Interactive vs. procedural modelling in computer-aided design

Abstract

Architects' interest in computer-aided design (CAD) is growing rapidly and most large firms either have or are in the process of acquiring such systems. With the appearance of CAD on microcomputers, smaller firms are also moving in that direction. The driving force varies: fascination with the new technology, expectation of expanded capabilities or greater economy, desire to be current, fear of not being competitive. In architecture, as elsewhere, the inconclusive debates of the past decades on the virtues and vices of automation have proved irrelevant: the machine is creeping in on its own steam, wanted or not, and its momentum is growing.