How to Construct an Audience in Collaborative Design - The Relationship Among which Actors in the Design Process

Abstract

The features of complexity in architectural design have now been clarified. Complexity, intrinsic in architectural work, has increased in recent years as in all other fields of human endeavour – social, economic and cultural. In the specific case of architectural design, the most significant factors in this regard consist of the large number of actors, the numerous disciplines involved, technological innovation, regulations and rules governing the design process and the various different design aims. In order to address this complex of problems, long-term research based on the Collaborative Design paradigm, CD, is now being carried out. In it, thanks to the reciprocal exchange of information, the complementary nature of the knowledge possessed by the various actors, and the contemporary nature of the design action by the various actors on the same components, positive effects are exerted on the design as a whole. The latter thus gains in coherence and in improved integration among the design solutions proposed by the various actors. In CD all the actors are involved from the outset of the design work and are helped by distributed Knowledge Bases (KBs) and Intelligent Assistants (IAs). In this case it may happen that information and knowledge automatically exchanged among KBs (through the IAs) are excessive and/or not addressed to the right actors. How can information redundancy be avoided, and how can the flow of information sent over the network be controlled? The present paper introduces and defines the concept of „Audience“, that is, the group of actors to which it is permitted to send information concerning non respected requirements and the „reduced Audience“ to which to send the knowledge needed to overcome the difficulties encountered.