International Conference of the Architectural
Science Association (ASA 2018), Melbourne; Yu R., Ostwald M., and Gu N.
(2015), Parametrically Generating New Instances of Traditional Chinese
Private Gardens that Replicate Selected Socio-spatial and Aesthetic
Properties, Nexus Network Journal: Architecture and Mathematics, Vol.
17, Issue 03; Yu R., Gu N. and Ostwald M. (2016) The mathematics of
spatial transparency and mystery: using syntactical data to visualise and
analyse the properties of the Yuyuan Garden. Visualisation in Engineering.
Vol. 4, Issue 4; and Yu R., Gu N., and Ostwald M. (2018), Evaluating
Creativity in Parametric Design Environments and Geometric Modelling
Environments, Architectural Science Review, Vol. 61 Issue 06.
We thank all the journal editors and reviewers for their contributions
to the development of this book.
Preface
There is often a level of confusion when people first discover the field
of ‘computational design’. Does it describe the process of designing
computers, or alternatively the process wherein computers design
artefacts? It is certainly not the former, which is more akin to computer
science, and while it has some similarities to the latter, it is a much richer
and more diverse field.
There are two common ways of understanding the field of
‘computational design’. First, it can be defined as a systematic way
of thinking about or conceptualising the design process. This could be
understood as a rigorous reasoning method founded in the timeless fields
of mathematics and logic. The second definition of computational design
encapsulates the hardware, software and systems that support the act of
designing. These have developed rapidly over time to respond to the needs
of designers. The scope of this book encompasses both of these definitions
of computational design, as well as the overlap or interdependency
between them. This is a particularly interesting way of approaching the
topic of computational design, because it emphasises the interactions
between a seemingly stable body of knowledge on the one hand, and an
increasingly dynamic technological environment on the other.
Three distinct aspects of computational design are introduced and
explored in this book: design technology, design thinking and design
environments. The first is associated with the hardware, software and
systems used to support design, and which might in turn shape the way
designers work and think. The second is concerned with the cognitive
mental processes that occur during acts of designing, and which are
influenced by computational design technologies. The third explores a
variety of coexisting computational environments and contexts that are
available to designers. This book does not, however, completely separate
these three. Instead, it examines the connections between them, gradually
building up a picture – literally a multi-stage figure and conceptual model
– which explains how they shape one another. For example, advances in
technology create new environments for designers, which can in turn,
vi Preface
facilitate new ways of design thinking. These new ways of thinking then
require new environments to support them. Thus, between those three
different aspects, there is not only overlap but direct influence. This is one
of the motivations for the present book, to reveal the many relationships
that exist between design technology, design thinking and design
environments, and which also can support innovation or creativity.
Throughout this book a recurring observation is that design, as a
computationally supported process, is undergoing a radical evolution. The
‘stable’ and ‘timeless’ logic of the design process is actually evolving, and
sometimes in unexpected ways. This realisation is the catalyst for several
important questions. In a fast changing world, which computational tools
are most appropriate for advanced architectural and design practices?
Do these advanced tools change the ways designers thinking and act?
Are newly established computational design environments actually
supporting or hindering creativity? What methods can we use to critically
analyse the influence of computational design environments on both
design processes and designers? These are critical questions which
scholars and practitioners are asking. They can also be complex to answer,
as technological developments and advances in research, will render some
answers obsolete before they can be answered. As such, this book does
not attempt to provide perfect answers, instead it offers the knowledge
and conceptual tools to continue to ask these critical questions and aim to
develop timely answers.
Rongrong Yu
Ning Gu
Michael J. Ostwald
.
Contents
Acknowledgements iii
Preface v
1. Introduction 1
1.1. Computational design 1
1.2. Design technology, cognition and design environment 3
1.3. Summary of chapters 6
1.4. Context for the book 7
2. Emergent Technologies in Computational Design 10
2.1. Introduction 12
2.1.1. History of CAD 12
2.1.2. Evolution of digital modelling devices 14
2.1.3. Evolution of CAD software and hardware 16
2.2. Parametric and generative design 20
2.2.1. Key concepts and characteristics of generative design 21
2.2.2. Major generative design systems 23
2.2.3. Key concepts in parametric design 26
2.2.4. History and application of parametric design 30
2.3. Presence and telepresence, virtual and real worlds 35
2.3.1. Telepresence 35
2.3.2. Augmented Reality 36
2.3.3. Virtual Reality 45
2.4. Conclusion 48
3. Understanding Design Cognition in Computational
and Generative Design 58
3.1. Design cognition 59
3.1.1. Design thinking 60
3.1.2. Design problems and design solutions 61
3.1.3. Design creativity 62
viii Contents
3.2. Formal approaches to studying design cognition 66
3.2.1. Protocol analysis 66
3.2.2. Biometric approaches to studying design cognition 72
3.3. Design cognition in the computational design environment 77
3.3.1. Computational thinking and design thinking 77
3.3.2. Design cognition in the computational environment 78
3.3.3. Design cognition in the Parametric Design
Environment (PDE) 80
3.4. Conclusion 83
4. Cognitive Impacts and Computational Design Environments 101
4.1. Introduction 101
4.2. Case study 1: Designers’ behaviour in parametric and
geometric design environments 104
4.2.1. Research design 107
4.2.2. Result 1: Design issues and processes 108
4.2.3. Result 2: Designers’ cognitive effort 111
4.2.4. Result 3: Design patterns 115
4.2.5. Result 4: Co-evolution process in parametric design 117
4.3. Case study 2: Cognitive studies of design collaboration in a
virtual environment 125
4.3.1. Collaborative design studies and technologies 126
4.3.2. Experiments and coding scheme 128
4.3.3. Protocol analysis results and discussion 129
4.4. Case study 3: A biometric approach to analysing cognitive
behaviour in a CAD environment 131
4.4.1. Experiment 132
4.4.2. Results 132
4.5. Case study 4: Implementing rules in design, using generative
design grammars 138
4.5.1. Design grammars 138
4.5.2. The conceptual framework of generative design
grammars 139
4.5.3. Design rules 140
4.5.4. Designing a virtual gallery 144
4.6. Case study 5.1: Generating new design instances of an
existing style using computational analysis 146
4.6.1. Stage 1: Syntactical derivation 147
4.6.2. Stage 2: Parametric generation 153
4.6.3. Stage 3: Fractal analysis 157
4.7. Case study 5.2: Transparency and mystery in traditional
Chinese private gardens 163
4.7.1. Pedestrian accessibility convex map analysis 164
4.7.2. Visual accessibility based isovist analysis 165
Contents ix
4.7.3. Hypothesis framing 166
4.7.4. Exploration of Yuyuan Garden’s transparency
and mystery 166
4.8. Case study 6: Creativity in a parametric design environment 174
4.8.1. Research design 175
4.8.2. Analysis of results 176
4.9. Conclusion 184
5. Conclusion 197
5.1. A conceptual model 197
5.2. Looking into the future of computational design 204
5.2.1. Design technology: Implications and future
developments 204
5.2.2. Design cognition: Implications and future
developments 205
5.2.3. Design environment: Implications and future
developments 206
5.3. Conclusion 207
Appendix: Coding Example for Case Study 1 209
Appendix of Images Sources 238
Index 240
