A Methodology for Computational Architectural Design Based on Biological Principles

Biomimicry, where nature is emulated as a basis for design, is a growing area of research in the fields of architecture and engineering. The widespread and practical application of biomimicry as a design approach remains however largely unrealized. A growing body of international research identifies various obstacles to the employment of...

The Rehabilitation Design Process of the Bourgeois House of Oporto: Shape Grammar Simplification

This study was accomplished in the context of a broader research to be developed in an ongoing PhD program in architecture. The purpose of this study is to give a perspective of the research progress and to present a shape grammar simplification that will be improved to assist the rehabilitation design process of the bourgeois house of Oporto...

Applying experience reports in design education: Challenges and ideas

What if both design students and design tutors could have real-time insights into how students actually experience their design process rather than after-the-fact reflections? And what if these insights could be applied in ways that would contribute to more in-depth learning experiences? This paper addresses these questions in describing the...

Socio-cultural dimensions to sharpen designer's cultural eyeglasses

This paper answers the question, how the dimensions that have been developed by anthropologists to typify cultures, can support designers in user-centred design processes. An analysis and evaluation of the use of cultural dimensions in design projects was performed. Although many of the dimensions found in the literature appear relevant for...

Making explicit in design education: Generic elements in the design process

In general, designing is conceived as a complex, personal, creative and open-ended skill. Performing a well-developed skill is mainly an implicit activity. In teaching, however, it is essential to make explicit. Learning a complex skill like designing is a matter of doing and becoming aware how to do it. For teachers and students therefore, it...

Does sketching stand alone as a communication tool during concept generation in design teams?

The present study investigates the relation between sketching and communication in teams during the idea generation process in early concept generation. A quasi-experiment study has been conducted with Masters students of Industrial Design Engineering at Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. Six groups consisting of three students had to...

Making explicit in design education: Generic elements in the design process

Designing is a complex, personal, creative and openended skill. How can teachers help students in learning to design?

Remanufactured fashions: A pathway to sustainability

There has been a significant increase in volume of new clothing sales over the last ten years; indeed it is the fastest growing waste in household waste stream, raising the potential for a similar increase in volume of textile waste dispose in landfill sites and the resultant harm to the environment. As volume of throwaway fashion increases and...

Analyzing opportunities for using interactive augmented prototyping in design practice

The use of tangible objects is paramount in industrial design. Throughout the design process physical prototypes are used to enable exploration, simulation, communication, and specification of designs. Although much is known about prototyping skills and technologies, the reasons why and how such models are employed in design practice are poorly...

Collaborative architectural design in virtual reality

In this PhD research a method and software prototype is developed for COLlaborative Architectural Design In VIRtual reality. The method consists of developing versions of a concept for a building and the evaluation of them with criteria. Every team member makes his own versions; otherwise they would destroy each others work. They can evaluate...

Packaging for consumer electronic products: The need for integrating design and engineering

From the perspective of a multinational corporation producing durable consumer goods sustainable packaging is packaging that fulfils the right functionalities in the most efficient way. In order to achieve this, an integral design process is required. Such an integral approach to the design of packaging for CE goods would imply a process that...

Context Knowledge: Supporting Designers' Information Search in the Early Design Phases

Large amounts of data, information and knowledge are used during a design process. And it is proven from past researches that the absence of context is one of the reasons of the difficulties of utilizing data, information and knowledge in a design. This research work explored the concept of context that has been used in various domains and...

Coordinating collaborative building design

Refurbishment of Residential Buildings: A Design Approach to Energy-Efficiency Upgrades

Refurbishing the existing building stock is an acknowledged issue in the building industry. Even though awareness has been raised, the design phase of refurbishment projects is often problematic. The decisions taken in the early stages of the design determine the final result; however, the assessment of the environmental performance only happens...