Redefining the Role of Computers in Architecture: from Drafting/Modeling Tools to Knowledge- Based Design Assistants

This paper argues that the modelling/drafting role computers have been assigned in architectural design should be changed, so that computers will become intelligent assistants to designers, relieving them from the need to perform the more trivial design tasks and augmenting their decision making capabilities. A conceptual framework of a knowledge-based computer-aided design system is presented, and its potential for increasing the utility of computers in the design buildings is discusse