by Alvise Simondetti

School of Design

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

06.09.99

Abstract

This paper explores some of the opportunities offered by computer aided design to architects, interior designers and industrial designers. It differs from much of the research in the field in the sense that, it expands out of the boundaries of the computer screen by making computer generated physical prototypes using several different Rapid Prototyping technologies.

This paper surveys the author's work at the Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and more recently the work of his research team at the School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The aim of the research is to explore the designer's advantages and limitations using rule based design and rapid prototyping techniques and searching for novel research questions.

For each of the experiments proposed I will describe (1) the set up of the experiment (2) the methodology used to conduct the experiments, (3) highlights its advantages and limitations and (4) proposes further possible research questions. Throughout the paper I will focus especially on the unexpected outcomes.