From: access@bambi.tamu.edu (James Goodlett)
Subject: Re: Telecommuting Doomed?
Date: 29 Nov 91 03:34:05 GMT
Message-ID: <6384@tamsun.tamu.edu>
Organization: College of Architecture, Texas A&M University



In article <1991Nov25.212303.26038@milton.u.washington.edu> ee91ajh@brunel.
ac.uk (Adam J Holt) writes:

>Why should telecommuting destroy the social side of work?  Surely the members
>of a company could work together within a virtual enviroment.  Consider the
>architect of the future who virtually commutes to his offices on a daily 
>basis.  His office complex includes his working rooms where he constructs his
>designs straight off in full size.  His work colleagues can join him on the
>site and make suggestions/critiscisms about his construction.  

	Please no...not another article (re:  all the under and mis-
informed articles in periodicals and television) about the virtues of VR for
architects...	

	Nothing personal Adam, but architecture is so much more...if all i
was going to use VR for was commuting to work sands gas and traffic, i would
have my office at home, or live in a communce of architects...pardon...blah...
my point is this, architecture is not about window dressing...it is not
about creating a VISUAL description of a future built environment...though
the profession seems to further this view in its publications...

	Having finsihed a masters thesis in architecture on a cyberspatial
medium that would be utilized for an architectural design process, i know 
there is more to VR then what is currently available...i am talking about 
designing with an "intelligent or smart" ( i use those terms loosely) VR
system...one that incorporates knowledge based systems for energy analysis
and expert systems for code restrictions (to name a few) that are integrated
in user specified formats under a multi-user, multi-modal, multi-tasking
SENSORIAL enriched design environment...

	What i am talking about is a medium that allows an architect to 
"delineate" design ideas with a set of tools that better inform the 
architect about the process and the end result, long before its externalization
into our "other" reality...but then again Adam, if everyone is jacked into
a VR, will we need architects any more...?

>He could enjoy all the aspects of a daily routine, and filter out those that
>he would prefer not to simulate.  For instance he may like to keep those
>intimate photo-copier room moments,  but remove that regular trip to the
>coffee vending-machine that always requires so much physical work.

	I think most professions and people already do this to a certain extent
without going to the expense of a cyberspatial environment...:^)...

				cheers...
					...jim

jim goodlett					access@archone.tamu.edu
college of architecture					or
texas A&M university				ymjim@ttacs1.ttu.edu