John James Marshall thesis.pdf - OpenAIR @ RGU - Robert Gordon ...

esearch project and has contributed to increased professional esteem and an
expanded network of colleagues for the researcher.
5.2 A critical review of designed objects
The aim of this process was to indicate common properties of objects and
identify relationships between ‘types’ of objects. This was done to reveal an
underlying structure of the field by grouping the objects into classifications.
When considering computer-based design and fabrication tools and the range of
objects that can be produced by them it should be borne in mind that any
insight is primarily applicable to specific objects and circumstances. It is
important to emphasise the extensive array of possible variables in computeraided
object-making across art and design disciplines that could have been
studied. However, the nature of this study has been to try to find specific
language and criteria that can be applied across the 3D art and design making
disciplines. The research has revealed some suggestions for analytical and
evaluative concepts that are indicative rather than conclusive.
It has been a goal of this research to demonstrate there is a significant body of
existing exemplary projects that have common characteristics and can be
recognised and understood across the discourse communities making use of
computer-based design and fabrication tools. These ‘boundary objects’ can
perform a brokering role involving translation, coordination and alignment
between the disciplinary perspectives of specific communities of practice.
However, these ‘boundary objects’ only provide us with a starting point by
which to begin to distinguish and perhaps make determinations about types of
hybrid art and design practice.
This study is framed in the context of histories of fabrication and the use of
digital technologies as tools. By placing computer-based design and fabrication
tools within the context of both traditional craft and mechanised mass
production, we have seen how industrial manufacturing processes can be
transformed into ‘making’ processes. It has been demonstrated that these tools
have been appropriated for applications outside conventional manufacturing
since 1968. The ability for practitioners to work across traditional disciplines
and the possibility of a new hybrid model of 3D art and design practice was very
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