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Description
This programme is not directly coupled to any one unit, but rather spans several areas of study. CAD is taken as an example of technological change, and the programme is as much concerned with the... capabilities and implications of the systems, as with how they work. After a shot film sequence to display the wide applications of computers in Design, Nigel Cross analyses the design process and compares the relative merits of man and machines at three stages. Taking architecture as his particular example he introduces Jack Platt, Senior Development Architect at the South East Architects' Consortium, whose role in the programme is to expound the manual design process. Tom Maver, Director of the Architecture and Building Aids Computer Unit at Strathclyde, and John Chalmers, Project leader for CEDAR at the Department of the Environment present the computer programmes which they believe can complement or even replace some aspects of this manual process. They examine room layout and structural frome design. The arguments are illustrated with an actual architects drawings and notes for a junior school project, and playbacks of real computer activity based on the same information.
This programme is not directly coupled to any one unit, but rather spans several areas of study. CAD is taken as an example of technological change, and the programme is as much concerned with the... capabilities and implications of the systems, as with how they work. After a shot film sequence to display the wide applications of computers in Design, Nigel Cross analyses the design process and compares the relative merits of man and machines at three stages. Taking architecture as his particular example he introduces Jack Platt, Senior Development Architect at the South East Architects' Consortium, whose role in the programme is to expound the manual design process. Tom Maver, Director of the Architecture and Building Aids Computer Unit at Strathclyde, and John Chalmers, Project leader for CEDAR at the Department of the Environment present the computer programmes which they believe can complement or even replace some aspects of this manual process. They examine room layout and structural frome design. The arguments are illustrated with an actual architects drawings and notes for a junior school project, and playbacks of real computer activity based on the same information.
| Module code and title: | T262, Man-made futures: design and technology |
|---|---|
| Item code: | T262; 06 |
| First transmission date: | 1975 |
| Published: | 1975 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:25:00 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Colin Robinson |
| Contributors: | Nigel Cross; Jack Platt |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Architecture; Implications; School design; Technological change |
| Footage description: | Film shots alternate between a driver's view of the motorway and a computer simulation of the same view. Commentary by Nigel Cross explains how computer simulations aid in designing motorways. Shots of a computer display screen. A complex simulation is built up. Commentary by Nigel Cross briefly explains how visual displays are programmed into the computer. Shots of a designer using a light pen to manipulate components of a design on the display screen. Shots of final design being drawn on paper by the computer. Nigel Cross compares the design capabilites of men and computers. He discusses possible optimal combinations of the two in design. Nigel Cross introduces Jack Platt, an architect, and Tom Maver, a computer specialist. They will discuss the application of computer technology to building design. Jack Platt, with the aid of several architectural drawings, discusses the way an architect would go about designing a school in the traditional way. Tom Maver explains and demonstrates how the computer can be used to design the same school. He goes through all the steps an architect would take. Each step of the design is displayed on the computer display screen. Jack Platt discusses ways in which this type of computer designing can aid the architect. Tom Maver discusses the effect of computers on the architect's professional standing. Jack Platt with a series of architectural drawings, explains how the architect works out the detailed structural components of a building (in this case the steel frame). John Chalmers explains and demonstrates how a computer handles structural frame design for a school building. The computer displays the frame design and works out cost and specifications for the components. All the contributors now discuss the impact of the computer on architectural design, (job redundancies, flexibility, time savings etc.). |
| Master spool number: | 6HT/71338 |
| Production number: | 00525_5140 |
| Videofinder number: | 2674 |
| Available to public: | no |
