STRUCTURAL GLASS FACADES - USC School of Architecture

processes involving many computations. The programs can also embody procedural
guidelines and the kind of logical branching systems characteristic of design guidelines (if
this, then this, otherwise this). Most contemporary design tools are comprised of some kind
of computer enabled software program.
Most software programs run on a user’s computer. The program can be purchased on a
compact disc(s) and installed on the computer, or downloaded from the internet.
Increasingly, software programs can be accessed on a website through the internet, with the
program running on the server and just inputs and results being passed between the server
and user (client). Alternately, the computing code can be passed to the client, executed on
the client’s computer, with certain resulting data stored on the client computer and other data
transferred back to the server for storage in a database.
Much of this can be transparent to the client. In the case of Daylight 1-2-3, the daylighting
analysis program discussed above, a combination approach was used where the user
downloaded a program and installed it on the client computer. The program was executed to
provide inputs back to the server, where the analysis was subsequently done and the results
passed back to the client. The best way of structuring this interaction is a function of a great
many interrelated variables, among them; cost, security, speed, liability, and the
requirements for data analysis and storage.
4.5.4 Websites
The new book is the website and the new library is the internet. It is hard to argue that the
internet now provides the most convenient access to information, tools and other resources.
Unfortunately, much of the information available for free on the World Wide Web is
increasingly comprised of online brochures and other marketing information, requiring
discrimination by the user to qualify the information. Access to scholarly works and research
may be more convenient on the Web, but this access comes with increasing frequency at a
169