Chunks, lines, and strategies: A three-component representation to capture and exchange architects' design processes

Jonas Lindekens, Ann Heylighen
2008 Artificial intelligence for engineering design, analysis and manufacturing  
In architecture, few consistent mechanisms exist to record and explore the insights and arguments developed during design, let alone to extend their potential reach. Nevertheless, some recent initiatives suggest that there is a need for systematic documentation and exchange. A case in point is Building Stories, a methodology to capture and explore real-world design processes through storytelling (Martin et al. 2005) , or the Advanced Design Support project, a decision support system for
more » ... g histories of design processes for collaborative building design (Cerulli et al. 2001 ). These initiatives, however, are little more than isolated pilot efforts, which sharply contrast with widespread mechanisms in other design domains (Gamma et al. 1995) . This contrast motivated our attempt to capture and exchange the arguments and rationale architects develop while designing. Through think aloud protocol analysis we first observed in detail the design activity of three architects during a two-hour design session. Analysing the protocols revealed that architects use three mechanisms in constructing arguments for design solutions:
doi:10.1017/s0890060408000267 fatcat:ro5ou3tn3zhurps5soe6nqmqmu