by Robert F. Darby, AIA
 Chief, Architectural Division,
 Reynolds, Smith and Hills
 and
 N. W. Bryan, President,
 Computer Services Inc.

 The design of a building requires
the efforts of a variety of individ-
uals from different disciplines and
interaction of these individuals with
the client, with the construction
industry, with material and build-
ing component suppliers, and with
each other. The building design
team must determine the client's
requirements, establish criteria and
design an aesthetically pleasing,
functional and economically feas-
ible building.
 After the design criteria has
been established, the building com-
ponents and construction methods
must be selected from the vast pos-
sibilities available. This selection
may require coordination with con-
tractors on special or new construc-
tion problems and with producers
and manufacturers on available
materials and products. Previous
job histories may be searched for
adaptability of materials, client ac-
ceptance, etc. All of these methods
must be used either intuitively or
after a detailed search, and the
most economically feasible archi-
tectural, structural, mechanical,
and electrical components designed
and integrated together to form a
functional building.
 As the building is being de-
signed and as the client requests
changes to the original criteria, an
up to date cost estimate must be
maintained. The design team us-
ually is faced with maintaining a
design time schedule and with stay-
ing within a design budget. Be-
cause of these practical considera-
tions, the number of schemes or
methods considered is usually
sharply curtailed, which leaves a
question as to whether the result-
ing design is the best or most cre-
ative solution.
 To compound the building de-
sign problem, knowledge and in-
formation must be available to
apply the design process to a wide
range of building types and to serve
varied kinds of clients. Office
buildings, motels, schools, hos-


Application of Computer


To Building Design Process


pitals, etc. must be designed for
public agencies, corporations, pri-
vate individuals, institutions, etc.
 The entire building design pro-
cess can be defined as an informa-
tion and communication problem.
Members of the design team must
communicate with each other,
with the client and with a small
army of construction industry per-
sonnel to obtain the information
necessary to design a building. To
date, drawings, charts, handbooks,
conferences, and telephones have
been used to try to solve this com-
mnunication and information prob-
lem.
 The electronic computer has
been used for several years to solve
individual problems arising within
the different disciplines, but be-
cause of hardware limitations, com-
puter techniques have not been
applied to the total building design
process. Availability of new elec-
tronic computer hardware (third
generation computers), with time
sharing capability and tremendous
increases in computational speed
and in storage capability, has re-
moved the hardware limitations.
In the next few years, the new
electronic computer hardware with
its mass storage availability will be
used in setting up a building de-
sign information system which will
revolutionize the building design
process.
 The computer cannot replace
man's emotions, his feel for a de-
sign or his creativity, but the in-
formation system will help the de-
sign team to solve many of the
problems of information and com-
munication existing today.
 The information system will
consist of an information base, an
arithmetical description of the
building (building model), appli-
cation subsystems, a designer-ori-
ented language, and a large elec-


tron computer with remote time
sharing consoles. The information
base stored in the computer will
contain information about mater-
ials, material systems, construction
systems, etc. For example, shape,
density, cost, thermal conductivity,
and reflectivity could be stored for
a typical wall material. A geomet-
rical and mathematical model of
the building will be defined and
maintained within the computer as
the design progresses.
 A designer-oriented language will
allow the designer to communicate
with the computer using english
language statements. The designer
will use this language in defining
and maintaining the model and to
utilize the application subsystems
for the various disciplines. Appli-
cation subsystems will perform re-
quested calculations and design
building components using data
from the information base and the
building model. Designers will
have immediate access to the en-
tire system through remote con-
soles located in their offices.
 Development and utilization of
this system, with the computer
performing most of the routine
work, will free designers to produce
better and more creative designs.
The computer hardware required
to implement this system is now
available and is economically feas-
ible for small and large architect
and/or engineering firms through
the use of time-sharing.
 The systems approach to the
building design process is not being
used today and in fact has not
been fully developed. Building de-
signers must develop the programs
necessary to implement this ap-
proach in the next few years or see
the ever-expanding informational
and communications problems
completely overwhelm and stifle
the building design process.


JANUARY, 1967