DC-40 in Design Education

Enhancing Spatial Understanding with Digital Media

The DC-40 Flies into an Architect's Design Studio

The professional Architect must have an understanding of not only the daily interactions involved with every part of a person's life, but of the aesthetic and technical aspects of the physical environment as well. Architectural design is actually a very complex and often complicated process that is quite difficult to teach. One aspect is the training of students to understand and manipulate three-dimensional space. There are many tools available to express and communicate this. Most people envision architects sitting behind drafting boards with ink pens and triangles or with a sketch book and colored pencils. Buildings are created in a seemingly mystical manner. It was often a profession only for the "initiated." Computers have completely altered this traditional scene.

Beginning in the late 1950's architects and engineers began to utilize the computer to represent three-dimensional space. Computer graphics has become an irreplaceable part of the profession. The means exists to represent space in a digital manner than can duplicate three-dimensional space. The power of the computer has enabled the professional to examine air-flow dynamics, sound and light reflections, thermal dynamics and many other technical aspects that were impossible only a decade ago.

Architecture has a very deep tradition of model making. They remain a critical part of exploring the three-dimensionality of space. The actual construction of a model helps many architects gain a better understanding of their designs. They can, and should, be used to test ideas and pre-conceptions. One major difference between most digital and physical models is that a physical model can be made very quickly and cheaply. It does not require expensive software and hardware to create an understandable sketch model. A physical model is a tactile and understandable media for both students and clients. They are comprehensible by the widest range of individuals.

Computer Aided Design is a very useful tool, but it is not the appropriate tool to build design models. Too many designers have become enamored with this media and not the process or final design product. They have lost touch with building. There are more appropriate means for the utilization of digital media!

The Kodak DC-40 Digital camera is one of these. When used in conjunction with physical models, it adds layers of potential use to the physical model. It provides a quick and easy way to document the stages of a design and to illustrate the options which have been explored. A physical model can be altered and a record of each alteration can be preserved with the camera. Each image is simply down-loaded into a personal computer for manipulation. There can be an almost instantaneous feedback. It also provides a means for processing professional quality images in seconds for presentations.

There are four projects linked to this site. Three are third year student projects from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and one a professional project. Select one to see examples that illustrate the way in which the DC-40 was used in the architectural design process.

Questions and comments about this application should be directed to Prof. Dr. Chris H. Luebkeman. All images on this site were taken with a Kodak DC-40 Digital camera. They were downloaded with Kodak's Photo Enhancer software which was included with the camera. They were resized and converted for WWW use with Adobe Photoshop 3.03.