Use of CAAD Tools on Conceptual Stage of Design

ABSTRACT: Architectural design can be defined as a complicated process. It is necessary for the designer to take into account the series of subgroups from a group of probable operations at any stage of this process while he/she accounts for the results of design in general. That is to say, at any stage of the design process, the designer may often consider only a restricted series of the operations that can be applied for the design. Whilst trying to accomplish this, efforts are made to discover if a designer or a modeler must actually create a design, attempt to perform external representation in the early phases of the design procedure that takes place their mind. Modern designing programs are not generally meant to be used in architecture, although design tools that do exist on computer provide humans with the possibilities to act more efficiently in terms of design. Therefore, with regard to the limitations of such software, they serve to create architecture artwork by a medium that interprets information into a determined form. This research intends to explore the inadequacy and the limitations of the CAAD programs in design procedures as well as discuss how design tools can help designers. This study is aimed to achieve a better comprehension of the impact of CAAD tools on the conceptual stage of modern architectural design. The general methodology of the research is an interview study with a number of Iranian designers, which were selected randomly among architectural offices in Tehran (Capital city of Iran). The research will aim to discover what designers need in the conceptual stage of designing and in what way common economically accessible tools can meet their needs. Keywords: Computer-Aided Architectural Design, Conceptual Design, and Design Process. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………