Design agents and the need for high-dimensional perception

Designed artefacts may be quantified by any number of measures. This paper aims to show that in doing so, the particular measures used may matter very little, but as many as possible should be taken. A set of building plans is used to demonstrate that arbitrary measures of their shape serve to classify them into neighbourhood types, and the accuracy of classification increases as more are used, even if the dimensionality of the space in which classification occurs is held constant. It is further shown that two autonomous agents may independently choose sets of attributes by which to represent the buildings, but arrive at similar judgements as more are used. This has several implications for studying or simulating design. It suggests that quantitative studies of collections of artefacts may be made without requiring extensive knowledge of the best possible measures—often impossible in real, ill-defined, design situations. It suggests a means by which the generation of novelty can be explained in a group of agents with different ways of seeing a given event. It also suggests that communication can occur without the need for predetermined codes or protocols, introducing the possibility of alternative human-computer interfaces that may be useful in design

Shape interpretation with design computing

How information is interpreted has significant impact on how it can be used. This is particularly important in design where information from a wide variety of sources is used in a wide variety of contexts and in a wide variety of ways. This paper is concerned with the information that is created, modified and analysed during design processes, specifically with the information that is represented in shapes. It investigates how design computing seeks to support these processes, and the difficulties that arise when it is necessary to consider alternative interpretations of shape. The aim is to establish the problem of shape interpretation as a general challenge for research in design computing, rather than a difficulty that is to be overcome within specific processes. Shape interpretations are common characteristics of several areas of enquiry in design computing. This paper reviews these, brings an integrated perspective and draws conclusions about how this underlying process can be supported

Nutzerinteraktion bei der computergestützten Generierung von Layouts

Das vorliegende Arbeitspapier beschäftigt sich mit der Thematik der Nutzerinteraktion bei computerbasierten generativen Systemen. Zunächst wird erläutert, warum es notwendig ist, den Nutzer eines solchen Systems in den Generierungsprozess zu involvieren. Darauf aufbauend werden Anforderungen an ein interaktives generatives System formuliert. Anhand eines Systems zur Generierung von Layouts werden Methoden diskutiert, um diesen Anforderungen gerecht zu werden. Es wird gezeigt, dass sich insbesondere evolutionäre Algorithmen für ein interaktives entwurfsunterstützendes System eignen. Es wird kurz beschrieben, wie sich Layoutprobleme durch eine evolutionäre Strategie lösen lassen. Abschließend werden Fragen bezüglich der grafischen Darstellung von Layoutlösungen und der Interaktion mit dem Dargestellten diskutiert