Physical and Digital Artifact-Mediated Coordination in Building Design

  • Authors:

  • Melanie Tory;Sheryl Staub-French;Barry A. Po;Fuqu Wu

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada V8W 3P6;Department of Civil Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Z4;Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Z4;Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada V8W 3P6

  • Venue:
  • Computer Supported Cooperative Work
  • Year:
  • 2008

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

We conducted an ethnographic field study examining how a building design team used representational artifacts to coordinate the design of building systems, structure, and architecture. The goals of this study were to characterize the different interactions meeting participants had with design artifacts, to identify bottlenecks in the design coordination process, and to develop design considerations for CSCW technology that will support in-person design coordination meetings of building design teams. We found that gesturing, navigation, annotation, and viewing were the four primary interactions meeting participants had with design artifacts. The form of the design information (2D vs. 3D, digital vs. physical) had minimal impact on gesture interactions, although navigation varied significantly with different representations of design information. Bottlenecks in the design process were observed when meeting participants attempted to navigate digital information, interact with wall displays, and access information individually and as a group. Based on our observations, we present some possible directions for future CSCW technologies, including new mechanisms for digital bookmarking, interacting with 2D and 3D design artifacts simultaneously, and enriched pointing techniques and pen functionality.