A Prototype for Collaboration: Design Studio of the Future Lee Ridgway

Design projects generally require the collaboration of many people 
with different areas of expertise. Further, members of a design team are 
often scattered geographically, in some cases around the world. One of 
the challenges in such a situation is to build a team that can overcome 
the barriers posed by distance and different disciplines. Computer and 
networking technology can play a key role in distance collaboration - 
the premise behind MIT's Design Studio of the Future (DSOF).

The DSOF is an interdisciplinary effort between the School of Architecture and 
Planning and the School of Engineering that focuses on geographically 
distributed electronic design and work group collaboration. Its concept comes 
from William Mitchell, Dean of Architecture and Planning, who serves as project 
leader, along with Woodie Flowers, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and 
Professor John Williams of Civil Engineering.

The Virtual Design Studio 
In brief, Mitchell's idea is that members of a design team connect 
with each other through an array of computer and network-based design, 
development, and prototyping equipment, including videoconferencing. As 
a design project moves along, aspects of the work can be shared, 
discussed, changed, and implemented through electronic means. Costly and 
time-consuming travel and shipping of documents can be lessened, while still 
retaining most advantages of the face-to-face interaction that is 
necessary in creating a new building or product.

Collaboration by Design 
The DSOF is a prototype of this new generation of design 
environments, where distance poses no barriers to collaboration, or to 
reaching out to colleagues, clients, and resources. MIT's DSOF is in 
Architecture and Planning's renovated facilities, as well as in studios 
in Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering. The studios are 
outfitted with CAD workstations on which students model, visualize, and 
analyze design proposals. In addition to working with on-site professors 
and collaborators, students can discuss their projects with academic and 
industrial design critics and distant collaborators via video and 
teleconferencing facilities. Through the Internet, students can 
access design-related databases, and make their files available to 
others. When it's time to build a prototype of what's on the screen, 
computer-integrated fabrication machinery converts the digital geometric 
models into a physical model.
 
Chairs and Pavilions
This past spring, an application of the DSOF was carried out in a 
collaboration between the Departments of Architecture, Civil Engineering, and 
Mechanical Engineering. Each department represents a discipline with its own 
long-standing design tradition, culture, methods, and values. One goal of the 
studio was to bring the disciplines together, understand their different ways 
of thinking, and integrate architectural and engineering expertise throughout 
the design process.

Students formed interdisciplinary teams to tackle two design problems. 
The first focused on developing and prototyping a product, in this case a chair 
- a problem familiar in mechanical engineering industrial design courses. The 
second, longer problem, that of designing and specifying a sports pavilion, was 
similar to the traditional design problems arising in architectural studios.

In designing their sports pavilions, the students broadened the 
studio work to include distance collaboration and critiquing with 
principal designers and engineers in three international firms: the 
architect Frank O. Gehry & Associates, Los Angeles, and the engineering
firms of Ove Arup, New York, and Fluor Daniel, Irvine, California. 

Through communications and data links the student designers engaged 
in frequent sessions - "virtual desk critiques" - with members of these 
firms. The firms were also involved in the Final Review, where students 
formally present their work to a jury. These presentations integrated 
the technical elements of the DSOF, from sharing computer-based images 
and files, to interactive videoconferencing where all participants could 
see, hear, and respond to each other.

As one of the early steps in exploring electronically mediated 
collaborative design, last spring's studio brought forth several issues, 
among them the need for developing, in students and practitioners, the 
interpersonal skills necessary for effective team work. On the technical 
side, the communications tools supporting collaborative design must 
continue to advance in terms of speed and quality so that all team members, 
no matter how distant, can be simultaneous participants in the work. Those 
involved see the DSOF and its underlying concepts as key in developing the 
models and methods that will ensure that design teams can function effectively 
in the environment of the "virtual studio."

Sources of Information
Sources for this article, from the School of Architecture and 
Planning, were Associate Professor Andrew Scott, and graduate student 
and research associate, Dennis Shelden. For more on the DSOF, see the Web page 
at 

http://sap.mit.edu/dsof/