Written by a single author, this book has emerged from a collection of earlier collaborative writings, and discusses the issues of architectural design carried out through digital collaboration. I am not an architect, but I have a lot of experience in designing interactive systems for a variety of domains, and I found the examples and arguments collected to be interesting and compelling. The collection is a historical set of published case studies in design, reflecting building projects carried out by designers working in teams. Based on this information, the author attempts, mostly successfully, to formalize the process of such collaborations so that this process can be used in designing collaborative software systems.

There are two major reasons for the importance of interaction in architecture: the fact that a variety of areas of expertise is necessary to design the details of an architectural project, and the fact that these different parts should fit well together in the final design. Digital interaction in this area can go in two directions: it can be technology-driven or practice-pulled.

Chapter 1 explains the goals of the book and places architecture within the framework of collaborative computer systems. Chapter 2 addresses computer-aided architectural design (CAAD), computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW), and computer-supported collaborative design (CSCD), focusing on the early period of formation of these concepts (up to the early 1990s). Peng develops a refined typology of collaborative design activities and systems, and illustrates them with the help of multiple studies. This chapter will be of great value for those who are setting out to study the history of CAAD and CSCW, providing useful pointers to various directions in early research dealing with synchronous and asynchronous activities; remote and collocated systems; and object structured, pixel-based, and knowledge-based graphics, as well as basic information about networks and information storage and retrieval.

While chapter 2 highlights ideas that are common in the field of CSCW, chapter 3 focuses on the unique characteristics of collaborative work of designers in architecture. The author cautions the reader that these ideas may not be easily applicable to other fields. Whether or not this is true, readers will find the five case studies in this chapter, which attempt to illustrate both the multi-expertise nature of the design teams and the essence of design integrations, to be quite interesting. The case studies represent the various approaches used to express and share metaphors in a variety of contexts: an urban landscaping design, an industrial building, a private house, and a chapel at Cambridge University. Each case is formally explained, based on the author’s position that historical cases can provide deep insights into the workflows and processes in collaborative design.

Chapter 4 continues to present insights into the generation of common images and metaphors by identifying constraints on collaborative activities in architecture, such as the availability of common visual modeling languages, the ability to exercise analogical mapping, the importance of having reasonable ranges of individual objects employed, and the need for joint evaluation of design changes. The author also provides a comprehensive analysis of some of the technologies supporting the emergence of common metaphors, such as the World Wide Web and intranets.

While the cases presented and analyzed so far have all been examples of what the author calls a “bottom-up approach,” the cases in chapter 5 provide evidence of more flexible frameworks, based on the “top-down approach” that can support group dynamics in collaborative design projects. The two case studies in this chapter, designing a church and using Greek taxis schemas, allow the author to describe the characteristics (such as genericity, flexibility, and multiple-viewpoints) in collaborative design projects that start with the concept of the “whole” object.

Chapter 6 continues the analysis initiated in the previous chapter, developing a consistent view of the patterns of collaborative design activities and conditions supporting top-down scenarios. The author examines the body of research in the area, attempting to define, in a concrete way, a technological framework that would support collaboration of this type.

The general process-related observations in chapters 2 to 6 are presented in the context of current applications in chapter 7. This chapter focuses on teamwork support in major graphical design applications: AutoCad, ArchiCad, and MicroStation ProjectBank. The author describes the role of the Internet and the Web, as well as some applications of Extensible Markup Language (XML) and specially adapted XML schemas. Although all the information presented in this chapter is correct, it is technically somewhat primitive, and readers would be wise to supplement it with more technical sources.

Finally, chapter 8 envisions potential future developments in collaborative design. First, the new technological ease of implementation of hypermedia systems, and of related cases/knowledge banks, will change prevailing approaches to finding solutions and alternatives, and to conceptualizing design metaphors. Second, architectural design firms are likely to become fully networked and able to operate solely online if necessary. Third, new interfaces in collaborative design systems, such as the three-dimensional display of objects and virtual reality, will allow designers to operate in much more versatile online environments. In the future, software agents may become “members” of project teams, and better groupware may play a decisive role in improving process and increasing efficiency. In general, technology will compensate for deficiencies in process.

The book is written in an informal yet precise style, and includes many illustrations, some of which are of very high quality and full of creative spirit. This book will be an asset for creators of CAAD systems, for scholars in the area of collaborative work, and for curious technologists who, though new to the field of architecture, may find many creative ideas to use in application development and interface design.