Week 7 - Intent

inIntent is seen as having a purpose and be determined to resolve an issue or problem 1. However intent has a slightly different meaning in an architectural sense. In architecture, it is known as design intent, meaning the designers have provided information on the reasons why they made certain decisions on their design and the justification for it but also specify any amendments made to their design. There is a number of different software that use design intent, especially 2D CAD system. These systems allow for a designer to provide information about their design intent easier, through capturing tools. These tools allow for easier communication through improved collaboration, learning and documentation.

Today, designers need to provide more information to their designs. Gone are the days when all they needed to provide was geometric information, but they now need to provide more specific information, such as their design intent, any design constraints along with important and necessary specifications like manufacturing knowledge. The need for additional information means that faster computer systems need to be used as to handle this increase of new information, so critical during the design phase. Major companies and government agencies view these design intent systems as a way to improve all aspects of the design phase such as the development process and current design data, all presented as 2D drawings. These systems need to be consistently upgraded to allow for a greater intelligence to allow for better design intents.

One of the main problems with using 2D drawings for design intent is that it contains limited information, as it only contains graphical information like lines, texts and symbols. Attempts have been made to merge this 2D information into a 3D format, but merging geometric, volumetric and structural, the systems have a lack of understanding of this information and these attempts are done usually during the design stage. Research has taken place in this area, with most results indicating because the geometry can’t be recognized; with only supporting symbols indicating it may work. However, research also indicates that these symbols such as dimensions, arrowheads, hatching lines and text are extremely valuable pieces of information that add intelligence and plays are major role in design intent capture.

With so many different interpretations on the meaning what design intent is, there are some common aspect to the meaning though. These would include the following:

indicates that design intent is more than just geometry
helps to justify decisions made on a design
can be viewed as a historical record for future analyses and processes
it can be modified and evolve our the lifetime of a design
describes what the space in a building is designed for.2

Overall, design intent is indicating to people your intention to a design and what outcomes you want from it.

References

1. Edited by Bruce Moore, The Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary – Fourth Edition, 1996, Oxford University Press.

2. http://www.cadanda.com/CAD_A_3_1-4_28.PDF, Design Intent in 2D CAD: Definition and Survey, Ganeshram R. Iyer and John J. Mills