An investigation on the attitudes towards adopting the design by coding paradigm

Abstract

The recent developments in the digital technologies have led to an increase in the parametric modelling efforts and the use of parametric patterns in design. In order to manage this new paradigm where the design is becoming more digital, the designer needs to utilize his/her analytical abilities in an effective manner as this is the only way for precise representation of concepts in the actual design itself.The parametric design is a holistic process. A key element of this is the devel-opment of design through coding. In this context, the aim of the study was under-standing the attitudes of architects and architecture students towards adoption of analytical/algorithmic methods and specifically the object oriented paradigm and design-by-coding. In the first stage a randomly selected group of volunteers were provided training in object oriented programming concepts and design-by-cod-ing over 15 weeks (and a total of 45 hours). Later in this study two data collec-tion tools were utilised to understand the attitudes of the participants towards design-by-coding. The first tool used was an attitude scale, while the second tool used was a web based questionnaire survey. The results indicate that the partici-pants did not show a significant positive attitude towards design by coding. This result might have been caused by the difficulties faced during the study, as the par-ticipants were experiencing a design-by-coding exercise as the first time. In fact, it is also observed that algorithmic thinking and parametric design abilities of the designers can be enhanced by training on design-by-coding concepts.