EXPLORER: A Procedural Modeler Based on Architectural Knowledge
Contribution to the AVOCAAD (Added Value of Computer Aided Architectural Design) First International Conference, held in Brussels in April 1997
This article is dedicated to the procedural modeling of architectural configurations. Current CAD tools reproduce and freeze the traditional practice of architectural design, and their underlying representation models are far removed from the usual representation of the architectural object. It seems to us that "alternative" modes of access and constitution of the computer model (textual description and procedural modeling) represent a privileged field of experimentation likely to question these problems of representation of architectural knowledge. We will start by examining textual description modeling (of neoclassical facades and Palladian architecture in particular), then move on to a series of procedural models based on architectural knowledge. Finally, we will look at how, within a pedagogical framework, this reflection confronts our students with architectural analysis, an approach to structured or object-oriented programming, and a "critical" use of assisted design tools.
Work from the following students are featured in this article: Florence Corin, Bernard Defourny, Denis Derycke, Michel Barremaecker, Philippe Debar, Jean-François Schreurs, Gilles Hénin.
