| There are currently two types of Computer Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) tools: those which facilitate design but do not automate it and those which partially or fully automate the design process. Although the development of the first type of tool is relatively straightforward, the development of knowledge-based CAAD tools is a much bigger challenge.; This thesis presents the design, development and evaluation of a prototype CAAD tool which aims to provide end-users, who have no architectural design knowledge, with an environment to design houses. As a part of the LaHave House Project, this tool: the Design Machine House Plan Editor (DM Editor), was developed for customizing house designs drawn from a structured design library.; In this thesis, the object-oriented software development method was used iteratively and concurrently. This constraint-based editing system represented both knowledge of architectural components and their interrelationships.; The DM Editor was developed in the Java programming language as a Java applet, and runs over the Internet in any Java-enabled browser. A Plan Server was developed to facilitate the communication between the Java applet and the rest of the LaHave House System.; The design of the user interface was the result of usability engineering. Besides involving end-users in the design and following guidelines for user interface design, a formal usability evaluation was conducted to validate and guide the design. |
