Requirements For A Mobile Interactive Workspace To Support Design Development And Coordination

Building design is a complex multi-disciplinary process that requires extensive collaboration to develop a coordinated design that satisfies the functional, aesthetic, and economic requirements of the owner. Recently, 3D design tools are gaining acceptance and providing significant benefits to the design coordination process. However, it remains unclear as to how such tools can be incorporated effectively into fully digital interactive workspaces to support 3D design coordination. This paper describes an initial set of requirements for accomplishing design coordination tasks in a computer-supported interactive workspace. We developed these requirements through: (1) observations of design development meetings in paper-based workspaces, (2) observations of 3D design coordination meetings in current interactive workspaces, and (3) experiments conducted in a state-of-the-art interactive workspace. We describe the work practices of design teams in these different workspaces, the benefits of existing collaboration technologies, and the functionality required to support 3D design coordination.