New Generation of Computer Aided Design In Space Planning Methods - a Survey and A Proposal

Abstract

During the past thirty years, the progress of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) has played an important role both in the professional and the academic fields of architectural design. The evolution of this powerful tool has also changed its direction with time as well. When we look back in the evolution history of CAD, space-planning allocation methods, which have been discussed and developed vigorously during the 1970s, became less so after that. Space planning is a critical issue during the architectural design process on which architects spend a large amount of time on early development. This paper will review the space-planning methods during that period and discuss the possibilities of improving these methods, and extending their potential in current computer-aided design methods. 1. The Survey of Space-Planning Program / System and Allocation Methods In this section, several space-planning programs and allocation methods will be discussed in chronological order. In order to compare the differences, this survey will focus on the following categories: (1) Space parameters: the description and information of the spaces. (2) Space allocation elements: the elements and " forces " that can locate spaces to their proper position. (3) Space-planning methods: the methods that transform the manual space-planning method into a digital process. (4) Representation: the results of these methods and how they are related to architectural design, both two-dimensional and three-dimensional.