Dear Damian,
I think you may find Christopher Alexander's work on "a Pattern Language" in
architecture inspiring. You may view his patterns as suggestions for "genes"
of architecture and urban planning. This concept of reusable or recurring
patterns have later found their way into other fields, as for instance
Information Systems/Technology. You may for instance look at the Google apps
APIs architecture to see an example of how such patterns are supplied to IS
designers.
Standardized construction elements in for instance CAD systems are another
candidate for inspiration.
In my view worthy challenges are how to make these patterns save time,
without impeding innovation and at which level the DNA should be defined.
/Lars
**************************************
Lars Albinsson
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+ 46 (0) 70 592 70 45
Affiliations:
Maestro Management AB www.maestro.se
Calistoga Springs Research Institute www.calistoga.se
School of Business and Informatics
University of Borås www.hb.se
Linköping University www.liu.se
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Från: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] För Damian Rogers
Skickat: den 1 december 2008 16:52
Till: [log in to unmask]
Ämne: 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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