Rethinking concept design tools: High-level requirements for concept design tools

Abstract

In the architecture, engineering, and construction industry there is increasing recognition that design decisions early in the design process create significant project value with relatively small effort. It seems reasonable to investigate what decision support for designers in early phases should look like and what conclusions can be drawn for digital tools that designers employ in those early project phases. This paper introduces and discusses a cohesive set of concept design tool requirements. It explores connections between theoretical approaches in design cognition, experimental implementations, and recent developments in architectural practice responding to very pragmatic problems. The paper communicates results of academic workshops at the Third and Fourth International Conference on Design Computing and Cognition, DCC'08 and DCC'10, respectively, in the context of this ongoing research. At the end, it proposes a systematised model of a desired software tool thus allowing future research to close critical gaps which have hampered progress in concept design tool development. ©2011, Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA).