Design computing
Design Computing refers to an area of Design Studies that deals with furthering the understanding and the practice of design activities through the application and development of novel concepts and techniques in computing.
In recent years a number of research and education areas have been grouped under the umbrella term "Design Computing", namely:
- Artificial Intelligence in Design
- Artificial Architecture
- Expert and Knowledge-based Systems
- Computational creativity
- Computer-Aided Design
- Digital morphogenesis
- Visual and Spatial Modelling
- Computational Analogy
- Automated Design Systems
- Design Support Systems
- Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)
- Building Information Modeling (BIM)
The main research groups working in this area span from Faculties of Architecture, Engineering and Computer Science. Australia has been a pioneer in this area. For the last four decades the Key Centre of Design Computing and Cognition (KCDC), currently known as the Design Lab, at the University of Sydney has been active in establishing this area of research and teaching. The University of Sydney offers a Bachelor of Design Computing (). In the US this research area is also known as "Design and Computation", namely at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Other relevant research groups include:
- Critical Research in Digital Architecture (CRIDA), Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne
- School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon
- Department of Computer Science, University College London
- Department of Informatics Engineering, Universidade de Coimbra
- Department of Computer Science, Vrije University, Amsterdam
- Creativity and Cognition Studios, University of Technology Sydney
- Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado at Boulder
- Department of Architecture, Tokyo Institute of Technology
- Department of Architecture, MIT
- Department of Computer Science, Helsinki University of Technology
- College of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Design Machine Group, University of Washington College of Built Environments, Seattle
- Design Computing Program, Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture
- School of Interactive Arts + Technology, Simon Fraser University
- Department of Architecture, Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands
The biannual International Conference on Design Computing and Cognition (DCC) brings together high quality research on this area, as do annual conferences by the Association for Computer Aided Design In Architecture and others.