Computational Design: a mandatory skill or a specialized role in the AEC?

I am requesting your help to support some young colleagues of mine Anagha Yoganand Ginevra Nazzarri supported by leading professional Gijs Joosen and Pieter Schreurs who are presently conducting a research as part of the co-creation proposal for the CAAD Futures’23 conference, the results from the survey will be summarized in a position paper and this will be presented in the conference days in July.

The topic is titled as, ‘Computational Design: a mandatory skill or a specialized role in the AEC?’

The aim of this topic is to discuss some relevant questions that are being raised in practice regarding the role of a computational designer and gain different perspectives from professional experts. Through this proposal the study aims to investigate the role definition of computational designer as well as their position in project teams and design processes. Additionally, discuss the argument if computational design should be an independent role or a mandatory skill that professionals such as architects/engineers in the field must adopt.

By harnessing the co-creation research approach powered by multiple expert opinions, the results of this study can highlight how a Computational Designer can help bring multiple disciplines on a common platform for effective and efficient collaboration and decision making for better designs. Furthermore, substantially justify that computational design is not restricted only to a specialized role but also a relevant skill for many disciplines experts to adopt in the field.

This topic stems from the following open problem or hypothesis:

Current industry and clients demand increased efficiency, flexibility, speed and quality, while taking more and more parameters and external factors into account. This requires the AEC industry to adapt and digitize their processes, in order to stay relevant.

The onset of industry 4.0 technologies accompanied with increased computational power has led to the development of multiple approaches and tools to enhance the design and engineering processes in the AEC. This evolution in computer aided design, in combination with changed client expectations, has led to development of a new role capable of dealing with these challenges, that of computational designer. 

However, in current practice there is an increasing gap between the domain knowledge of the computational designer as a process specialist and the domain expert as a content specialist. Furthermore, the domain expert remains hesitant to adopt computational design skills to future-proof their design processes. Therefore, how do we prevent that an increased focus on computational design leads to a loss of in-depth domain knowledge, or that a focus on domain knowledge will prevent the AEC industry from modernizing its processes? Does this require the Computational Designer to also be a domain expert, or should a clear new role definition be established across the industry?

Here is the link to the Survey - https://www.menti.com/alzerujtwhhe - Enter the code 5743 9374: (Closing date 10th March 2023)

Appreciate if you can share the survey further with your colleagues and your networks.

The outcome and insights of the survey with will shared later this year.