Design Informed: Driving Innovation with Evidence-Based Design

Chapter 2. Models, Simulation, and Data Mining

Background and Context

Introduction

PHYSICAL MODELS, PROTOTYPES, AND TESTING HAVE LONG TRADITIONS IN THE DESIGN PROFESSIONS. They have been pivotal activities in innovation, collaboration, and creativity when creating design outcomes, and testing performance capacities. Our first evidence of this type of formal design activity was in the PHYSICAL MODELS BUILT AT FULL SCALE AND TESTED TO FAILURE—A PROCESS OF TRIAL AND ERROR UNTIL FAILURE DID NOT RESULT. The great pyramids, the Roman coliseums, temples, as well as many of the wonderful Gothic cathedrals were designed and built this way.

Overview of Models, Simulation, and Data Mining

Over the past centuries, this process of designing changed based on advances in technology, new building materials and construction methods, and major changes in how designers organized their work processes. The introduction of new tools, such as parametric drawing and perspective and physical scaled models, influenced these changes. In recent years, however, the use of physical models and prototypes has taken on new meaning and now represents a source of many research investigations that are either project-specific or focused on the larger agendas of understanding either subsystems or whole building performance. Historically, modeling and prototyping has been carried out using physical artifacts that could be ...