From: ccav38@ccsun.strath.ac.uk ("I.Ballouz")
Subject: Re: CAD Experience (was - Re: Cognitive Dissonance)
Organization: University of Strathclyde
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 11:53:17 GMT

In article <30SEP199210144372@rigel.tamu.edu> jma1128@rigel.tamu.edu (Jason) writes:
>>In article <1992Sep29.203607.28927@athena.mit.edu> jjgwynn@athena.mit.edu (Joel J Gwynn) writes:

>I think you have a totally poor approach to the teaching oc CAD. Do you not
>realize that many firms (and I will be happy to provide at least 100 names
>you can contact) today design a building totally on CAD. Many architects that I
>personally know do not use the "pencil and paper" anymore because it is being
>phased out as a thing of the past. Who wants to do drawings, have them changed
>and have to redraw the building, when CAD makes this process very simple. I

This is intresting, can you tell us more about these companies and how they 
proceed with their design since the start and to the end?
I am intrested in the manner they create the concept and then proceed in 
developing it? What kind of hardware and software are they using in the early
design stages? 
What I would like to know is whether they have developed a new methodology for
the design with the help of computers or they are just using the computers as
the new "pencil and paper"?

>know of many firms that will not even hire an architect (reguardless of degree)
>without CAD experience. They flat out say "NO CAD, NO JOB". I think it is a
>great service of architectural schools to teach CAD. If not, as you say, then
>are you implementing that when no one uses pencil and paper anymore that we
>should still learn the old antique style of design when the rest of the world
>is using CAD. I don't know about the program you are in, but at Texas A&M (one

I am as much enthusiastic about CAAD as yourself but we should remember that
all the great buildings we know about were designed without the help of CAAD.
So it is not that easy to dismiss the "pencil and paper" as an antique style!
Until now, most of the companies use CAAD systems because they can have more
benefits commercially and to project an impressive image. A small number of
companies are using them for their values and their capabilities.
Further, here we have a unit that has specialized in the use of computers in
design since the idea of CAAD was first surfaced. Yet when you see the students
work, you'll notice that not many of them use the computers to help them.
Few use the computers to visualize the design (that's after all the designing
has been done in a tradtional fashion).

>of the largest programs in the country) we not only get classes in CAD, but if
>one wishes, you can proceed to classes in visualization - where you do the
>drawings on the computer that you can walk through and see what the final
>project is before a single stud is placed. So it is obvious to see the 
>direction the profession is going, and I think you need to move in that
>direction.
>
Of course these applications are important to give us an idea about what we had
already designed, but ultimately we want systems that help REALLY in the
design itself. I agree that computers is having a great impact on the 
profession but I believe that we don't yet have what we really want.

>Jason Adams
>Vice President, Texas A&M A.I.A.S.
>
I. Ballouz
Student, architecture department. Strathclyde University



-- 
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* IBRAHIM BALLOUZ            **           DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE          *
* ccav38@uk.ac.strath.ccsun  **  STRATHCLYDE UNIVERSITY GLASGOW SCOTLAND U.K. *
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