Since the establishment of the CAAD futures Foundation in 1985 CAAD experts from all over the world meet every two years to present and at the same time document the state of art of research in Computer Aided Architectural Design. The history of CAAD futures started in the Netherlands at the Technical Universities of Eindhoven and Delft, where the CAAD futures Foundation came into being. Then CAAD futures crossed the oceans for the first time, the third CAAD futures in 1989 was held at Harvard University. Next stations in the evolution were in 1991 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the ETC, Zürich. In 1993 the conference was organized by Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh and in 1995 by National University, Singapore, CAAD futures 1995 marked the world wide nature by organizing it for the first time in Asia. Proceedings of CAAD futures held biannually provide a complete review of the state of research in Computer Aided Architectural Design.

CAAd Futures is a Bi-annual Conference that aims at promoting the advancement of computer aided architectural design in the service of those concerned with the quality of the built environment. The conferences are organised under the auspices of the CAAD Futures Foundation which has its secretariat at the Eindhoven University of Technology. The Series of conferences started in 1985 in Delft, and has since travelled through Eindhoven, Boston, Zurich, Pittsburgh, Singapore, Munich, and Atlanta. The book contains the proceedings of the 9th CAAD Futures conference which took place at Eindhoven University of Technology, 8-11 of July, 2001. The Articles in this book cover a wide range of subjects and provide an excellent overview of the state-of-the-art in research on computer aided architectural design. The following categories of articles are included: Capturing design; Information modelling; CBR techniques; Virtual reality; CAAD education; (Hyper) Media; Design evaluation; Design systems development; Collaboration; Generation; Design representation; Knowledge management; Form programming; Simulation; Architectural analysis; Urban design. Information on the CAAD Futures Foundation and its conferences can be found at: www.caadfutures.arch.tue.nl. Information about the 2001 Conference and this book is available from: www.caadfutures.arch.tue.nl/2001.

The development of computational models of design founded on the artificial intelligenceparadigm has provided an impetus for muchofcurrentdesign research. As artificial intelligence has matured and developed new approaches so the impact ofthese new approaches on design research has been felt. This can be seen in the wayconcepts from cognitive science has found theirway into artificial intelligence and hence into design research. And, also in the way in which agent-based systems arebeingincorporated into design systems. In design research there is an increasing blurring between notions drawn from artificial intelligence and those drawn from cognitive science. Whereas a number of years ago the focus was largely on applying artificial intelligence to designing as an activity, thus treating designing as a form ofproblem solving, today we are seeing a much wider variety ofconceptions of the role of artificial intelligence in helping to model and comprehend designing as a process. Thus, we see papers in this volume which have as their focus the development or implementationofframeworks for artificial intelligence in design - attempting to determine a unique locus for these ideas. We see papers which attempt to find foundations for the development of tools based on the artificial intelligence paradigm; often the foundations come from cognitive studiesofhuman designers.

Since the establishment of the CAAD Futures Foundation in 1985, CAAD experts from all over the world meet every two years to present and document the state of the art of research in Computer Aided Architectural Design. Together, the series provides a good record of the evolving state of research in this area over the last fourteen years. The Proceedings this year is the eighth in the series. The conference held at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, includes twenty-five papers presenting new and exciting results and capabilities in areas such as computer graphics, building modeling, digital sketching and drawing systems, Web-based collaboration and information exchange. An overall reading shows that computers in architecture is still a young field, with many exciting results emerging out of both greater understanding of the human processes and information processing needed to support design and also the continuously expanding capabilities of digital technology.

One of the foundations for change in our society comes from designing. Its genesis is the notion that the world around us either is unsuited to our needs or can be improved. The need for designing is driven by a society's view that it can improve or add value to human existence well beyond simple subsistence. As a consequence of designing the world which we inhabit is increasingly a designed rather than a naturally occurring one. In that sense it is an "artificial" world. Designing is a fundamental precursor to manufacturing, fabrication, construction or implementation. Design research aims to develop an understanding of designing and to produce models of designing that can be used to aid designing. Artificial intelligence has provided an environmental paradigm within which design research based on computational constructions, can be carried out. Design research can be carried out in variety of ways. It can be viewed as largely an empirical endeavour in which experiments are designed and executed in order to test some hypothesis about some design phenomenon or design behaviour. This is the approach adopted in cognitive science. It often manifests itself through the use of protocol studies of designers. The results of such research form the basis of a computational model. A second view is that design research can be carried out by positing axioms and then deriving consequences from them.

Internationally refereed papers present the state of the art in computer-aided architectural design research. These papers reflect the theme of the 12th International Conference of CAADFutures, Integrating Technologies for Computer-Aided Design. Collectively, they provide the technological foundation for new ways of thinking about using computers to design. In addition, they address the education of designers themselves.

The Culture of Building describes how the built world, including the vast number of buildings that are the settings for peoples everyday lives, is the product of building cultures--complex systems of people, relationships, building types, techniques, and habits in which design and building are anchored. These cultures include builders, bankers, architects, developers, clients, contractors, craftspeople, building inspectors, planners, and many others. The product of these cultures, which operate building after building, is the built world of cities and settlements. In this book, Howard Davis uses historical, contemporary, and cross-cultural examples to describe the nature and influence of these cultures. He shows how building cultures reflect the general cultures in which they exist, how they have changed over history, how they affect the form of buildings and cities, and how present building cultures, which are responsible for the contemporary everyday environments, may be improved. Following the development of the idea of building cultures using several historical examples, the book lays out a framework that puts such topics as craft and professionalism, the vernacular and nonvernacular, and design and construction in common frameworks. Although the book ranges widely over different cultures and historical periods, it emphasizes the transformations that took place in architecture and building practice from the late eighteenth century to the present. Finally, the book uses a series of contemporary examples that demonstrate the building culture as a living concept. These examples, which include built work as well as innovative processes that go beyond the work of architects alone, are described as the seeds that can help the emergence of a better build world. This beautiful book features over 260 color and black-and-white illustrations, most from the authors extensive collection of slides, and includes photographs, prints, and drawings from historical archives and contemporary architectural offices.