IJAC 3-3_final 17/1/06 9:37 am Page 419

Architecture’s New
Media: Principles,
Theories and Methods of
Computer-Aided Design
Review by Mike Knight

international journal of architectural computing issue 03, volume 03 419

IJAC 3-3_final 17/1/06 9:37 am Page 420

Architecture’s New Media: Principles,Theories

and Methods of Computer-Aided Design
Review by Mike Knight

Architecture’s New Media: Principles,Theories and

Methods of Computer-Aided Design
Yehuda E Kalay
MIT Press
ISBN 0 262 11284 1, 536 pages

I initially approached this important book with both high expectations and
an anticipation of being disappointed. I need not have worried. Kalays
premise is that since the inception of CAD in the 1950s, CAD “has at best,
improved the efficiency of designing buildings” but has had little qualitative
impact when this technology has the potential to “reinvent the architectural
design process itself”. Architectural design is still largely a manual design
process that uses CAD as a tool for rapid editing and dissemination.
In order to try to understand why architectural design has been so
much slower at adapting design methodology, the author sets out to re-
examine the principles, theories and methods that underpin the
introduction of information technology to architectural design in a logical
and analytical way.The book is divided into five sections, (Introduction,
Communication, Synthesis, Evaluation and The Future) each of which builds
on the last to complete a detailed overview of the field.
In the first section, Introduction, (summarised in the preface to “what is
design, what are computers and what is the relationship between them”) the
author introduces the design process and the role of the architect in a
historical context, before moving on to the different phases and paradigms
of design. Initially I thought that a potted history of computers in general (as
opposed to just CAD) was unnecessary, but in the wider context of the
book, it’s inclusion is justified.The last chapter in this section, ‘Computing in
Architectural Design’ gives a necessarily brief history of CAD from
Sutherland to 4th generation CAD before, having set the scene, moving on
to a role of computing in architectural design.
Having looked the design process, Kalay moves on to Communication,
looking at the nature of communication in a design context through
language and drawing.The ‘General Model of Conflict Management’ will

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strike a note with almost everyone from practitioners to academics. After

looking at verbal and drawn communication, modelling and visualisation are
examined perhaps a little too briefly. The section concludes with the impact
of computing on communication in design, again in a way which provokes
further investigation.
The third section, Synthesis looks at how computers could be used for
the generation of design solutions. After a look at models of design, again
starting with a historical perspective, moving through empirical methods,
constraint satisfaction and management to case based reasoning and shape
grammars, the final chapter in the section looks at wider implications of
computational design synthesis (Genetic algorithms and neural networks
amongst others) and their use in ‘creative’ design solutions. Again, this is a
balanced overview that serves as a foundation and stimulus for further
research and, whilst the author is largely even handed in his discussions of
the various areas, I think he echoes the majority view when he says “It is
difficult to image the need for a computational design system that could generate
‘creative’ design solutions …. what matters is that computers can generate design
solutions, some of which might be considered sufficiently ‘innovative’ that, had they
been generated by a human, they would garner the praise reserved for an artist”.
The section on Evaluation looks at a variety of computer based methods
for both quantifiable (thermal/cost/acoustic etc) and non-quantifiable
(perception/aesthetics amongst others) characteristics of a design solution.
Some of the topics are covered in a frustratingly short length (eg evaluation
of aesthetics) but, again with the bibliography, does stimulate the reader to
look further.
In any overview of a topic, it is inevitable that the section on ‘The
Future’ which attempts a forecast is, as Kalay himself say … “a rather
foolhardy endeavour, destined to failure and early obsolescence”. Nevertheless,
this section is handled in such a way that it should serve as a catalyst for
future discussion.
Each of these sections is by necessity an overview, but not purely a
summary, more of an educated taster to stimulate wider reading whilst
giving a balanced overview. A comprehensive bibliography follows each
chapter which aids this. Here again, compromises have to be made in the
selection of the texts, but in the main, they are very comprehensive.
In short, this a essential and masterful text, one which deserves to be a
standard reader in the field and the author manages to convey these
complex ideas in a relatively accessible manner. It is not without fault, any
book which sets out to cover an area as large and complex as this must
inevitably make compromises and omissions, but it is an important and long
overdue re-evaluation that deserves to kick start a change in attitudes
towards the use of computers in architectural design.

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Architecture’s New Media: Principles,Theories and Methods of Computer-Aided Design