CONCEPTUAL COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN TOOLS -

bridging the gap between abstract requirements and
concrete implementation strategies
Important Dates
24 May Submissions due
7 June Notification of acceptance
17 June Revised submissions due
11 July 2010
9h-12h30		 Workshop

Workshop aim:
This workshop aims to explore the challenge of bridging the gap between abstract requirements for conceptual computational design tools derived from insights into design cognition and current or innovative interface technologies. More precisely, we would like to ask two questions:

(1) Are there technologies available today which would be able to satisfy those abstract requirements; and inversely,

(2) In which areas of conceptual design tool requirements are technologies lacking –and what type of technologies might those be?

There has been considerable research and thought expended about affordance requirements for conceptual design tools (Khemlani 2007, Berente et al. 2008, Mueller 2009), as well as about including abstract objects in a model (Monedero 1997, Lyon 2005, Oxman 2006, Seebohm 2007, Iordanova 2008, Attar 2009). However, tools themselves continue to fall short of meeting those requirements most likely based on the constraints of continuous software development, forcing innovation to occur in incremental installments rather than fundamental re-thinking and re-design of software packages or environments (Talbott 2005, Fischer 2007).

The workshop aims to explore the challenge of bridging the gap, based on a slightly expanded set of Berente et al.’s (2008) conceptual design tool requirements (a more detailed version with explanations for each requirement will be distributed to workshop attendees in advance of the workshop):

a. Ease of use.

b. Modeling capabilities.

c. Visualization capabilities.

d. Multiplicity.

e. Flexibility of interface and representation modes, including extensibility.

f. Simultaneity including synchronization and aspects of temporal and spatial traceability.

g. Environment representation providing full context for design activities.

h. Semantics as the capability to express semantic information while providing semantic coherence across the domain.

i. Entity identity as consistent and non-redundant data objects with multiple, unambiguously linked representations.

j. Entity linkages as linkages between entities, and including aspects of both, temporal and spatial, traceability requiring traceable links.

k. Abstract objects.

l. Diagram support.

m. History as an additional criterion, perpendicular to simultaneity and incorporating temporal traceability.

n. (Re)generativity as capability to reconstruct model data for understanding.

While there are overlaps in concepts, requirements (a) through (c) are consciously chosen as explicit requirements because of the conventional wisdom they embody.

Workshop Chairs

Ivanka Iordanova
GRCAO, School of Architecture
Universite de Montreal ivanka.iordanova@videotron.ca

Volker Mueller
Research Director for
Computational Design
Bentley Systems, Incorporated
volker.mueller@bentley.com
Program Committee
Stefan Boeykens
K. U. Leuven, Belgium
Ellen Yi-Luen Do
Georgia Institute of Technology
Scott Chase
Aalborg University, Denmark
Mark Clayton
Texas A&M University
Pierre Côté
Université Laval, Canada
Pierre Leclercq
University of Liege, Belgium
Douglas Noble
University of Southern California
Bauke de Vries
Eindhoven U. T., The Netherlands
Workshop Notes
Download Notes

Workshop format:

The Workshop will start with an introduction from the co-chairs followed by two presentations from participants. It wil proceed with short statements from the participants (4 PPT slides or verbal only), to leave time for a subsequent discussion. The workshop will then split into several small workgroups formed around some of the topics for further development of ideas. Results from these brainstorming sessions will be presented to the workshop plenum and will be used to instigate additional discussions. The workshop will conclude with a summary of major findings.

Submission information:

Workshop applicants are invited to submit abstracts or short papers discussing:

a. Conceptual Computational Design Tools requirements;

b. Methodologies or approaches to “bridging the gap”;

c. Concrete responses to satisfying specific requirements;

d. Closely related topics that will contribute to furthering the workshop’s goal.

Please submit, by e-mail to the Workshop chairs, an abstract (2 pages max.) or a short paper (4 pages max.) in the conference format which is available as PDF and RTF.

Please attach to your e-mail the PDF file with the text, including the title, with no author identification anywhere. Please write the Title and the Authors' information in the e-mail.

The submitted proposals will be blindly reviewed by the Program Committee. Authors will be notified of acceptance and/or conditions for acceptance. Before the final acceptance, you will be asked to fill in a statement that at least one author will register and participate in the Workshop.

Attendees at the workshop need to register either as an addition to the DCC'10 conference registration at a cost of €25, or if not registered for the conference at a cost of €50. Please go the Registration page to register.

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