The CEDeS Lab combines the use of digital media with the professional
design disciplines of CAUP to create a center for research and
teaching in advanced simulation for urban and architectural design,
landscape design, and artificial virtual environments. The lab's
mission is to confront the implications of digital technology
for society in the design of human environments.
The mandate for the Lab has a three-fold emphasis on education,
research, and community involvement. The goals for this mandate
are: to educate students to be skilled, thoughtful, and critical
designers; to research and develop new tools, techniques, and
procedures for the design of inhabitable space; and to be a resource
to the community in the design, planning and construction processes.
Sponsors
To research and respond to the influence of digital media on the way we
design space, the Community and Environmental Design and Simulation
Laboratory (CEDeS Lab) has been established at the University of
Washington. The CEDeS Lab (pronounced "seeds") is sponsored by the
Cascadia Community and Environment Institute, at the UW College of Architecture and
Urban Planning (CAUP), and the Human Interface Technology
Laboratory (HIT Lab), at the Washington Technology Center.
The CEDeS Lab was established in 1994 to bring virtual interface
technology closer to the students and faculty of CAUP, and to bring
spatial design expertise and sensibility into the research at the HIT Lab.
The partnership between the HIT Lab and the Cascadia Community and
Environment Institute allows each of the organizations to access to the
other's strengths, enabling joint research, application, and educational
opportunities.
Objectives
Provide computer-aided design technology and instruction to enrich
the professional curricula of the CAUP. A new "Virtual Environments"
course has been added to the curricula at UW's CAUP. In this
class, students are taught the skills required to build computer
models suitable for real-time simulation, and to apply these skills
by developing virtual environments. In conjunction with specialized
classes, the CEDeS Lab provides computer resources for existing
CAUP classes, enabling design studios to be taught with digital
media as a focus. All of these classes fit within the lab's pedagogical
strategy to incorporate digital media in design education professionally,
technically, and theoretically.
Research and develop new tools and techniques for design by applying
simulation technology to the design process. The CEDeS Lab is
involved in a number of projects at the HIT Lab and in a global
context which further design and design review. There is a need
to understand how digital media, specifically virtual interfaces
and real-time rendering, can and should be applied both in the
design process and as architectural product, and this research
is central to the efforts by the staff and students at the CEDeS
Lab.
Initiate the development of a new professional discipline for
the design of virtual environments which will not be constructed
or inhabited in physical reality. The principal focus of architectural
education is to teach an understanding of spatial solutions to
functional needs given a gamut of technical, financial, and logistical
constraints. Architects and planners have applied these skills
to shape our physical environment for thousands of years. Now,
we are looking ahead to an increase in the need for three-dimensional
content on the Internet and other digital venues. The demand
for well-designed digital content is answered by a specific educational
emphasis on a new application for architectural education.
Provide a resource for design, planning and community development
organizations. In the future, as the technology matures, advanced
simulation will be applied in professional practice. Currently,
the technology required to produce a virtual simulation is complex,
expensive and relatively scarce. As the hardware and software
continues to advance, the CEDeS Lab will act as a resource for
the community. It will continue to utilize the most advanced
simulation technology available, and it will direct the way this
technology is transferred and incorporated into the business procedures
of professional practice.
See also:
--Related Courses
--CEDeS Projects