Architecture

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Architectural Design

The architectural design studio of the future will be radically different from the crowded rooms filled with drafting tables today. We envision a scenario where each designer’s drafting table consists of a transparent digitizing surface, a cordless pen, and a high-resolution, rear-projection display system driven by a powerful microprocessor or set of microprocessors. Each "station" will be capable of dynamically displaying high quality renderings, with all of the subtle effects like shading, shadowing, textures, and interreflections necessary for the evaluation of space and aesthetic judgments. All will be connected with a high bandwidth Internet to both local and national databases. What is missing is the software to do this!

Although much progress has been made at the rendering stage, architectural modeling, particularly at the early stages of design, represents one of the most difficult challenges for the interactive graphics software industry. Currently, available architectural design software is difficult to use at the preliminary design phase. Most offerings are derived from two-dimensional drafting systems requiring precise input. What is needed is a "back-of-the-envelope" environment, with the ability to sketch, doodle, and erase, to proceed in an iterative, non-linear fashion, and to perform these operations in a full three-dimensional domain. Since design is an iterative process and it is frequently necessary to work conceptually in two dimensions as well as three, it is important to be able to migrate freely from one domain to another. It is just as important to be able to extract plans, sections, and elevations from 3D sketches and models, as it is the other way around.

We must also be able to shift freely from the three-dimensional sketches to approximate surface models composed of primitive elements to solid models with precise definitions. We must be able to progressively move from the simple line drawing and direct lighting routines used in standard graphics hardware to photorealistic representations including shading, shadows, textures, and global illumination, as well as provide all of the perceptual cues necessary to disambiguate complex models. Finally, we have to do this in real-time, providing dynamic walkthroughs since movement is really necessary to evaluate space. No software is currently available which provides the thread of continuity between these widely varying levels of representations.

Our specific objectives include providing answers to the following questions.

How do we create meaningful functional links between symbolic, graphical, and realistic visual abstractions and representations?

Early, creative-stage abstractions are tentative, and lack the specificity of later, more formal representations, yet the generality of symbols, sketches and rough diagrams enable a fluidity in thinking that is often hampered by the detail of formal plans and specifications. How can we create a spectrum of abstractions and representations from the discrete forms that currently exist, and how can we support free movement back and forth along this spectrum?

We need a better understanding of how symbolic, graphic and visual abstractions work and of how they interact to enhance and clarify our understanding of the underlying issues.

Participants

Donald P. Greenberg, Professor and Director, Program of Computer Graphics

Web Links

	Program of Computer Graphics
	Design Studio

Last modified on: 10/19/99