The University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

Design Lab, formerly the Key Centre of Design Computing and Cognition, is a teaching and research centre of the University's School of Architecture, Design and Planning, established in 1968. The aim of the centre is to apply

human-centred design Human-centered design (HCD, also human-centred design, as used in ISO standards) is an approach to problem-solving commonly used in process, product, service and system design, management, and engineering frameworks that develops solutions to p ...

to products, services and systems. The Key Centre of Design Computing and Cognition was founded in 1968 by John Gero (its Foundation Director) to research computers in design as a way of modeling and understanding designing. In 2007, after the departure of its co-directors John Gero and Mary Lou Maher, it changed its name to the Design Lab. During the intervening years its ambit grew to embrace teaching. The KCDC’s research is founded on the use of a scientific approach to the development of models, theories and methods to understand designs and

designing A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

Naming history

* 1968 Computer Applications Research Unit (Gero 1972) * 1973 Renamed Architectural Computing Unit * 1982 Renamed Design Computing Unit * 1990 Renamed Key Centre of Design Computing * 1998 Renamed Key Centre of Design Computing and Cognition * 2007 Renamed Design Lab

Research

The KCDC from 1968-2007 had four overlapping foci in its design research: * The first phase (1968-1975) researched design via simulation (Gero 1970). * The second phase (1972-1983) researched design via optimization. * The third phase (1979-2007) researched design using artificial intelligence and knowledge-based approaches, with a focus on

design theory Design theory is a subfield of design research concerned with various theoretical approaches towards understanding and delineating design principles, design knowledge, and design practice. History Design theory has been approached and interp ...

, design synthesis and

computational creativity Computational creativity (also known as artificial creativity, mechanical creativity, creative computing or creative computation) is a multidisciplinary endeavour that is located at the intersection of the fields of artificial intelligence, cogn ...

(Gero and Maher 1996a; Gero and Maher 1996b). * The fourth phase (1992-2007) researched cognitive aspects of designing as a basis for models of design and as foundations for

design computing The terms design computing and other relevant terms including design and computation and computational design refer to the study and practice of design activities through the application and development of novel ideas and techniques in computing. O ...

Teaching

* Undergraduate architecture student teaching of computational approaches to design, introduced in 1966 (predating the establishment of the Centre) * Professional courses for practicing designers on computational approaches to design, introduced in 1969 * PhD program in

design research Design research was originally constituted as primarily research into the process of design, developing from work in design methods, but the concept has been expanded to include research embedded within the process of design, including work concer ...

, introduced in 1969 (Gero 2004) * Master of Architectural Computing, introduced in 1978 * Graduate Diploma in Architectural Computing, introduced in 1978 (Gero 1980) * Master of Design Science (Design Computing), introduced in 1988
Bachelor of Design Computing
introduced in 2003

Conferences

The Key Centre was very active in organizing conferences and workshopshttp://mason.gmu.edu/~jgero/conferences.htm as a means of both creating a research community and producing a broader impact.

References

External links

*
University of Sydney website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Design Lab Design Lab 1968 establishments in Australia