Automation in Construction 12 (2003) 661 670

www.elsevier.com/locate/autcon

Preliminary stages of CAAD education

Earl Mark a,*, Bob Martens b, Rivka Oxman c
a
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
b
Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
c
Technion Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

Abstract

According to the Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europes (eCAADe) mission,
exchange and collaboration within the area of CAAD education and research, respecting the pedagogical and administrative
approaches in the different schools and countries, can be regarded as a core activity. The following paper reports on some of the
pedagogical issues that have been derived from a preliminary review and roundtable participants experiences with CAAD
curricula. This review reflects discussions that were held at the eCAADe 2002 conference in Warsaw (Poland) and also follows
up on two earlier discussions held at eCAADe 2001 and eCAADe 2000.
D 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Keywords: Architectural school; Curriculum; Computer-based design methods; Pedagogical strategy

1. Introduction Some specific subject areas were defined at the

second session titled The Ideal Computer Curricu-
The primary objective of the 2002 plenary ses- lum at the eCAADe 2001 conference [1] in Helsinki.
sion on The Ideal Computer Curriculum in In particular, an educational framework was intro-
Warsaw, Poland was to expand upon the first duced in which subject areas were categorized accord-
roundtable discussion held at Education and Re- ing to three levels in the shape of a pyramid. The first
search in Computer Aided Architectural Design in base level of the pyramid was entitled Digital Design
Europe (eCAADe) 2000 in Weimar, Germany and Media. This base level covered a broad set of
also a follow-up session that was held at eCAADe computer-based design applications at an introductory
2001 in Helsinki, Finland. The aim of the eCAADe level, including interactive communications (web
2002 session in Poland was to engage participants page development), geometrical modeling, digital
in a less scripted and more active discussion, image processing, and mixed media productions that
limited at the beginning to short opening statements involve the use of digital video, scanning, and output
in order to ensure time for exchanging viewpoints media. Higher levels within the pyramid referred to
with conference attendees. more advanced subject areas. The eCAADe 2001
conference was followed by a first round of written
statements developed in response to the proposed
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (E. Mark),
educational framework. These statements served as
[email protected] (B. Martens), background for the plenary session at eCAADe 2002.
[email protected] (R. Oxman). The eCAADe 2002 plenary session itself provided the

0926-5805/$ - see front matter D 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.

doi:10.1016/S0926-5805(03)00045-1
662 E. Mark et al. / Automation in Construction 12 (2003) 661670

second round of discussion in which further inves- puter in conjunction with or instead of nondigital
tigation and more viewpoints were explored. This methods.
second round is reported in detail here.
2.1.1. Prior knowledge
The first hurdle in teaching incoming students is to
2. The first round of position statements ensure that they have a basic level of computing skills
responding to eCAADe 2001 and good habits. Students enter the university these
days with significant computing experience, but de-
The following section presents a set of issues that spite possible claims to the contrary are often still
were raised in written statements in addressing the lacking certain basic IT skills. Optional bridging
current educational framework. The preparatory stage classes are good ways to ensure basic competency;
of design education was defined by Chase and Pentilla university IT classes can be customized to ensure
as a significant topic. They related the preparatory stage relevance to an architecture curriculum. One benefit
to the larger framework of a complete educational of a bridging class is that it can introduce good
program. Other issues related to the significance of computing habits, e.g., proper backup procedures.
the activity in the design studio and its relation to the
total curricula were raised by Kvan and Schnabel. 2.1.2. Integration
According to their view, the culture of the design studio Integration is the buzzword for developing new
is becoming increasingly digital. However, it does not CAAD curricula. Given traditional architectural ped-
mean that the studio is the ultimate venue for true agogy, implementation can be difficult. A key goal is
innovation in all media, therefore, it is important to to enable the students to see the relevance of com-
understand how the emerging context in the design puting to their design process, and to ensure that it is
studio may change the focus and the goals of more utilized properly. This requires
specific computer-aided design research and technol-
ogy courses. Is CAAD as a distinct topic of inquiry  active participation of computing teaching staff
fading in significance as it becomes mainstream? What throughout the curriculum, especially in design
are the challenges in design education that may neces- studios;
sitate some degree of specialization in order to push the  an understanding by design tutors of the potential
state of the art? of computing in design and a willingness to
actively lead students down this path;
2.1. Statement: pedagogical issues for first year  recognition of the considerable changes that may
architectural design computing [Scott Chase] need to occur in a studio curriculum, e.g., the
introduction of short design exercises that simulta-
First year students come to the university with a neously develop both computing and design skills
wide range of backgrounds, skills, and expectations. and knowledge;
An introductory curriculum should cater to and shape  greater support in preliminary stages of teaching,
this variety, allowing students to achieve a basic level when students are unclear about new technology
of computing skill and knowledge while still allowing and its application to a discipline with which they
potential advanced exploration by are unfamiliar.

 ensuring a basic level of computing skill; 2.1.3. Results

 replacing bad computing practices with good ones; By the end of the preliminary stages of learning,
 demonstrating the potential of computing tools for computer use should be engrained in the students
design; everyday working patterns. This includes
 encouraging a considered approach to the use of
computing tools;  design exploration;
 providing an appreciation and understanding of  presentation (e.g. image processing, word process-
the benefits and difficulties in using the com- ing, web, paper);
 E. Mark et al. / Automation in Construction 12 (2003) 661670 663

 communication (e.g. email, discussion boards, tion can be minimized. The penalties of teaching in
assignment submission). this mode, however, are not considered and should
be articulated.
In summary, the first year curriculum should show
the students the possibilities of design computing, 2.3. Statement: adapting architectural computing into
teach good computing practices, and offer a broad preliminary stages of architectural educationa few
base from which to build upon. common dilemmas and a few proposed solutions to
them [Hannu Penttila]
2.2. Statement: skill-based or knowledge-centered:
which approach to teaching CAAD? [Tom Kvan] 2.3.1. Check students skill level

There are two frameworks for teaching observed in  Do not waste time in teaching word processing,
schools of architecture. The most distinctive mode of email, or hardware architecture to all first year
architectural education is the well-established tradi- studentsbasic IT literacy and skills will be more
tion of project-based teaching in the studio. This and more common knowledge;
method of teaching reflects the nature of practice  Offer optional IT-basics info for those who need it;
where the business of architecture revolves around  Target your teaching resources to essential archi-
the delivery of design in a project setting. This task- tectural design education with the new media.
focused process is well suited to building tacit knowl-
edge, the knowledge of doing and action. In contrast, 2.3.2. Avoid overemphasized and misleading IT
CAAD teaching typically focuses on skill building expertise
and is taught independently of action. CAAD classes
are set up to teach geometrical modeling, digital  Early IT expertise with no architectural under-
image processing, and the use of digital video, scan- standing tends to lead the architectural students
ning and output media. This is paralleled in other easily to non-design activities, such as general IT
skill-teaching schools that offer such as classes in life and CAAD-maintenance work;
drawing, drafting, and model making.  First year students, especially from elementary
Is CAAD teaching skill building or should we schools, are very open to whatever ideas given by
consider it as an action-based activity? I would argue their tutors, hence, start immediately with architec-
that the skill-focused means of teaching is detrimental tural tradition.
to the development of appropriate skills and attitudes
in CAAD application. Since skills are acquirable by 2.3.3. Start teaching CAAD immediately with archi-
most people through repetitive practice, the value of tectural design problems
these skills is relatively low. This mode of teaching
reinforces the perception that CAAD is a technique  Never ever start courses with CAD-system specific
and tool that is separate from architecture. Practice technical facts;
reflects this by setting up CAAD departments of  Do not underestimate students ability to search for
digital draftsmen. Discourse in architecture reflects technical solutions independently;
this in the distinction between designers and computer  Students teach minor keyboard skills to each other.
users. In all, the attitude hinders development of
digital exploration of architecture. 2.3.4. Teach the teachers
To overcome this, we need to frame all teaching
of CAAD as knowledge building, not skill building.  Architectural students seem to know CAD tools
So, in the tradition of our teaching, this means and gadgets better than their design tutorsa
teaching in project-centered activities. Clearly, there constantly growing dilemma;
are advantages in the skill-centered approach. Ac-  Low CAD expertise of tutors leads to controversial
cess to expensive and scarce resources can be classroom situations: tutors manage the content but
managed; the repetitive nature of command instruc- not the tool to work with;
664 E. Mark et al. / Automation in Construction 12 (2003) 661670

 Organize separate workshops for new media Consequently, CAAD education has to stimulate
essentials, such as CAD basics and web publishing, interest in architectural design and, more importantly,
for design teachers; establish a mechanism to control and enhance the
 Digital tips and tricks can easily be taught in few- quality of the architectural design produced with the
hour intensive sessions; help of digital media. At HKU, we realized that the
 Your less digitally conscious colleagues tend to direct and instantaneous translation of idea to form
have a high motivation in learning the digital tools. plays a key role in the education and development of
architectural design. 3D-Modellers, 3D-Scanners, Vir-
2.3.5. Create CAAD facilities that support teamwork tual Environments and Rapid Prototyping are used to
aid both students and teachers in exploring and
 CAD is often taught in large, hierarchically studying architectural creativity in a way that enables
organized classroom suitable for mass education; a deeper involvement into design issues. These design
 Organize also smaller-scale design studio facilities techniques with direct cause-impact-circles give enor-
and architectural workgroup cells equipped with mous motivation to students. Since production time
CAAD facilities. and cost are fairly eliminated, students do not become
too attached to a design, which is the outcome of long
2.3.6. Distribute and adapt CAAD education to training of particular IT applications, modeling, and
traditional architectural education production.
Working with multimedia systems is based on the
 CAAD education should be taught during the creativity of design ideas and the skill to combine
whole span of architectural education; different (traditional or digital) applications to create
 Integrate CAAD education into architectural cur- and transform design. Education must provide the
ricula; right incentives to students to engage in independent
 IT and CAAD education should be taught by all experimenting and as a result in self-learning. Differ-
architectural professors; ences in IT skills of students and teachers level out
 In fact, digital is currently already very through the students engagement using multimedia
traditional. tools in different disciplines and design contexts.
Vertical studios, which make use of IT, challenge
2.4. Statement: motivation and stimuli [Marc Aurel and engage students to acquire new techniques and
Schnabel] skills.
We do not teach CAAD but tie digital media
Students entering The University of Hong Kong together with other areas of the curriculum and
(HKU) already own powerful computers with CAAD discipline: visual communication techniques, prece-
software. The whole campus of HKU and its peripher- dent studies, kit-of-parts design, collaboration with
ies are networked either wirelessly or with high-speed engineers, etc. In other words, digital architectural
network connections. Lecture notes, assignments, and education is dependent on the stimulation and crea-
tutorials are typically on-line. Digital communication, tivity of students and teachers rather than on hard- or
working within multimedia and mobile environments software or the teaching of those.
is for most Hong Kong students a common practice.
The learning or teaching of any form of digital media
must therefore reflect the expertise that students al- 3. The second round at eCAADe 2002
ready have before they receive an architectural educa-
tion. In many cases, students do not require long At the beginning of the roundtable, Earl Mark,
training in the operation of software. Even complex University of Virginia, noted that the eCAADe orga-
3D thinking is widely acquired through, e.g., interac- nization is moving into its third decade. During its
tive 3D games. The availability and ease-to-use of history, there has been a perceptible shift in architec-
software give students the chance to explore more in tural design toward computing. The proliferation of
less time without supervision than ever before. technology in modeling and rendering has led to a
 E. Mark et al. / Automation in Construction 12 (2003) 661670 665

more visible presence of computer work in schools than according to substantive advances in design
and in practice. Yet, underlying all this change, it is methods, inquiry, and theory. The roundtable discus-
still open to question if and how the conceptual basis sion addressed the general condition in education
for design processes in architecture has changed from from a wide range of perspectives.
those of more traditional design media. For example,
among general design faculty, in design visualization 3.1. Establishing a common foundation
there seems to be a growing use of computer models
as a substitute for or supplement to traditional models. Scott Chase, University of Strathclyde, began by
However, these computer models may still be thought addressing the need to ensure a basic level of com-
of in traditional modeling terms, an assembly of single puter skills and noted that students are very diverse in
and nonmutable objects, where each one is change- their distinct educational backgrounds. He also noted
able by replacement rather than by more abstract that schools still need to provide optional courses in
algorithmic modification. In a similar way, the har- order to allow those students who do not have basic IT
nessing of computer numerical control (CNC) routing, skills (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.) to get up to
milling, and laser cutting technology to computers in speed. Chase further noted that integrated computer-
studio has resulted in a more facile way of making related curricula are becoming common at the early
some physical models over traditional methods, but stages of a design program, and yet integration is a
has not necessarily led to a qualitatively different difficult goal to reach. Getting design tutors up to
exploration of physical models in all cases. speed on what digital design tools can contribute is a
More generally, it was noted in the roundtable constraint to studio success. In his own institution, he
discussion that young design students can be seduced found that independent shorter exercises rather than
by the speed and productive capacity of computing to large design projects are a better vehicle for introduc-
provide quick perspectives and complex geometry, a ing computing tools. One especially productive ap-
somewhat poor substitute at times for the cognitively proach is to introduce the tools in the context of
rich and tectonic process of realizing drawings and communicating design issues through electronic me-
models strictly by hand. These approaches may fall dia. Exploration, presentation, and communication are
short of a more complete potential of adapting com- the three areas in which a student should be competent
puter-based logical process to design. For example, as by the end of the first year. By the third year, students
MIT PhD student Ivan Sutherland demonstrated in the should be expected to use computer-based tools
very first CAD system in 1963, a computer model can fluidly. Workshops may be offered at that point to
allow for scale variation, the nesting of instances of supply additional skills but not as a substitute for
modular geometry, and placing constraints on geo- continuous exposure beginning with the first year.
metrical relationships, but these paradigms of use Chase also argued that basic computer habits need
seem to have advanced in only a minor number of to be formed in the first year so that the students are in
design studios. While many schools may have rightly the right frame of mind to get on to further design
identified the need to train students in computer-based experiences in later years. Thomas Kvan, University
visualization methods to keep pace with the changing of Hong Kong, questioned the ongoing utility of
world of practice, the substitution of a computer teaching areas of CAAD that are continually expand-
media for more traditional media may have occurred ing. There are many traditions in architecture that
in a relatively conservative context, not necessarily need to be respected. For example, does the teaching
encouraging of uses that challenge the prevailing of CAAD have any greater right to a place in the
nature of design processes in studio, or that focus curriculum than an extra class in materials, weath-
on new exploration, or that engage the paradigms that erproofing, or structures? Kvan also cited Joseph
are being cited in research, such as presented at Gumnut who in 1944 noted that a proper architecture
eCAADe and its sister organizations in North Amer- curriculum needs 25 years. Today, suggested Kvan,
ica, South America, and Asia. There is a danger that we probably need 45 years to teach all we hope to
progress is being measured superficially in terms of convey to a student. A central problem to educational
the prevalence of computer-related material rather programs is how to make room for computer-related
666 E. Mark et al. / Automation in Construction 12 (2003) 661670

technology and at the same time not displace time- information and difficulty with consistency in the
honored parts of the curriculum. Hannu Penttila, transfer of knowledge. The technology and our use of
Helsinki University of Technology, suggested that it should continually be focused on the primary objec-
with teaching CAAD as we know it will disappear. tive of supporting design, that is, a well-established
Will it happen fast? Penttila speculated probably not. notion of computing priorities might have influence on
In the longer term, the goal of a teacher is perhaps to how technologies evolve and are used. Jakimowicz
make their teaching of a subject redundant, to get also offered that reuse in design is essential and
knowledge into the mainstream so that there is no provides a distinct opportunity for computing.
longer a particular importance for continued emphasis
on the same area of knowledge. He also noted that it 3.3. The challenge of teaching computer-based
would be difficult to rationalize a singular curriculum methods
for teaching CAAD given the range of approaches
relative to educational institutions, their pedagogy, Bob Martens, Vienna University of Technology,
and the internal dynamics of their course offerings. recalled a keynote address by Guillermo Vasquez de
Velasco, Texas A&M University, at eCAADe 2001 in
3.2. Considering the changing perception of com- Helsinki. Vasquez de Velasco had suggested that hand
puters in society drawing is demanding of enlightening effort. Design is
in a traditional sense the process of taking hand
Marc Schnabel, University of Hong Kong, stated drawing to public life. At the current roundtable,
that computing seems to have arrived with unusual Vasquez de Velasco added that we need to remember
force, and that teaching appears to have followed the whole dynamic process and not focus on one step.
technology while technology evolved rapidly. Students Different schools have embraced computing at differ-
arrive today with considerable sophistication from ent times depending on their phase of change. eCAADe
watching TV, films, and other sources. Competing with may have a role in leadership but seeing a CAD
their expectations and focusing on more fundamental curriculum as critical to curricula and the world of
concepts become tricky in a setting were the media can computing is obsolete. Pervasive computing is here,
be seductive. At the same time, Schnabel noted in his and so pervasive applications in design are becoming
experience that peer teaching is highly effective for essential and need to be understood from a broader
bringing students up to speed on technology in an perspective. Earl Mark speculated that our educational
appropriately critical way. He argued that we need to culture has in many instances adopted not design
set up an environment that stimulates students to learn computing but geometrical modeling and visualization,
themselves, and also find a way to reward such self- and there is a great distinction. Geometrical modeling
learning. We currently have new technologies that are and visualization are but one visible aspect of design
opening up new modes of communication that can be computing. Schools may have in a sense latched on to a
integrated into the curriculum. This allows focus on the relatively trite aspect the technology, called it CAD,
central concepts underlying technology and permits us and incorporated it into the curriculum. Yet, the broader
to reduce time spent on some of the transitory and world of computer-aided design is hardly limited to a
mundane steps required to use the tools. Adam Jaki- particular visualization paradigm, and the potential lies
mowicz, Technical University Bialystock (Poland), well outside the context of a computer itself as a self-
suggested that the computer is a not just a work station contained tool. Chase returned to the theme of what
but rather constitutes a work environment for the students are predisposed to in the years prior to entering
architect. It therefore must be immersed with a variety the university and their preexisting exposure in the
of other tools such that moving from paper to digital culture around them. He suggested that the students
media becomes an integral part of design activity. come in with knowledge of the tools but not necessarily
Jakimowicz called for developing a strong discriminat- a sense of how to use them in design. He believes we
ing sense on good computing as a way of using the need to reorient them to use the tools for design in the
computer more holistically. For example, computer same sense that we need to reorient them on how to use
data proliferation is bad habit that results in lost a pencil for design even with their longstanding knowl-
 E. Mark et al. / Automation in Construction 12 (2003) 661670 667

edge of the tool. Martens pointed out that at Vienna ing of 3D space. The Italian scholar Sebastiano Serlio
University of Technology roughly 50 years ago, the in his famous book on geometry discussed learning
study guide was but three pages long. From our from the flowers of Euclidian geometry as a means
perspective today, the concept of architectural training to thinking in 3D space. Similarly, the authors of a more
back then seemed relatively simple. Today, with all the recent book on descriptive geometry used through the
technology and subjects areas added over the past 50 late 1940s (Kenison and Bradley, Descriptive Geome-
years, it would seem that any guide needs to be at least try, published 1914), emphasized that it furthered our
multiple times as many pages long. Still, not everything understanding of size and proportion. We can see
in the past was so simple or can be so easily pigeon- where highly automated computer visualization may
holed. For example, in a few universities today, we still undermine these skills through removing the need for
teach descriptive geometry but it is gone in most intimate hand eye exercises, or on the other hand,
schools. We need to take more discriminating and provide an opportunity to reengage them. As we revisit
integrative steps rather than additive approaches. the curricula, we can take on an approach that revital-
izes as much as it may potentially displace.
3.4. Higher-level CAAD education and design theory
3.5. Models of teaching
Rivka Oxman, Technion Institute of Technology,
suggested that our role as educators is not a simple Schnabel raised the question of how to characterize
choice of either teaching skills or teaching design and good teaching. Students know the difference between
architecture. We must combine the two. We must teach good and bad teaching, and they also seem to have a
students how to explore representational paradigms sense of what may be deserving of a good grade in their
that will challenge old ways in design thinking, from own work. Schnabel suggested that the students abil-
concept to completion. The question she has raised is ities to discriminate means that they can be motivated
whether the pedagogical criterion for a good design to explore and refine according to their own developing
teacher today is all that different than before. At the self-standards. We get the best results from students not
same time, having new more powerful tools allows us simply by training them in skills but rather by leading
to change the way we think and teach. We can not them to rely upon their own evolving good sense in
return to previous ways of teaching since the profession exploration. Similarly, the more enlightened use of
shows us that there are different ways of exploiting the computers in practice shows us that exploration leads
new media to arrive at new designs. New ways for to the most promising new design opportunities. Kvan
thinking about design should be integrated and reex- discussed the role of architecture as knowledge. He
amined in parallel to the exploration of new technology postulated that we could view the way we teach as
and digital means. This suggests a broadening view for knowledge gathering and manipulation. We seem at
educating the thinking eye of the designer, that is times stuck in the neoclassical world of fixed cannons.
reflecting the way visual design presentations can be This could be a major roadblock to architectural edu-
perceived in digital media [2]. Earl Mark noted that cation as a process of exploration. Jakimowicz sug-
over the longer term, changes have been continually gested that the problem of design is at times treated as
made to the curriculum that have had little to do with one that can be handed down. We have as colleagues
computing. The elimination of descriptive geometry the first obligation to train students to be the masters.
was a loss since it removed a way of seeing. This is a We cannot give this authority to students and still be
loss that occurred well before the arrival of CAD, and arrogant masters of the field.
so it raises more general issues about curriculum
change than those raised by computing alone. We can 3.6. Consistency in design value systems
look retrospectively at a range of subject areas that are
no longer present and wonder if this one or that one Marc Muylle, Higher Institute of Architectural
could not reappear. Note for example that descriptive Sciences at Antwerp, observed that if design teachers
geometry was not merely a tool to be employed in the are not familiar with the potential of the tools then
service of design but rather it enhanced our understand- they cannot teach the students to be creative in
668 E. Mark et al. / Automation in Construction 12 (2003) 661670

applying them. We have also a bad habit, he said, of (CAAI). The distinction has softened. Perhaps, this
changing the curriculum every 3 years. Further still, means we are moving beyond tools to more general
we try to squeeze hours out of some subjects and add emphasis on knowledge and a better sense of the
in new classes. Students as a result lose other skills adequate use of resources. The act of making things
such as sketching. We have changed our admission by hand and physically is different than just assembling
criteria to reflect these changes to such a degree that a digital model. Still, Jakimowicz suggested that the
we now admit students with less strength in commu- way we were taught architecture may not be the right
nication skills such as sketching. Whereas at one time, way to teach today. The new tools offer new opportu-
sketching ability used to be required, it is no longer nities. It should not be assumed that emulating the old
needed. While we see CAD as a tool to be a medium tools and their related method is better. Schnabel
of representation, it too will become obsolete unless concluded that how you teach the students to explore
we change the ways we perceive the tool. It will the tools is the key. New tools come along (such as
perhaps only then have a new purpose. Per Korte- photography) and offer challenges to our teaching. We
gaard, Aarhus School of Architecture, added that we should then challenge the students to independently
should also focus our processes of representation on investigate ways to use them.
good architecture. We should note that communica-
tion is important, and that sketching is an important 3.8. Further notes on exploration context for design
part of communication. But sketching is not a discon-
nected activity to seeing. Rather, the act of sketching Tom Maver, University of Strathclyde, offered his
informs design. Changing scale and redrawing leads sense that Rapid Prototyping serves most directly as a
us to make decisions. Light and proportions must be tool for exploration. He cited a speech by Frank Gehry
examined and this can happen through sketching. Yet, at RIBA on how information technology (IT) is now
at computer and design conferences, students do not giving architects back the control of architecture in
necessarily deal with all the aspects of architecture. terms of direct access to fabrication. Chase pushed for
We do not typically show good architecture at these more complete integration throughout design process-
conferences but we seem to instead focus on the es as the key. We must change the way we teach
computer models as finalized objects. To get beyond architecture to fully make the connection with poten-
this, we must encourage variation in modes of repre- tials of IT. Penttila cautioned that we cannot avoid
sentation with larger objectives in mind. Producing teaching the tools but we must nevertheless get back
drawings is not a fragmented step in the purpose of to the basics of relating them to our design intentions.
learning architecture. Once students purchase their Kvan gave the broad view that architecture is exciting,
own tools they need to integrate the tools into the a medium for integrating many disciplines, including
design process. When the tools are isolated in their but not limited to computing. It is a reason many of us
exploration, the integration does not take place. To came to the discipline. Computing is but one of many
help them we must focus on the investigation of technologies we have come to embrace. Mark sug-
relevant problems with these tools. gested that problem definition is general to our
perception of architecture. Identify the problems to
3.7. Design intentions and media be solved in design and consider what tools we use in
the context of an exploration of the problems. CAD is
Martens wondered if Rapid Prototyping is not not a distinct technology in this sense.
untypical of new technology that might be used to The roundtable discussion was summarized by
change the way we consider architecture. Schnabel Oxman as a need for Schools to come to terms with
observed that the past models could be built by hand the following three issues:
and this physical form informed the student. Digital
models until recently did not. Rapid Prototyping gets 1. School philosophydoes it separate or integrate
beyond this limitation. Vasquez de Velasco suggested the curriculum?
that in the past, there was clear distinction between 2. Design philosophyis it bound by the traditional
CAAD and Computer Aided Architectural Instruction or admit to changing approaches?
 E. Mark et al. / Automation in Construction 12 (2003) 661670 669

3. Pedagogical philosophydo we view architecture in curricula. Yet, within the different contexts, some
as building or architecture as design (e.g., knowl- common questions about what is necessary to ensure
edge, cognitive process, ideas)? that computer-aided design related to design knowl-
edge is engaged in substantive and potentially more
enlightened ways. Encouraging open exploration is
4. Conclusions well established within the tradition of design and its
appropriateness to harnessing new technology is
The roundtable discussion at the eCAADe 2002 reassuring. Corbusier proposed his own modular on
Annual Conference in Warsaw examined the state of a take it or leave it basis. It was a technology that
computer-aided design in the curriculum relative to its would be validated or invalidated by exploration and
history and early expectations in the discipline. Schools relevance in the service of Per Kortegaards good
of Architecture in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and architecture.
North America were represented by the various partic-
ipants in the discussion. Most of the participants have
agreed that the use of computers in design school 5. Uncited references
curricula is no longer a unique or novel condition.
Yet, perceptions varied regarding the evolving place of [3]
computers and their influence on the culture of the [4]
design schools. Some common assumptions seem to be
held among the participants in the discussion:
Acknowledgements
o 3D modeling has the potential to be adapted in a
more thoughtful way than might be otherwise The session was initially proposed and organized
envisioned as a basic design tool. by Earl Mark, Bob Martens, and Rivka Oxman, with
o Curricula are becoming increasingly packed with contributing written position statements by Scott C.
requirements leaving little room for expansion and Chase, University of Strathclyde (UK), Thomas Kvan
innovation that affects the inclusion of new (University of Hong Kong), Hannu Penttila (Helsinki
computer-related subjects. University of Technology), and Marc Schnabel
o The computer is a part of the continuum of design (University of Hong Kong). The roundtable session
media, and its role as a physical modeling and was not recorded other than through the note taking
paper-based media should be extended. by Thomas Kvan. Earl Mark served as a correspond-
o Design teachers are in general still backward in their ing author for this paper on The second round at
assessment of the technology and its role in the eCAADe 2002. It would be difficult to catch the entire
curriculum, working in the conceptual framework flow of discussion and not every comment is included
of traditional media rather than exploring a chang- here, as in the normal course of conversation there are
ing conceptual basis for design. inconsistencies and tangents that might detract from a
o Integration of computer use in education must be coherent report. Participants comments here are
addressed each year in the pathway of a student paraphrased rather than quoted, with apologies in
moving through the design curriculum. advance with respect to any person not correctly
reflected.
While the state of practice in education is not an
entrenched position, there may be still a suspicion of
computer-mediated processes. This is especially true References
where some level of abstraction passes beyond the level
of concrete visualization that can take form in the [1] E. Mark, B. Martens, R. Oxman, The Ideal Computer Curric-
ulum, Architectural Information Management (eCAADe-Con-
minds eye of the designer. ference Proceedings), Helsinki (Finland), Helsinki University
Participants agreed that differences in local culture of Technology, Otamedia Oy, Espoo, 2001, pp. 168 175.
and context contribute to different views of computers [2] R. Oxman, The Thinking Eye: Visual Re-Cognition in Design
670 E. Mark et al. / Automation in Construction 12 (2003) 661670

Emergence, Design Studies, The International Journal for De- Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar (Germany), VDG Wiemar, 2000,
sign Research in Engineering, Architecture, Products and Sys- pp. 77 83.
tems vol. 23, Elsevier, 2002, pp. 135 164. [4] B.-J. Novitski (Ed.), Integrating Computers into the Architec-
[3] E. Mark, A Prospectus on Computers Throughout the Curricu- tural Curriculum, ACADIA Conference Proceedings, 1987.
lum, Promise and Reality (eCAADe Conference Proceedings),