Brian R Johnson | University of Washington (original) (raw)

Papers by Brian R Johnson

While shell structures offer efficient solutions to many contemporary design problems, designer f... more While shell structures offer efficient solutions to many contemporary design problems, designer familiarity with the discipline has declined in recent years. Interest in shells is growing again due to modern fabrication techniques, but is hampered by the difficulty of balancing form manipulation and structural analysis concerns. In this paper we describe HyparActive, a software tool developed specifically to help designers explore conceptual shell forms. HyparActive provides simple 3D formmanipulation tools and visual FEA feedback in the same digital model. The tool allows users to define, manipulate and visualize a parametric form consisting of multiple hyperbolic paraboloid (hypar) shell segments. The quick feedback means the designer can interactively explore how form and stress distributions interact, informing design decisions and enhancing their design "intuition." This research project investigates the challenges of developing an interactive modeling tool and the be...

We present a system for viewing architectural building models-specifically Building Information M... more We present a system for viewing architectural building models-specifically Building Information Modeling (BIM) models-in 3D using an Augmented Reality Tangible User Interface (TUI) and a Magic Lens interaction metaphor. ARchitectureView is meant to facilitate communication and collaboration around a shared model. We present the system overview and a number of use scenarios in which the interface would serve to improve communication across disciplines and varied technical backgrounds, while supporting a rich and coherent common understanding.

This paper explores the relationship between place, computation, and experience. In particular, i... more This paper explores the relationship between place, computation, and experience. In particular, it seeks to understand the zone that exists between the digital world on the one hand, and the physical world on the other. It is suggested that the ideal of "immersive virtual reality", by focusing on technology systems to replace the sensory world, misses the opportunity to explore a broader range of connections. Such connections involve combining physical and digital components to create blended environments. A number of examples of such environments are examined. The term "blended reality" is proposed to describe such digitally augmented physical environments and to distinguish between them and virtual environments or cybrids. A design studio series formed around the exploration, design and experience of blended physical and digital spaces is described and selected results presented.

Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures 2001, 2001

Face-to-face human interaction is divided into "focused" and "unfocused" types. Unfocused interac... more Face-to-face human interaction is divided into "focused" and "unfocused" types. Unfocused interaction often conveys important content and context information and contributes to group cohesiveness and effectiveness. Research in Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) and Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) is also concerned with human interaction. CMC tools, such as electronic mail, and CSCW tools, such as Decision Support Systems (DSS) and Group Support Systems (GSS) provide for focused interaction among members of distributed workgroups. However, little has been published regarding unfocused interaction in distributed workgroups, where group members' primary work activities hold "center-stage" and communication activities are peripheral, though this describes many distributed educational and work situations. A framework for studying this type of support using standard web browsers and server applications is described, and informal preliminary results are discussed. Opportunities for future support of peripheral awareness and unfocused interaction are also discussed.

Proceedings of the Conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning Foundations for a CSCL Community - CSCL '02, 2002

Traditional design education relies heavily on passive presence awareness and unfocused interacti... more Traditional design education relies heavily on passive presence awareness and unfocused interaction. Support for these modes of communication is largely absent from current computing environments. This paper reports on Compadres, a system for support of distributed collaborators through creation of group presence awareness on the web. Compadres provides configurable communications options, in both synchronous and asynchronous modes, including links for messaging, email, chat, and online file management. Compadres can support multiple workgroups or small classes. Two levels of presence awareness are provided: a real-time presence monitor for synchronous interaction, and an extended-time (historical) radar-view for "asynchronous presence" and collaborator engagement through waylaying. The basic system requires very little band-width, but the system extends easily to support desktop or camera image streams for real-time activity awareness. The system supports itinerant, or mobile, users (such as students) as well as situated users (such as faculty). Finally Compadres provides a framework for continued exploration of presence awareness. We have used this to explore a variety of alternative "soft" media presence awareness models. Our experiences with Compadres, which has been used by several classes and our research group, support those of others regarding the power of presence and messaging in supporting group cohesion, and indicate that it is possible to support infrequent or occasional collaboration as well as frequent interaction via the web.

The Web is a chaotic place. Anyone with a computer connected to the Internet can put up a web ser... more The Web is a chaotic place. Anyone with a computer connected to the Internet can put up a web server and distribute files with whatever content they wish, for as short or long a period as they wish. In the web's infancy, and within certain niches today, manually maintained "favorite links" provide the means for a tightly-knit community to track the sites of interest to them. Once the number of sites became large it was clear that automated tools were needed, and search sites such as AltaVista, Excite, and Yahoo emerged or evolved. These services use an automated browser to retrieve, index, and catalog web pages at intervals. Searches of the database yields the web address, or URL, of pages containing specified words. For those seeking to use the Web as a teaching resource, these are not really adequate. The databases simply catalog pages according to the words they contain, rather than the meaning of those words, so it is very difficult to compose searches using discip...

An effort to generate discussion, this paper suggests that between 1980 and 1990 a significant an... more An effort to generate discussion, this paper suggests that between 1980 and 1990 a significant and undesirable change has occurred in academic architectural CAD. We have moved from being developers of ideas and technology on the inside of the development loop to being consumers of products developed in the commercial market place, outside the loop. Certain negative consequences are discussed. Finally, some suggestions are made for turning ourselves "right side out" again.

With the wider availability of high-bandwidth communication networks and the maturity of commerci... more With the wider availability of high-bandwidth communication networks and the maturity of commercial collaboration software, schools of architecture are experimenting with computer-aided distributed design reviews. A distributed design review enables geographically-distant participants to discuss a common design project using computer-supported collaborative technologies such as videoconferencing, voice over IP, and shared applications. While potentially beneficial to students, and attractive to teachers, there are a number of challenges facing the integration of synchronous distributed design reviews into the design studio by technically inexperienced faculty without significant technical support. This paper seeks to make it easier for faculty to make routine utilization of such reviews by examining our own experiences with a number of such reviews, in a variety of contexts, distilling out a set of guidelines for future reviews.

Presents DVIN, a Dual-view Information Navigator combining coordinated plan and 3D "in scene... more Presents DVIN, a Dual-view Information Navigator combining coordinated plan and 3D "in scene" views in an online Java applet in order to improve design comprehension, navigation, and data query for clients and other naive users of building information models, while rendering the data accessible to users without CAD skills or high-end software.

Designers in architectural studios, both in education and practice, have worked to integrate digi... more Designers in architectural studios, both in education and practice, have worked to integrate digital and physical media ever since they began to utilize digital tools in the design process [1]. There are benefits of working in the digital domain as well as benefits of working physically; confronting, or seeming to confront, architects with a difficult choice. Emerging strategies for human- computer interaction such as tangible user interfaces and computer vision techniques present new possibilities for manipulating architectural designs. These technologies can help bridge between the digital and physical worlds. In this paper we discuss some of these technologies, analyze several current design challenges and present a prototype that illustrates ways in which a broader approach to human computer interaction might resolve the problems. The ultimate goal of breaking down the boundary between the digital and physical design platforms is to create a unified domain of "continuous th...

Seeking to enhance the availability and quality of architectural case studies, we examine the web... more Seeking to enhance the availability and quality of architectural case studies, we examine the web, believing that it may help to simplify authorship, distribution, and navigation of a catalog of case studies. A disk-based multi-media prototype from an earlier effort has been converted to the web and generalized to create a template. Warehousing and navigation of multiple case studies forms the main focus of the current project. Two existing models, monolithic web sites and web rings, are considered and rejected. A third approach is developed which promises to provide a low-budget lowoverhead infrastructure within which to house an indefinite number of case studies, while permitting free-form browsing of the collection. The approach which we have developed creates what we call a "multi-site".

… for Computer Aided Design in …, 2008

MxR-PRonounCed "MIxeR"-Is A MIxed/AugMented ReAlIty systeM Intended to suPPoRt CollAboRAtIon duRI... more MxR-PRonounCed "MIxeR"-Is A MIxed/AugMented ReAlIty systeM Intended to suPPoRt CollAboRAtIon duRIng eARly PhAses of ARChIteCtuRAl desIgn. MxR allows an interdisciplinary group of practitioners and stakeholders to gather around a table, discuss and test different hypotheses, visualize results, simulate different physical systems, and generate simple forms. MxR is also a test-bed for collaborative interactions and demonstrates different configuration potentials, from exploration of individual alternatives to group discussion around a physical model. As a MR-VR transitional interface, MxR allows for movement along the reality-virtuality continuum, while employing a simple tangible user-interface and a Magiclens interaction technique.

… d'Architecture de …, 1998

Page 1. Virtual Design Studio : Multiplying Time ...

Automation in Construction, 2000

Computer supported communication and collaboration among partners in the building design and cons... more Computer supported communication and collaboration among partners in the building design and construction process are no longer mere possibilities, but, given the will and know-how of the participants, a reality. Team members could work on a building design at any place, simultaneously together (synchronously) or separately (asynchronously), while the latest state of the design would always be available in a shared database. But to be successful, this emerging type of cooperation often requires new design and communication methods. This paper documents an experimental approach to design collaboration, tested in an intensive, one-week long Virtual Design Studio exercise involving three academic institutions. It briefly describes the structure and goals of the studio exercise, the methodologies applied, the resulting process of collaboration, and the lessons learned. An Experiment in Design Collaboration Une experience sur la collaboration en design La communication et la collaboration aidés par ordinateur parmi des partenaires dans les processus de conception et construction d'un bâtiment ne sont plus que des possibilités, mais, étant donné la volonté et les connaissances des participants, une réalité. Les membres d'une équipe peuvent travailler sur un design de bâtiment à n'importe quel endroit, de façon simultanée (synchrone) ou distincte (asynchrone), et le tout dernier état du design serait toujours disponible dans une banque de données commune. Mais pour être un succès, ce type de collaboration requiert souvent de nouvelles méthodes de conception et de communication. Ce papier documente une approche expérimentale à la collaboration en design, testée lors d'un exercice de studio de design virtuel intensif, d'une durée d'une semaine et impliquant trois institutions académiques. Il décrit brièvement la structure et les buts de l'exercice de studio, les méthodologies appliquées, le processus de collaboration résultant, et les leçons apprises.

The Design Amanuensis * supports design protocol analysis by capturing designers' spoken and draw... more The Design Amanuensis * supports design protocol analysis by capturing designers' spoken and drawing actions and converting speech to text to construct a machine-readable multimedia document that can be replayed and searched for words spoken during the design session or for graphical configurations.

Experimental investigations of thermal systems typically require continuous or periodic monitorin... more Experimental investigations of thermal systems typically require continuous or periodic monitoring of a relatively large number of analog sensors. Examined are the design criteria and instrumentation requirements for data acquisition systems intended for long-term monitoring of the transient thermal response characteristics of buildings. A microcomputer based system of moderate cost, high flexibility, capable of expansion, and requiring no custom-built components is described.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2011

Designers in architectural studios, both in education and practice, have worked to integrate digi... more Designers in architectural studios, both in education and practice, have worked to integrate digital and physical media ever since they began to utilize digital tools in the design process [1]. Throughout the design process there are significant benefits of working in the digital domain as well as benefits of working physically; confronting architects with a difficult choice. We believe emerging strategies for human-computer interaction such as tangible user interfaces and computer vision techniques present new possibilities for manipulating architectural designs. These technologies can help bridge between the digital and physical worlds. In this paper, we discuss some of these technologies, analyzes several current design challenges and present a prototype that illustrates ways in which a broader approach to human-computer interaction might resolve the problem. The ultimate goal of breaking down the boundary between the digital and physical design platforms is to create a unified domain of "continuous thought" for all design activities.

2010 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, 2010

In this study, we explore how problem solving and design can be modeled using state-space-search ... more In this study, we explore how problem solving and design can be modeled using state-space-search methodology, by engaging in the design of two educational games. Additionally, we wanted to discover how online communication tools could be used to support collaborative design. We used three online tools: 1) CoSolve, a collaborative problemsolving environment that we developed, 2) Google Wave, a wiki/chat hybrid communication tool, and 3) INFACT, a discussion forum that we built for use in education. We used these tools to design Go Atom, a chemistry game, and Eco-avelli, a game that intended to demonstrate the politics of climate change. Using our game design experience as an example, we present a method for modeling design processes using statespace-search, describe how the communication tools were used in our process, and present suggestions for ways to use these tools to tackle design problems in the future.

Proceedings of ACADIA, 2000

The web offers both business and academic users potential benefits from on-line collaboration. On... more The web offers both business and academic users potential benefits from on-line collaboration. On-line education presents universities with a means of handling the "baby boom echo" without expanding physical campuses (Carnevale 2000). Business "extranets" ...

Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures 2001, 2001

Proceedings of the Conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning Foundations for a CSCL Community - CSCL '02, 2002

… for Computer Aided Design in …, 2008

… d'Architecture de …, 1998

Page 1. Virtual Design Studio : Multiplying Time ...

Automation in Construction, 2000

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2011

Designers in architectural studios, both in education and practice, have worked to integrate digi... more Designers in architectural studios, both in education and practice, have worked to integrate digital and physical media ever since they began to utilize digital tools in the design process [1]. Throughout the design process there are significant benefits of working in the digital domain as well as benefits of working physically; confronting architects with a difficult choice. We believe emerging strategies for human-computer interaction such as tangible user interfaces and computer vision techniques present new possibilities for manipulating architectural designs. These technologies can help bridge between the digital and physical worlds. In this paper, we discuss some of these technologies, analyzes several current design challenges and present a prototype that illustrates ways in which a broader approach to human-computer interaction might resolve the problem. The ultimate goal of breaking down the boundary between the digital and physical design platforms is to create a unified domain of "continuous thought" for all design activities.

2010 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, 2010

Proceedings of ACADIA, 2000