Learning from Experience: Promises, Problems and Side-effects of CBD in Architecture

Abstract

Learning from design experience is the essence of Case-Based Design (CBD). Because architects are said to learn design by experience, CBD seems to hold great promises for architectural design, which have inspired various CBD tools. Learning from the experience of developing and using these tools is the objective of this paper. On the one hand, the original expectations seem far from being accomplished today. Reasons for this limited success can be found at three different levels. Level one is the cognitive model underlying CBD, which raises some specific difficulties within the field of architecture. At the level of implementation, few tools manage to draw the full consequences of this view, thus leading to an oversimplification of CBD and/or architectural design. Level three has to do with introducing CBD tools in design education and assessing the effects of this introduction. On the other hand, CBD seems to have caused some interesting side effects, such as an increased interest in creativity and copyright, and the recent re-discovery of the key-role cases play inside and outside the field of CAAD. Thus, although its promises may not be fulfilled, CBD definitely can contribute to design education, be it sometimes without the support of computer technology.