Abstract
Designing is a highly collaborative and communicative process. To achieve good results effective teamwork is extremely important. Digital technology makes it possible for this process to be distributed across different spatial locations. Despite the potential of digital networks, commercial systems in the field of Computer Aided Architectural Design remain stuck in old patterns with strict role definitions and linear working processes. Open Architectural Design offers an alternative to this “sequential model” by providing an approach to distributed work oriented around “Open Strategies”. Open strategies facilitate an open exchange of ideas and artefacts with the aim of making better use of distributed resources and realising greater creative potential. The goal of our project is to apply open strategies to the architectural design process. The technical basis for our research is FREAC, a software framework developed in-house which provides a collaboration space for co-operation between different users and tools. This framework is designed not just for exchanging the outcome of the design process but also for opening up the design process itself and making it more transparent. Such highly open and distributed design processes, however, also present new problems and uncertainties which need to be taken into account in order to reach successful design outcomes. As a result proposals for the management of such processes need to be developed that facilitate collaborative work but do not unnecessarily constrain the inherent complexity of the design process. The focus therefore lies on the improvement of the negotiation process between users, tools and architectural design models. The actor-network theory, and other different management concepts, provides a theoretical underpinning for our approach. The project is a collaboration between the fields of computer science in architecture and media management.
Keywords
Collaborative Design, Open Design Processes, Actor-Network Theory, Media-Management.
Citation
Schneider, S., Richter, N., and Petzold, F. (2010) A Matter of Negotiation: Managing Uncertainties in an Open Design Process, in Durling, D., Bousbaci, R., Chen, L, Gauthier, P., Poldma, T., Roworth-Stokes, S. and Stolterman, E (eds.), Design and Complexity - DRS International Conference 2010, 7-9 July, Montreal, Canada. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2010/researchpapers/107
A Matter of Negotiation: Managing Uncertainties in an Open Design Process
Designing is a highly collaborative and communicative process. To achieve good results effective teamwork is extremely important. Digital technology makes it possible for this process to be distributed across different spatial locations. Despite the potential of digital networks, commercial systems in the field of Computer Aided Architectural Design remain stuck in old patterns with strict role definitions and linear working processes. Open Architectural Design offers an alternative to this “sequential model” by providing an approach to distributed work oriented around “Open Strategies”. Open strategies facilitate an open exchange of ideas and artefacts with the aim of making better use of distributed resources and realising greater creative potential. The goal of our project is to apply open strategies to the architectural design process. The technical basis for our research is FREAC, a software framework developed in-house which provides a collaboration space for co-operation between different users and tools. This framework is designed not just for exchanging the outcome of the design process but also for opening up the design process itself and making it more transparent. Such highly open and distributed design processes, however, also present new problems and uncertainties which need to be taken into account in order to reach successful design outcomes. As a result proposals for the management of such processes need to be developed that facilitate collaborative work but do not unnecessarily constrain the inherent complexity of the design process. The focus therefore lies on the improvement of the negotiation process between users, tools and architectural design models. The actor-network theory, and other different management concepts, provides a theoretical underpinning for our approach. The project is a collaboration between the fields of computer science in architecture and media management.