ARCH 431: Computer-Aided Design

There is a significant variance in the way computer courses are taught at various institutions around the country. Generally, it is useful to think of these courses falling either into a “tool-buildingi or a “tool-using” category. However, within either category, there is a variety of focus on the application of the “tool”. Two courses have been developed at the University of Hawai” at Manoa which deal with computer applications. The first course is more quantitatively oriented, encouraging students to explore ways of dealing with problems in a more complex and substantial manner. This paper deals with the second course whose focus has shifted toward design issues, using the computer as a tool to explore these issues. This course exposes the student, not to training on a specific computer-aided drafting system, but to issues in computer-aided design which include hardware and software systems, human-machine interface, and the nature of the design process. This course seems to be an appropriate model for introducing computer-aided design to undergraduates in a professional design program