28.10.2014 Views

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

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

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

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

The introduction of CAD systems have been of great benefit to architects<br />

allowing changes to be made more quickly than could be done with hand drawn<br />

blueprints. In this sense, CAD was initially an assistive technology that<br />

enhanced the existing practices of architecture – an electronic replacement for<br />

pencil and paper. Nevertheless, 3D structures were still represented in 2D and<br />

there was still a translation process between the design process and the drawing<br />

process. However, with the development of more sophisticated 3D modelling<br />

applications architects have embraced these digital technologies to open up new<br />

investigations of form and volume.<br />

The use and customisation of CATIA (Computer-Aided Three-Dimensional<br />

Interactive Application - originally developed for the aerospace industry) by<br />

Gehry Partners to create buildings such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao,<br />

Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California is well<br />

documented. Gehry’s use of this software is however initially still a process of<br />

translation. The preliminary massing-model is still a handmade physical model<br />

which is digitised by a laser scanner that transmits coordinates to CATIA. This<br />

digital model can then be used to generate construction drawings, structural<br />

properties of components and schedules for the project completion. However,<br />

the use of this software allows for curvilinear shapes that would have been<br />

nightmarish if possible to implement before the arrival of CAD.<br />

This use of software is representative of a new approach to designing and<br />

making buildings termed ‘building information modelling’ (BIM) 16 in which<br />

blueprints and other 2D documents are replaced by digital 3D models. Each<br />

element of the design in these cases can have information about its physical<br />

properties (such as how much weight a steel beam will support) embedded<br />

parametrically to the digital component. In this way computer-based<br />

capabilities have transformed the nature of architectural practice. Drawing,<br />

modelling, performance simulations, design collaboration, construction<br />

management and building fabrication are now routinely performed using<br />

computer-based technologies.<br />

16 The term Building Information Modelling (BIM) was coined by Autodesk to describe 3D object-oriented CAD.<br />

- 41 -

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!