Thirteenth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

The fundamental importance of transformations to the operation of CAD software was identified in the early days of computer modelling - CAD allows drawing objects to be easily changed after creation. How does transformation have agency in the development of detail design drawings? This research focuses on the use of CAD by early career architects to produce detail design drawings in architectural practice. A detail design drawing shows the arrangement of materials and components to enable the proposed building to be constructed. Direct observation of early career architects in small and medium sized architectural practice was used to gather ethnographic data on the use of CAD in detail design drawings. Using an Actor Network Theory approach to interpret this data reveals the way that these digital drawings emerge through an iterative dialogue between humans and computers. Multiple actors are involved in the creation of each drawing: human actors manipulating the CAD drawing or discussing the drawing around the screen and nonhuman actors, particularly the CAD software, facilitating and constraining the way drawings are produced. This study suggests how CAD encourages and enables particular tactics in detail design drawing including reproduction, adaptation, insertion, and tidying. The ’slippery’ medium of CAD is often used more like a photocopier and a pair of scissors than a digital equivalent of the analogue drawing board, helping us to see how the final drawing is descended from a range of ancestors.