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It is commonly believed that by involving the user in the design process of his dwelling unit, a higher level of satisfaction could be achieved. Attempts have been made in several countries to include users in the design process of their units using different communication media including computers. However, today computers have been implemented primarily for the use of architects. This study aims at narrowing the architect-user communication gap by using computers in multi-unit housing design. The author reviews past work in user involvement in the design process through the use of computers and the possibility of introducing computers into the North American homebuilding Industry. Through an algorithm the author will demonstrate how the communication process can take place. Two simulations were conducted in order to test the proposed system in a realistic situation. The results of the study suggest that the user is able to make his own decisions, control his budget and satisfy his needs independently within a reasonable amount of time. These results could have further positive impact on the architect, user, building industry and the built environment.

User centered design is a process which aims to understand user needs and desires by using different tools and methods. This is challenging in the industry as companies have different goals compared to the academic discipline of user centered design. As companies have different goals, common UCD methods which are used in the academic field are often not used. Therefore, there is a gap in how UCD is done in practice compared to theory. Designers and user experience specialists must use the tools which are available, capitalize on the opportunity to use existing resources in the organization in order to understand users and their needs. Insights explain the why and the motivation of the consumer or user, and they are less apparent and intangible, hidden truths that result from continuous digging. Insights can be draw from several different sources, from data and qualitative sources. This thesis investigates from what available sources in an organization can insights be generated from in order to understand users and design better experiences, specifically from the organizations perspective. The purpose is not only to understand users but to drive the organization’s objectives and goals. This thesis uses an innovative collaborative workshop methodology, working with digital designers, to answer the research questions and as a result presents an insights generation model. The research has been specifically conducted for an organization, and from their available sources, but the methodology and model creation has the potential to be used in similar settings, domains or projects.

M.Ing. (Engineering Management) / The growing need for customized solutions and faster product delivery obliges the product development industry to develop new strategies that can enable the rapid and flexible design of products. Several design approaches have been developed to address this issue: one such is Knowledge-Based Engineering (KBE), which is a design technique that enables the automation of the design process. This approach consists of using computational intelligence to capture the design rules related to a product family in order to generate automatically customized designs adapted to particular customer requirements. Knowledge-Based Engineering is also used to facilitate the performance of design evaluation activities such as finite element analysis (FEA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as part of multi-disciplinary design optimization (MDO). The application of this approach led to impressive results mostly in the automotive and aeronautical industry. Owing to this method, some companies manage to reduce the duration of the design process by 90%. Despite the excellent results obtained through the use of Knowledge-Based Engineering, there are still very few companies that make use of this approach in their design process. The review of the relevant literature showed that the lack of a standard easy-to-use methodology of implementation is one of the major obstacles to the expansion of Knowledge-Based Engineering. The knowledge processing phase constitutes one of the main challenges of the KBE implementation process. This phase consists of extracting and documenting the knowledge embedded in the design team in order to convert it in a programming code. Available methodologies such as MOKA and KNOMAD do not seem to provide easy-to-use methods to represent the design knowledge in a form that makes it easy to be programmed. The lack of a preliminary stage that justifies the adequacy of KBE for a particular design process is also an important gap identified in the literature.This dissertation discusses a detailed method that addresses issues related to knowledge processing and suitability analysis in KBE implementation. The knowledge processing method suggested is based on the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) which is used widely in the system engineering approach and consists of a very logical classification of the design knowledge. The strength of this method lies in its ability to represent the design knowledge in a form that makes it understandable for both engineers and programmers. Appropriate representation of this sort shortens the duration of the knowledge processing and facilitates the knowledge programming phase. Regarding the rationale for choosing of KBE, a detailed suitability assessment method is proposed.

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The notion of information space (iSpace) is that a collective context of transmitters and receivers can serve as a medium to share, exchange, and apply data and knowledge between a group of human beings or software agents. Inhabiting this space requires a perception of its dimensions, limits, and an understanding of the way data is diffused between inhabitants. One of the important aspects of iSpace is that it expands the limits of communication between distributed designers allowing them to carry out tasks that were very difficult to accomplish with the diverse, but not well integrated current communication technologies. In architecture, design team members, often rely on each others' expertise to review and problem solve design issues as well as interact with each other for critic, and presentations. This process is called Collaborative Design. Applying this process of collaboration to the iSpace to serve as a supplementary medium of communication, rather than a replacement for it, and understanding how design team members can use it to enhance the effectiveness of the design process and increase the efficiency of communication, is the main focus of this research. The first chapter will give an overview of the research and define the objectives and the scope of it as well as giving a background on the evolving technological media in design practice. This chapter will also give a summary of some case studies for collaborative design projects as real examples to introduce the subject. The second chapter of this research will study the collaborative design activities with respect to the creative problem solving, the group behaviour, and the information flow between members. It will also examine the technical and social problems with the distributed collaboration. The third chapter will give a definition of the iSpace and analyze its components (epistemological, utilitarian, and cultural) based on research done by others. It will also study the impact of the iSpace on the design process in general and on the architectural product in particular. The fourth chapter will be describing software programs written as prototypes for this research that allow for realtime and non-realtime collaboration over the internet, tailored specifically to suit the design team use to facilitate distributed collaboration in architecture. These prototypes are : 1. pinUpBoard (realtime shared display board for pin-ups) 2. sketchBoard (realtime whiteboarding application with multisessions) 3. mediaBase (shared database management system) 4. teamCalendar (shared interactive calendar on the internet) 5. talkSpace (organized forums for discussions) / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

Architecture is a spatial reality and, as such, should be designed spatially. Traditional methods of two dimensional design offer limited insight to the nature of the built project. By designing a project in three dimensions from its inception, an architect comes closer to the actuality of the building. This thesis addresses the possibilities and realities of three dimensional computer aided design. Radical changes in computer technology have made interactive three dimensional design possible. Clusters of processing units acting in parallel offer unprecedented flexibility and computing power. New methods of input such as voice and gesture activation are allowing greater flexibility of input. The future of three dimensional computer aided design points to higher resolution displays, holographic imaging, and spatial object manipulation. The vehicle for this architectural thesis is a computer research facility; The National Institute for Advanced Media. The project addresses the demands that new computer technologies place on architecture. It also offers a direction for designing with these new technologies. This thesis contains an analysis of the architectural project, a complete description of the architectural process, and a summary of all software packages considered. The Apple Macintosh IIfx was chosen as the hardware platform for this investigation because of its object oriented graphical environment and for its advanced multimedia capabilities. / Master of Architecture

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This research is devoted to the development of a multiobjective facility layout creation methodology. This methodology seeks to extend the scope of existing computerized and manual layout creation methods by capturing a greater level of both intuitive and quantitative inputs in a method applicable for moderate to large-scale problems. To do this, an extended theoretical basis for decision theoretic models applicable to layout design is described. Using these models as an evaluation basis, a new optimizing layout creation strategy is developed and a decision support system for its implementation is presented. The new layout creation method is computationally attractive, and based on extensive computational experience, is found to give better solutions than those generated by CORELAP. / Ph. D. / incomplete_metadata

The personal computer is rapidly finding its way into the architectural working environment, at this time however it is used mostly as a drafting tool. This thesis is an investigation into programming that would allow the computer to become a design tool. The issues that are dealt with in this thesis include an easy to use user interface that will not inhibit the design process, and develop a system that will allow design changes and additions to a model in a three dimensional sketch like ability. Three dimensional models of paper, clay, wood and other materials have been used to create designs, and aid the designer in making decisions. This type of medium is difficult to make changes, and because of the scale of such materials it becomes difficult to work on interior spaces, thus more attention is usually placed on the exterior design. With the use of the computer these limitations may be eliminated, and the designer may create a design from any perspective or view point. / Master of Architecture