This article poses the notion that it is possible and desirable to formalize and apply design critiques in a specialized framework. It describes GENCRIT, (GENeric CRItiquing Tool), one such framework for design critiquing. The article starts by highlighting the role of critics in the design process. It then goes on to bring out the need for a critic building tool, viz. that of aiding in the rapid development of multiple critics. GENCRIT combines knowledge-based techniques and a multifactor decision making model to develop an integrated approach to evaluation that encompasses a wide range of designs. Critics developed using GENCRIT evaluate candidate designs based on the critiquing knowledge provided by experts, give justifications for the evaluation, and suggest improvements. The working of GENCRIT is illustrated with two examples: a constructibility critic for reinforced concrete buildings and a bridge design critic.
Although the case-based reasoning (CBR) process is domain dependent, certain aspects of it can readily be captured into a generic framework which in turn can be applied to various engineering domains. One such exercise that has been carried out is described here. In this paper, we present the notion that CBR can be formalized and applied in a specialized framework in an integrated knowledge-based environment. We first analyze the CBR process to abstract the steps involved in the development of a CBR system. We then propose a framework in which most of these steps are formalized so that they can be applied in a domain-independent manner. The salient features of this framework, called CASETOOL (CASE-based reasoning TOOL-kit), are then described. The highlight of this approach is the use of a concept called design criticism in the CBR process. The versatility of the tool is demonstrated through an application from the bridge engineering domain.
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