Interactive technologies facilitating collaboration between projetists and non-projetists: A laboratory design experience

Abstract

INT/OBJ Collaborative projects in building environment´s design involving professionals from various areas, especially in the initial phases of the process is recent. Plurality and diversity of points of view is mandatory for architects and designers. However, sharing experiences expect language alinement and may take benefit from visualization environment. The study aims to evaluate how interactive technologies can help collaboration during a project process between designers and non-designers facilitates communication between them. A collaborative design experience was developed at G-SCOP laboratory, France in collaboration with Lacesse/UFPB, Brazil. MET The method consisted in proposing a collaborative workshop with 2 designers and 2 non-designers A first meeting allowed to know each other and to be aware of the equipments that they would handle during the activity: a high resolution Powerwall, which allowed an "immersive virtual visit" and an interactive table was used to manipulate images, to propose physico-spatial improvements of the studied environment. Participants wrote observations and drawn change proposals on the recorded images. RES The technology employed to perform the collaborative workshop, although sophisticated, was easy to operate, understood and handled by all participants. It allowed them to be placed in similar conditions for proposition, allowing communication to occur clearly and objectively. They chose not to use technical drawings, but projected onto the images of the environments, which was later reported as important for non-designers who had no knowledge about representation. The sketched solutions presented are considered constructive and tangible. CONS The experience demonstrated the capacity of the interactive technology to support such meetings, including people with disability and various training. It was compared to meetings in a real building, but opens valuable opportunities when the building does not already exist.