|  | October 31, 2001 Design Machine shows off new toolsDesign Machine Group is pushing the boundaries of computer-aided design, setting a new standard for collaboration in the virtual reality environment. By SAM BENNETT
Working with the Architecture Machine Group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1970s, Mark Gross watched first-hand as computer-aided design (CAD) programs took shape. Twenty-five years later, Gross is again working on technology that he said will change the way architects work. "To us, CAD is just scratching the surface," he said. "There is a whole other generation coming along." That generation is incubating in the basement of the Department of Architecture at University of Washington, promising architects a new set of tools to collaborate and design in virtual worlds. "I think they're going to love it," he said. Gross, director of UW's Design Machine Group and an associate professor of architecture at UW, will be joined by faculty and students for a demonstration of computer design tools 6:30 p.m. Monday at Seattle Art Museum. The event is co-sponsored by Space.City. Design Machine Group is part of UW's Center for Digital Arts, an interdisciplinary effort to redefine art, music, theater, film and architecture. The group is pushing the boundaries of computer-aided design. By Machine Group standards, current CAD programs grab the low-hanging fruit. "Until now, architects have used the computer to replace the pencil and drawing board," said Gross, who is also an associate professor of architecture. "But the computer is really a knowledge tool, an information-processing tool. That's what we're trying to unleash." The group's three focus areas are design tools, collaboration and communication, and computational environments -- or virtual worlds. Following are a few examples of what the group will demonstrate Monday: Space Pen Collaborators can mark-up a three-dimensional model of a building over the Internet. Users draw on model surfaces or leave more elaborate text comments -- like Post-It notes, adjacent to areas of concern within the model. The system recognizes simple shapes, such as circles, rectangles and triangles, and "cleans" them up.
As a visitor browses the 3-D model, the Space Pen engine (using a split screen) generates a floor plan showing the visitor's changing viewpoint. This system allows designers to go beyond current technology by proposing design changes in the 3-D model. Sketch-Virtual Reality This tool creates instant 3-D worlds from 2-D sketches. The program recognizes shapes drawn on a special pad in a 2-D view and generates a 3-D model. To create an architectural space, the user draws lines and circles in a simple "cocktail napkin" sketch of walls and columns. To create a furniture layout, the user draws symbols to indicate a couch, tables and chairs. For a 3-D curved surface, the user draws sections at each edge of the surface.
Digital Sandbox Using a "wireless data glove," the user sculpts a 3-D landscape model with various gestures. A mathematical model predicts stormwater flow over the landscape, and displays the results directly onto the landform. The Sandbox provides landscape architects a powerful way to study the implications of landform design. Smart Objects Since each new architectural problem presents new requirements, the Smart Objects program presents a design in a medium that describes problem requirements and allows the exploration of form. A user who wishes to stretch the width of a ceiling, for example, may also need to compensate for this by using wider beams -- a process completed automatically on-screen by Smart Objects. As a designer meets or violates constraints, objects behave according to problem requirements and stated intentions. Navigational Blocks Using physical blocks, Navigational Blocks allows visitors of a "virtual gallery" to browse exhibits using the movement of the blocks over sensors connected to a computer. The project explores the boundary between physical environment and virtual information space. A visitor to a tourist kiosk in Pioneer Square, for example, would find a set of blocks that can be positioned to display information on a screen about women pioneers or the Gold Rush.
Navigational Blocks could be used in a home or office as a replacement for panel-operated controls of interior environments. Compadres An Internet system designed to keep track of project progress, Compadres includes links for e-mail, chat and file transfer. Work groups separated by hundreds or thousands of miles can keep track of progress through current status or extended radar view, creating what designers call a "group presence awareness." Mouse Haus Based on observations of actual pedestrian activity in an urban space, Mouse Haus provides a simulated world in which pseudo pedestrians move about. This could help an architect design better urban spaces. Gross admits that some of the concepts, such as the virtual sandbox -- which uses a simple wool glove and a tripod-mounted $79 Web camera -- are in the formative stages of development. But, already, he said local firms are responding with interest. Firms who believe that CAD pushes the envelope for computer design will be pleasantly surprised at Design Machine Group's work, he said. The group has also taken its ideas overseas, presenting seven papers at the Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures Conference in the Netherlands last summer. "Our contributions made it clear that the UW is rapidly emerging as an international center for design computing in architecture," said Ellen Yi-Luen Do, assistant UW architecture professor and group co-director. Gross envisions a day when a program such as Sandbox will allow designers to create 3-D modeling of cities with their hands, or use Sketch-VR to move an idea from the "cocktail napkin" stage to finished product. He also predicts designers will incorporate microprocessors that "talk" to each other into the built environment, allowing architects to consult on designs online.
"Most schools of architecture teach students how to use the tools of the trade," Gross said. "But architects must also be inventors of the tools and techniques we employ -- not merely consumers. We're one of a very small handful of architecture schools with research groups that actively focus on these questions." He stressed that the group's ideas will not likely make it to desktops next year, but predicts they will be seen in five to 10 years -- depending on whether the group can find partners in the business community or whether group members form spin-off companies to develop the ideas into products. "We're a lab, so we don't make products," he said. Gross and Yi-Luen Do agreed that new technology could re-shape the organizational structures of architecture firms -- by allowing greater collaboration and communication. But the programs would not radically reform building designs. "New design tools enable new forms, and create better, intuitive buildings," he said. "But the way buildings look is still up to the architects." Sam Bennett can be reached at (206) 622-8272 or by e-mail at sam@djc.com.
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