Introduction

The ASCAAD society and committee welcome you to join us and participate in its second international conference ASCAAD 2006. With involvement of researchers and professionals in the architectural community, it will be possible for ASCAAD to facilitate communication and information exchange regarding the use of Computer-Aided Architectural Design and Information Technology in architecture, planning, and building science. The conference provides opportunities for participants from many fields to share their ideas and contributions.

The influence of digital media and information technology on architectural design education and practice is increasingly evident. The ever-advancing digital technologies are dramatically challenging fundamental assumptions, theories and practices of conventional design paradigm. The proliferation of computers and telecomputing in design education and practice has resulted in a major paradigm shift and a reorientation in theoretical and conceptual assumptions considered to be central to design education and practice. In contrast, architectural design discourse is still dominated by the prevailing conventional analogue paradigm which puts great constraints on our understanding of recent developments in teaching and practicing design.

Conference Theme:

The theme of the 2006 conference is “Computing in Architectural Design: Re-Thinking the Discourse”. This captures the role of the conference as a forum to debate and reconsider current understandings of digital design. The conference aims to provide the participants an occasion to share and exchange experiences and research findings, and to stimulate more ideas and useful insights regarding newly introduced developments in design computing and their impact on architectural design education and practice.

The conference will be held in the School of Architecture and Design, American University of Sharjah, UAE.