The Arab Society for Computer Aided Architectural Design (ASCAAD) is a society of those who teach and conduct research in computer-aided architectural design (CAAD) in schools of architecture in the Arab region of West Asia, and North Africa. ASCAAD is also active in Central Asia, Sub-Sahara Africa, and the Mediterranean. ASCAAD is one of five sister organisations in CAAD worldwide that share the same mission: ACADIA (North America, founded 1981), SIGraDi (Ibero-America, founded 1997), CAADRIA (Asia, founded 1996) and eCAADe (Europe, founded 1983). There is Also CAADFutures foundation but with a world wide scope.
ASCAAD society and committee welcome you to join us and participate in its third international conference ASCAAD 2007. 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 increasing speed of technological improvements outpaced many design issues. Nowadays, architecture is accepting digital design tools and technologies as a feature integrated in design process and in spaces of our everyday “Being-in-the-World”. The consequences of this integration result in many changing and expanding forms of interaction.
Space appears prominently in narratives about everyday life, modulated by the spread of digital media to create ever-expanding narratives of communication, containment, boundaries, thresholds, and transgressions.
Interactive digital media enables advanced investigation on themes of embodiment and perception by providing an excellent means of testing, comparing, validating and challenging theories about perception. Virtual architecture introduces an interesting mode of interaction deploying space as a major metaphor. The capability of creating a 3D virtual world and filling it with artefacts from our more familiar environments is possible due to the ever increasing power of computer processing.
In a sense the theme of this conference examines two particular metaphors. The first metaphor addresses aspects of virtual environments that resemble our physical world; In other words, the computer model as physical model and the digital world as material world. The second metaphor looks into the means of interaction and modes between our bodies and such virtual environment.
Our observation of different modes of interaction with the virtual world can enrich our understanding of interaction in the material world. There is the potential to uncover many outcomes that might include insights into the way we understand and interact with space, and the way different elements related to our embodiment affect this understanding. Indirect outcomes include determining the importance of different elements related to our embodiment as cues for immersion in virtual environments and developed techniques for students, practitioners, and researchers to examine and investigate new aspects of their designs.
topics of interest /
The conference encourages submission of papers on topics including but not limited to the following:
important dates /
| Deadline for abstracts submission | Monday | 21 | May | 2007 |
| Extended Deadline for abstracts submission | Monday | 28 | May | 2007 |
| Notification of abstract acceptance | Monday | 04 | June | 2007 |
| Full paper submission | Monday | 24 | July | 2007 |
| Notification of full paper acceptance | Monday | 20 | August | 2007 |
| Camera-ready (revised) paper submission | Monday | 17 | September | 2007 |
| Conference starts | Wednesday | 28 | November | 2007 |
Two types of papers could be submitted: papers that describe well-developed or completed research (max 7000 words, or 16 pages of our template) and short papers that describe research in progress (max 3000 words, or 7 pages of our template). Abstract submission must be in Arabic, English or French with no more than 500 words. Full paper submission could be in Arabic, English, or French. Submissions should be sent in Word Document Format or Rich Text Format RTF.
