Dear Damian,
Good idea. There is an extensive well established literature on this in
engineering design research and architectural design research. The
literature first emerged in a tentative form in the late-1970s and
developed in the 1980's and 1990 currently it is mainstream in some areas.
I'm at the ANZSYS systems conference and have just listed to a paper on the
use of it in the design of automated military rotorcraft maintenance
programs.
Typical journals to look in are Research in Engineering Design and AIDAM
also try some classic engineering design textbooks particularly in area of
design optimization.
Best wishes,
Terry
____________________
Dr. Terence Love, FRDS, AMIMechE, PMACM
Founder member Design-focused Research Group, Design Out Crime Research
Group
Researcher, Digital Ecosystems and Business Intelligence Institute
Associate, Planning and Transport Research Centre
Curtin University, PO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845
Mob: 0434 975 848, Fax +61(0)8 9305 7629, [log in to unmask]
Visiting Professor, Member of Scientific Council
UNIDCOM/ IADE, Lisbon, Portugal
Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise
Development
Management School, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
____________________
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Damian
Rogers
Sent: Tuesday, 2 December 2008 12:52 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Using DNA Structure as an Analogy for Design
Hi all,
I have been subscribed to the list for a fairly long time now and really
like reading contributions from all of you. Though I read it every day, this
will be my first post to the list since I subscribed. What I am writing
about is a question about whether any of you know of any references to my
topic. I have done the traditional "google" searches for keywords I think my
topic entails, but haven't found any reference to work in progress or
already completed that relates to my thesis topic. So, if any of you have
heard of something similar or have any suggestions for books/papers I could
read, it would be greatly appreciated. I'll give a brief explanation of what
I'm doing below.
I am currently conducting research in the area of using DNA structure in
living organisms as an analogy to design theory. Since DNA is viewed as a
set of instructions for life, we can do the same with design and create an
artificial set of instructions for any artifact we wish to create. By using
best practices, commonality, regulations, etc and by examining current
successful designs, we can form a set of artificial instructions for nearly
any artifact we design and thus help to decrease time at or around the
concept stage in design.
To use an example as explanation, say we are designing a house in a known
community. We could start from scratch and look up things like building
codes, regulations, weather patterns for the area, etc. or these things
could be somewhat pre-determined via picking certain favourable "genes" from
the artificial DNA method. So, by examining current housing stock, it is
possible to come up with the genes that give certain characteristics and
performance levels. We then create a list of genes, taken from currently
existing designs, from which we can create a newly designed artifact with
less effort. So, picking a certain "insulation level gene" say from our
list, then we are assured a typical performance level for that house. This
way we didn't have to look up all the primary information in order to decide
what insulation level we need, we just pick it from the list of available
genes in the inventory.
The same can be done for choosing exterior cladding, window to wall ratios,
flooring, power generation methods, etc. While this method doesn't pick the
interior wall colour, or layout or other such aspect of the house, the
designer still has complete freedom of form.
I hope this has given everyone a good enough picture of what we are
currently researching and I hope to hear from any of you on suggestions for
readings that could be applicable, or research that is currently being done
in the same area.
Cheers,
Damian
Damian Rogers, B.Eng, M.A.Sc
PhD Candidate, Ryerson University
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