Computer Aided Drafting Application (CAD) as – A Design Tool

Abstract

Computer Aided Drafting or (CAD) is a computer application known among the construction engineering field as a drafting tool, that offers computer aided drafting only, and does not combine the produced drawings with construction engineering information like engineering specifications, bill of quantities, material specifications, project scheduling, and other related data. On the other hand, the main purpose of the emergence of Computer Aided Drafting or (CAD) technology is to minimize effort and time consumed in the preparation of construction drawings. Such process is the most tedious and the core task of the design firms. Research work in this paper focus on introducing a base system concept that may lead to a computer program/script or a “Plug-in” that may give a (CAD) based software application commonly known as (AutoCAD Architecture Desktop) an (AI) capacity. The paper started with a short explanation of the major elements of the architectural design process from a cognitive approach, followed by a briefing about (CAD) technology as a drafting tool, then goes directly towards explaining the “CAD - Plug-in” suggested base system, and criteria with a simulation of the suggested concept over an architectural design example; a “Hospital 4 Surgery Rooms Zone”, as a case study. At the end, the paper concludes a Programing Scheme the (CAD - Plugin Syntax Code) written in “Prolog” computer programing language.