This project investigates creativity support tools for architectural design by bringing together two areas: design process and human-computer interaction. Specifically, the project develops a tool that will support procedural modeling using shape grammars using multi-touch interfaces. This kind of creativity support tool facilitates: sharing designs among multiple users and design strategies and changing a design by editing the global shape of a surface using a multi-touch and multi-user interface on a graphical display surface that can track gestures and touches of one or multiple & fingers. The technology enables intuitive sketching operations. Architectural design is the selected application for research in creativity because of its complexity. Modern architectural designs are inherently three-dimensional and the simplest traditional creativity support tools, pen and paper, are too limited. At the same time, current modeling packages have several disadvantages that preclude them from being used as creativity support tools, e.g. a very high learning curve, very limited possibility for multi-user interaction, required programming for complex designs, and the inability to reuse design strategies. The creativity support tool will impact the architectural design process in the following manner: The design process will be intuitive and be accessible to a large audience. Designs can be generated interactively with multiple users participating. Design strategies can be reused and applied to multiple different shapes. Beyond applications in architecture, this work has the potential to influence design in the entertainment industry, designing self assembling structures of DNA in bio-chemistry, landscape architecture, urban planning, and digital art.
