Experimenting with a New Proposal for Digital Design Instrumentation: A Wizard of OZ method to study its impact on activity

Abstract

This paper is a continuation of a previous research in which we highlighted the limits of the current transition between ideation and digital production, in particular to generate the Building Information Modeling models, and in wich we proposed an alternative transition through the semantic and digital formalisation of the building based on an automatic interpretation of the architectural sketches. We must now study how to test this proposed transition technology. This paper presents the test set up to determine (1) how to extract meaning from the often ambiguous, incomplete and personal graphical traces for generating the building models and (2) how to return these generated models so that they constitute an added value for the design activity. This arrangement consists of a Wizard of Oz type experiment immersing expert designers in this technology for a design capsule. The protocol includes the elaboration of the instrumented work environment and the collection of data via cameras and interviews. These experiments allow to obtain data documenting (1) the activities required to interpret architectural sketches and produce models, and (2) the design activities and human-machine interactions of the architects.