Concepts of CAAD-Instruction

Today we can look back on several years of data processing support in architecture. When computer aided architectural design - CAAD - entered the field there was a lot of utter confusion in the beginning, a lot more than usually in other more technical application-fields of CAD. The architect is a very special CAD-user, as he is a very special member of all those other very analytical and scientific faculties around. There is a lot of tradition involved, tradition that has got its roots far back in medieval and classic periods and is rich of art and creativity and intuition. Mostly lots more of this than scientific analysis, exact research, and similar stuff. We could spot a large number of architects who would have been horrified when they are confronted with the analytic research of the very basic problem as how architects are designing - the methods, the procedures and the ways of thinking. And there CAAD was entering the architects'studios. No question that this caused a lot of trouble. CAD in architecture is a very provoking subject as the new tool is going to gain ground against the tradition of centuries of handmade architectural designs and drawings. And there we don't even touch the future aspects of the computer's architectural design support - what about the imminent threat of computer support in the holy domain of architectural creativity and intuition. What about the uneasy idea of CAAD in connection with artificial intelligence? The problem of CAAD-education has been largely neglected through a number of years. If there existed a certain horror looking at the mere idea of CAD-support in architecture, horror became to outrage, when university education was discussed. In our days we can stay a good deal more relaxed, when we speak of CAAD education - we not only got used to it, we are convinced, that the whole subject is of high importance