Architectural CAD: a ten year assessment of the state of the art

Abstract

This paper is an assessment of the status and use of computer-aided design systems in architectural practice in the United States. The orientation is not so much towards an assessment of usage in numbers of users as a review of the technology, its potential, its shortcomings and where it is likely to go. The frame of reference is twenty years: a review of ten years into the past and a projection of ten years into the future. On this anniversary of Computer-Aided Design, a view is offered of where the field stood ten years ago, to give a perspective to what has been accomplished. An assessment is also given of where we are today and a scenario of ten years into the future is proposed. This projection is both a prediction, with regard to the evolution of technology, and the definition of a set of achievable goals for the next decade.