Integration of Computer Applications in the Practice of Architecture

Computer Applications in Architecture is emerging as an important aspect of our profession. The field, which is often referred to as Computer-Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) has had a notable impact on the profession and academia in recent years. A few professionals have predicted that as slide rules were replaced by calculators, in the coming years drafting boards and parallel bars will be replaced by computers. On the other hand, many architects do not anticipate such a drastic change in the coming decade as present CAD systems are supporting only a few integral aspects of architectural design. However, all agree that architecture curricula should be modified to integrate CAAD education. In 1992-93, in the Department of Architecture of the'School of Architecture and interior Design'at the University of Cincinnati, a curriculum committee was formed to review and modify the entire architecture curriculum. Since our profession and academia relate directly to each other, the author felt that while revising the curriculum, the committee should have factual information about CAD usage in the industry. Three ways to obtain such information were thought of, namely (1) conducting person to person or telephone interviews with the practitioners (2) requesting firms to give open- ended feed back and (3) surveying firms by sending a questionnaire. Of these three, the most effective, efficient and suitable method to obtain such information was an organized survey through a questionnaire. In mid December 1992, a survey was organized which was sponsored by the School of Architecture and Interior Design, the Center for the Study of the Practice of Architecture (CSPA) and the University Division of Professional Practice, all from the University of Cincinnati. This chapter focuses on the results of this survey. A brief description of the survey design is also given. In the next section a few surveys organized in recent years are listed. In the third section the design of this survey is presented. The survey questions and their responses are given in the fourth section. The last section presents the conclusions and brief recommendations regarding computer curriculum in architecture