CAAD: Empowering Architects

From being a mere fancy tool to being integrally linked to the process of architecture and design CAD has come long way. Professor Mahesh Senagala takes a scholarly look at how the use of CAAD technologies has evolved since their humble beginnings in the early 80’s.

Author: Professor Mahesh Senagala, Assoc AIA, LEED AP

It is hard to believe that the marriage of computing and architectural design is only a few decades old and yet we are now standing on the threshold of an unprecedented professional transformation as a result of computer-aided architectural design technologies. As Dr. Chris Yessios, President of AutoDesSys had so clearly articulated twenty years ago, there is much that the CAAD systems could offer to empower the architects. Thanks to the work of many pioneers, we have arrived at a stage where the CAAD (Computer Aided Architectural Design) technologies are radically changing how we conceive, design and build architecture. Not long ago, CAD or CADD — as they used to be generically called in the past - had been considered to be no more than merely glorified drafting tools or a replacement for pencils and paper. The mystique and tactility of drawing with pencils or pens on paper and making physical models out of cardboard have had a great hold on the culture of design in the architectural discipline for centuries. Current advances in CAAD technologies have been rendering these traditional practices obsolete. A fundamental shift from the mode of 'two-dimensional drawing' to 'parametric modeling' of architecture characterises the emerging generation of CAAD tools.

Akin to how the automobile has transformed the entire landscape since the turn of the 19^th century, CAAD has been transforming the architectural world today. CAAD is no longer a matter of an afterthought, a luxury, eyewash, or a cost-cutting measure. CAAD has been increasingly becoming central to every step of the design, construction, operation, and lifecycle of a work of architecture. Right from design conception to schematic design-to-design development to digital fabrication, assembly and construction of the building, CAAD has become an integral part of an architect’s arsenal. Once again, akin to the automobile, it is only a matter of time before all of us in the discipline end up using CAAD as a part of our everyday work. Architects’ life without CAAD or the global competitive advantage that it affords is already unthinkable in today’s flat world, which as Thomas Friedman has quipped, “accidentally made Beijing, Bangalore and Bethesda next-door neighbours.” The use of CAAD systems could enable individual architects to compete with large and well-established international firms and win design competitions. For instance, among the many significant achievements, the author was placed second from a pool of 115 entries in a prestigious competition jointly conducted by American Institute of Architects and the US Department of Energy in 2000 (Figures 1, 2 and 3) for a “Sun Wall” in Washington, DC. Solomon Cordwell Buenz & Associates of Chicago with Ove Arup & Partners of New York, both of which are well-known and large firms, won the first place. The author’s use of form•Z software and other digital tools had provided him the edge to compete against large firms that employ hundreds of professionals and win. Such stories are becoming increasingly common.

CAAD is more than just a tool such as a pencil. New breed of software are burgeoning to tackle the multifarious demands of design, construction, management, and operation by providing a unified platform, interface and modules for the various stages of contemporary architectural processes. The emerging buzzword is Building Information Modeling or BIM that has overshadowed the previous buzzwords, CAD/CAM and CAAD. For instance, Gehry Technologies has developed Digital Project, which is a BIM system built on the platform of IBM-Dassault CATIA that brings many of the Gehry-esque design capabilities to the rest of the architectural professionals and the like. Autodesk’s Revit, Bentley’s Architecture, Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD, VectorWorks’ Architect are other software in the BIM category. AutoDesSys’s form•Z seems to be gearing up to join the BIM ranks in the near future, too. Briefly stated, a BIM system combines a dynamic 3D relational geometrical model with all pertinent design data and workflow. Whereas the previous generation of CA(A)D tools focused mostly on generic geometrical modeling or 2D drawing entities, the current generation of BIM software allows the users to work with “architectural” entities such as walls, doors, and windows that are 'aware' of their architectural characteristics. Thus, if you 'drag and drop' a window element on a wall element, the software can automatically determine how the window should be framed and how the wall should be 'opened' to place the window. Further, all the related drawings that are automatically generated would be dynamically updated without any additional intervention. Engineers have been using similar systems for nearly four decades, but architects have been catching up only now.

With BIM systems, design becomes collaborative across the globe. The system allows a network of designers, engineers, managers, and contractors to work together collaboratively on a common model. Moreover, BIM allows the architects to enter the world of digital fabrication and manufacturing with ease. BIM has a long way to go before it stops being a straightjacket. At present most BIM systems are like vehicles that could only turn at right angles and keep getting heavier the longer you drive them. The current BIM limitations on the formal, spatial, geometric, and structural possibilities certainly stifle a creative mind, particularly in the initial stages of design. However, with BIM, we get a step closer to CAAD as Chris Yessios had envisioned. Most importantly, we are already beginning to see industry-wide transformation of the role of the architect in the construction and allied design industries as a result of BIM capabilities.

With BIM, architects are beginning to hit many birds with one stone, so to speak: comprehensive design, coordination with consultants, building performance simulation, design data management, file-to-factory fabrication, construction management, and, once the building is built, facility management and beyond, the new breed of CAAD systems are integrating and liberating the professional silos of yesteryears. The difference between the previous generation of CA(A)D software and the new generation of CAAD software is in the kind of dynamic, parametric, 3D data (knowledge) architects could generate that has serious implications in putting the architect back in the role of, what many are now terming, a 'master builder.' By generating easily interchangeable and manageable knowledge base (3D building information) that has a lasting value to other players in the profession, architects could begin to play a larger, globally competitive role and vie for a larger share of the world’s construction and design-related industry markets. Thus, the new CAAD technologies hold the potential to shift the emphasis from drafting to knowledge building, and from a purely aesthetics or form-based discourse to a performance-based discourse of sustainability.

We are still far from realising CAAD software that could make intelligent design decisions without human intervention that Chris Yessios has envisioned. Perhaps we might never arrive at that digitopia, but in the pursuit of that Holy Grail, we have arrived at a situation that has been empowering and transforming the entire profession.