ABSTRACT
Throughout history, designers have always relied on tools, techniques and protocols to complete their work. These can collectively be thought of as ‘design enablers’, and they include everything from pencils, rulers and paper to advanced software, multi-core processors and 3D printing. Design technology may be defined as the design knowledge, applications and processes involved in developing a design. It can refer to both computational and non-computational (i.e. traditional or analogue) design technologies, but increasingly design technology refers to the former more than the latter. This chapter describes the primary or mainstream computational design technologies currently used in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) and design industries. It discusses how these computational design technologies have evolved in response to new challenges or needs, and changed the way designers work. This is followed by a discussion of insights into design automation using programmatic and generative approaches to design. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a basic understanding of computational design technologies, including their history, main characteristics, applications and recent research.
