MEDIATING COGNITIVE TRANSFORMATION WITH VR 3D SKETCHING DURING CONCEPTUAL ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN PROCESS

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MEDIATING COGNITIVE TRANSFORMATION WITH VR 3D SKETCHING
DURING CONCEPTUAL ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN PROCESS.
Farzad Pour Rahimian, Rahinah Ibrahim, Rahmita Wirza Binti O. K. Rahmat,
Muhamad Taufik B. Abdullah, and Mohd Saleh B. Hj J aafar
Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research
Copyright © 2011 Archnet-IJAR, Volume 5 - Issue 1 - March 2011 - (99-113)
99
Abstract
Communications for information synchronization
during the conceptual design phase require
designers to employ more intuitive digital design
tools. This paper presents findings of a feasibility study
for using VR 3D sketching interface in order to replace
current non-intuitive CAD tools. We used a sequential
mixed method research methodology including
a qualitative case study and a cognitive-based
quantitative protocol analysis experiment. Foremost,
the case study research was conducted in order to
understand how novice designers make intuitive
decisions. The case study documented the failure
of conventional sketching methods in articulating
complicated design ideas and shortcomings of
current CAD tools in intuitive ideation. The case study’s
findings then became the theoretical foundations for
testing the feasibility of using VR 3D sketching interface
during design. The latter phase of study evaluated
the designers’ spatial cognition and collaboration at
six different levels: “physical-actions”, “perceptual-
actions”, “functional-actions”, “conceptual-actions”,
“cognitive synchronizations”, and “gestures”. The
results and confirmed hypotheses showed that the
utilized tangible 3D sketching interface improved
novice designers’ cognitive and collaborative design
activities. In summary this paper presents the influences
of current external representation tools on designers’
cognition and collaboration as well as providing the
necessary theoretical foundations for implementing
VR 3D sketching interface. It contributes towards
transforming conceptual architectural design phase
from analogue to digital by proposing a new VR design
interface. The paper proposes this transformation to
fill in the existing gap between analogue conceptual
architectural design process and remaining digital
engineering parts of building design process hence
expediting digital design process.
Keywords
Conceptual architectural design; external
representation; VR 3D sketching; design
collaboration; design cognition.
Introduction

This study has been motivated by the existing
literature reflecting the shortcomings of current
design tools in conceptual architectural design
process. The literature on one hand argues
that conventional manual sketching interfaces
have some shortcomings in articulating new
comprehensive global projects (e.g. Madrazo,
1999, Marx, 2000) and on the other hand, it
indicates the failures of current CAD tools in
replacing the manual sketching interfaces (e.g.

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Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research - Volume 5 - Issue 1 - March 2011
Mediating C ognitive Transformation with VR 3D Sketching during C onceptual Architectural Design Process
FARZAD POUR RAHIMIAN, RAHINAH IBRAHIM, RAHMITA WIRZA BINTI O. K. RAHMAT, MUHAMAD TAUFIK B.
ABDULLAH, MOHD SALEH B. HJ J AAFAR
100
Bilda and Demirkan, 2003, Kwon et al., 2005,
Meniru et al., 2003, Pour Rahimian, Ibrahim,
& Baharuddin, 2008) due to their inherent
problems which hinder designers’ spatial
cognition during the conceptual architectural
design process. Hence, there are still parts of
design that are handled by freehand sketches
(Suwa et al., 1998) while most other parts are
being done digitally. This transition is known
to interrupt the continuity of a design process
(Kwon et al., 2005). However, the integration
of the whole building design process has since
been suggested by Fruchter (1998) as she
believes that it can better support collaboration
among team members besides having major
advantages in decreasing labor and material
costs within current comprehensive production
procedures. In summary the aim of this research
was to facilitate digitization of conceptual
architectural design process. This is expected
to serve integration of whole building process
besides the possibilities for improving designers’
cognition and collaboration during conceptual
architectural design process. As mentioned
earlier, this aim was motivated by emerging
challenges caused by comprehensive global
building projects (Pour Rahimian, Ibrahim, &
Baharuddin, 2008).
The purpose of this research was to enhance
the integration of whole building process
besides the possibilities for improving designers’
cognition and collaboration during conceptual
architectural design process. This study found
some capabilities in new VR technologies to
address all the above-mentioned problems.
In other words, it suggested using a substitute
modelling technology that is called VR
3D sketching in order to overcome the
inadequacy of conventional manual design
tools in articulating complex design ideas and
to compensate the inflexibility of current CAD
tools in intuitive design ideation. This VR based
design interface is defined by the scholars
as a design tool, which is easy to use, as the
manual sketching besides providing a highly
detailed 3D visualization environment. In
defining this design interface Levet et al. (2006)
use sketching metaphor and mention that in
3D sketching designers can swiftly produce 3D
prototypes to exemplify the 3D objects that
they have in mind. The idea of using VR 3D
sketching in design is also supported by Kwon
et al. (2005) since they believe that this would
improve the performance of the computerized
design process and speed up the incorporation
of engineering requirements
conceptual phases; i.e. applying the digital
format rather than such analogue conventional
formats that are currently being used.
during the
To achieve the mentioned aim the study
developed the main
Afterwards, in order to answer the main research
question the study divided it into three Sub-RQs
which are to identify: 1) the characteristics
of current design media, 2) the collaborative
design culture of conceptual architectural
design process, and 3) the key enablers in VR 3D
sketching interface that can optimize designers’
cognition and collaboration during conceptual
design sessions.
research question.
Research Methodology
The aim of this research was to facilitate
digitization of conceptual architectural design
process in order to enhance the integration of
the whole building process besides developing
and enhancing the current state of the design

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Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research - Volume 5 - Issue 1 - March 2011
Mediating C ognitive Transformation with VR 3D Sketching during C onceptual Architectural Design Process
FARZAD POUR RAHIMIAN, RAHINAH IBRAHIM, RAHMITA WIRZA BINTI O. K. RAHMAT, MUHAMAD TAUFIK B.
ABDULLAH, MOHD SALEH B. HJ J AAFAR
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interfaces. This was expected to improve
designers’ cognition and collaboration during
conceptual architectural design process. This
aim was intended to be achieved by developing
a new design methodology based on Schön’s
(1983a) “reflective practitioner” theory and Fitts’
(1964) “motor learning” theory, then verifying
its effectiveness based on collected empirical
data. Schön’s (1983a) “reflective practitioner”
theory argues that designers are in a mutual
relationship with external representations and
are getting reflections from them. Whereas,
Fitts’ (1964) “motor learning” theory states that
tangible interfaces can improve designers’
cognitive actions. In this case the focus is on the
integration of designers’ other senses (e.g. the
sense of touch) with their visual sense.
To reach to this aim, the research seeks for the
current state of utilized design interfaces and
the existing communication culture among
designers. According to Shuttleworth (2008),
qualitative case study research methodology
could be an appropriate research methodology
for this kind of research, which tests theoretical
models by using them in real world situations. On
the other hand, our research looks for the quality
of the designers’ cognitive and collaborative
actions in using a particular design interface, i.e.
3D sketching. For this part of the research, design
protocol analysis as a quantitative research
methodology was chosen, since it has become
the most prevailing research methodology for
studying design process (Cross et al., 1996).
Creswell (2002) named such a research
methodology, which starts qualitatively and
continues quantitatively, as “sequential mixed
method research” approach.
Our early qualitative case study research (Ibrahim
and Pour Rahimian, 2010) employed ethnography
for data collection and artefact analysis for data
analysis. Units of analyses for this part of study
were design artefacts of a 2nd year architectural
design studio at a local university comprising of
37 students and four studio mentors (Figure 1).
Taking into account the nature of the building
project that they examined, the study adopted
the judgment sampling method (Kumar, 2005) to
choose the sample population among available
different studios. The gatekeeper during the
Figure 1: Individual and
group activities of students
(Source: Pour Rahimian and
Ibrahim, 2008).

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Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research - Volume 5 - Issue 1 - March 2011
Mediating C ognitive Transformation with VR 3D Sketching during C onceptual Architectural Design Process
FARZAD POUR RAHIMIAN, RAHINAH IBRAHIM, RAHMITA WIRZA BINTI O. K. RAHMAT, MUHAMAD TAUFIK B.
ABDULLAH, MOHD SALEH B. HJ J AAFAR
102
data collection was the Studio Master of the
course. The conducted case study identified
the characteristics of current design media
and collaborative design culture of conceptual
architectural design process. Consequently, the
recommendations of the case study research
helped us to develop theoretical foundations of
the study.
On the other hand, the purpose of the
quantitative part was to provide empirical
evidence for the subjective view that proposed
VR based 3D sketching interface improves the
designers’ spatial cognition and collaboration.
In the experiment by Pour Rahimian and Ibrahim
(2010), a traditional sketching toolkit was
developed as a baseline to be compared with a
proposed 3D sketching design interface (Figure
2). The purpose was to reveal the cognitive and
collaborative impacts of the proposed design
system. Five pairs of 5th year architecture
students experienced with the traditional design
and CAD systems were selected as participants
for this experiment. During the experiment,
protocol analysis methodology (Dorst and
Dijkhuis, 1995, Ericsson and Simon, 1993, Foreman
and Gillett, 1997, Lloyd et al., 1995, Schön,
1983a) was selected as a research and data
acquisition method. The adapted methodology
evaluated the designers’ spatial cognition
at four different cognitive levels: “physical-
actions”, “perceptual-actions”,
actions”, and “conceptual-actions”. It also
evaluated the designers’ spatial cognition in
two different collaborative levels: “cognitive
synchronizations” and “gestures”.
“functional-
Results and Analyses
The Characteristics of the Current Design Media
in Conceptual Architectural Design
The conducted case study research listed three
dominant types of sketching—i.e. fully manual,
mixed, and fully digital—used by the students
and their studio mentors. The three groups
are as follow: Group 1 (Full Manual Mode—
FM) uses only traditional sketching tools and
abstract modelling methods, Group 2 (Mixed
Mode—MM) started design using traditional
methods, but later continue the process utilizing
CAD modelling tools and Group 3 (Full Digital
Mode—FD) started design in CAD environment
and continues finalizing the design with it.
Figure 2: Prepared traditional (left) and 3D sketching (right) design settings.
(Source: Pour Rahimian and Ibrahim, 2009).

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Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research - Volume 5 - Issue 1 - March 2011
Mediating C ognitive Transformation with VR 3D Sketching during C onceptual Architectural Design Process
FARZAD POUR RAHIMIAN, RAHINAH IBRAHIM, RAHMITA WIRZA BINTI O. K. RAHMAT, MUHAMAD TAUFIK B.
ABDULLAH, MOHD SALEH B. HJ J AAFAR
103
Besides, this study employed four dependent
variables and three independent variables in
order to identify the supportive characteristics
and challenges of current external representation
media. The dependent variables were solution
quality, certainty of the correctness of the
solution, total solution time and experienced
difficulty in design problem solving while the
independent variables were fully manual,
mixed method and fully digital design sketching
modes. This study
analysis (ANOVA) to check whether there is
any significant difference among dependent
variables belonging to all independent three
groups or not. The results are presented in the
following paragraphs.
conducted variance
Based on the results from the selected sample
the study concluded that the design solutions by
subjects using mixed traditional sketching and
CAD modelling tools (MM) produce significantly
higher solution quality compared to the other
two groups=37. On the other hand, the entirely
manual sketching subjects have significantly
higher solution quality compared to those
subjects who solved the problem completely in
a CAD environment(n=37;ρ<0.05). The subjects
who used mixed traditional sketching and CAD
modelling tools utilized manual sketching in initial
design ideations and employed CAD tools in
developing design ideas. Based on the findings
this study posits that using CAD tools hinder
designers’ creativity in the early conceptual
design stages. It also posits that conventional
manual sketching tools are not so successful in
developing design ideas particularly when the
artefact becomes complicated.
However, the analysis of the second and
third variables triggers more doubts about
the adequacy of the conventional manual
sketching in complicated design stages. Analysis
of the second dependent variable revealed
a significant decrease for the certainties of
the correctness of the solutions of FM subjects
compared to the subjects of the other two
groups (n=37;ρ<0.001). However, the results
from the survey show no significant difference
among the three groups regarding their
total time taken for creating their respective
solutions(n=37;ρ>.05). It implies that while the
MM and FD groups had used 3D prototyping
techniques to ensure that various design parts
fitted and matched together, the FM group (FM)
was not quite successful in convincing designers
in this regard.
Since it was impossible to control the protocol
size for such a huge observational data in terms
of time and number of groups, the study resorted
to applying subjective protocol evaluation for
experienced difficulty of the design problem
solving for the observed groups. Based on
the subjective protocol evaluation using the
narrative stories transcribed from the recorded
videotapes, results indicate that subjects who
had utilized mixed design media were able to
pace their design processes with considerable
less difficultly compared to subjects from the
other two groups. The field observations (see
Pour Rahimian and Ibrahim (2008)) noted that
the same subjects were able to manipulate
free hand sketches—as external representation
tools—to solve design problems faster and
easier. They were also able to use computational
capabilities for solving their communicational
problems either within design situations or with
other designers. Results also indicate that the
FM group had slightly less difficulty in producing
design solutions compared to the FD group. The

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Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research - Volume 5 - Issue 1 - March 2011
Mediating C ognitive Transformation with VR 3D Sketching during C onceptual Architectural Design Process
FARZAD POUR RAHIMIAN, RAHINAH IBRAHIM, RAHMITA WIRZA BINTI O. K. RAHMAT, MUHAMAD TAUFIK B.
ABDULLAH, MOHD SALEH B. HJ J AAFAR
104
results of artefact analysis are summarized in
Table 1.
From the above results, the study found that
among the three evaluated sketching support
systems, the best external representation
methodology comprises of mixing both manual
and digital tools. The observations and indicative
results illustrate that neither manual sketching
tools nor CAD software are the better media for
current conceptual design communications. This
study posits that design semantic gets lost when
manual design fails in articulating explicit design
idea while design creativity diminishes when
using arduous CAD software. The results support
the earlier proposition to develop a 3D sketching
methodology in VR in order to fill the gap
between creative experimentation and precise
manufacturing-oriented modelling supporting
an integrated conceptual architectural design
process.
Characteristics of the Collaborative Design
Culture of Conceptual Architectural Design
Process
Our second research question was: how do
the novice designers collaborate in design
teams during conceptual architectural design
process? To deal with this question the study
categorized the design communications that
were observed into two groups: 1) between
a designer and his or her design situation
when trying to solve the design problem, and
2) between different designers during design
collaboration. This study proposes calling the
quality of such communications and the ways
that they use to communicate as “Collaborative
Culture”. The observations indicate that the
use of manual sketching would offer the
designer the opportunity to trade off between
accuracy and legibility. Hence, the manual
design representation techniques do have the
potential to convey design ideas more directly
compared to other design support systems. The
study observes that within such design projects,
relationships between site plan elements were
Table 1: Comparison
of the mean and
standard deviation for
quality of the solution,
total solution time, and
certainty regarding
the correctness of the
solution (Source: Ibrahim
and Pour Rahimian,
2010).
*p<0.05 (significant difference), **p<0.01 (very significant difference), ***p<0.001 (absolutely
significant difference).

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Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research - Volume 5 - Issue 1 - March 2011
Mediating C ognitive Transformation with VR 3D Sketching during C onceptual Architectural Design Process
FARZAD POUR RAHIMIAN, RAHINAH IBRAHIM, RAHMITA WIRZA BINTI O. K. RAHMAT, MUHAMAD TAUFIK B.
ABDULLAH, MOHD SALEH B. HJ J AAFAR
105
smoother when the design could be extended
from the building to its site. Moreover, despite
having a lower accuracy, the author noted that
manual presentations exude richer emotions
besides having more capability for carrying
stronger design concepts. However, the works
that use no digital design tools were almost raw
and usually they stopped at a certain perceptive
level. Regretfully, the fully manual approach
ended less expressively than its initial good design
concepts and intent.
The observations and protocol analysis indicate
that using conventional CAD tools had shortened
students’ creativity and imagination during their
conceptual design processes. This study proposes
that this phenomenon was mainly due to many
shortcomings of CAD tools in freely expressing
designs ideas. In majority of their observed cases,
computer-made perspectives were found to be
more elaborate, had more details and were
more realistic. The subjects were able to express
nicer interiors with more refined details of lighting,
paving, and design or colour of furniture. Yet,
in most cases the author also witnessed some
inconsistencies among different spaces and
they lacked unity in the sense of space. The study
claimed that the reason for contrast was due to
different media type sketching environment.
During the digital design process, the designer saw
many alternatives from perspective viewpoints
rather than in plans and elevations. Hence, the
perspectives could be expected to show amazing
outputs compared to their final 2D elevations. The
author believes that similar assumption could be
applied to manually designed projects. Due to
the lack of holistic consideration of the building—
immersed in the perspectives—silhouettes in
such cases were boring and non-artistic. Overall,
the study found that the most amazing volumes
did belong to computer-aided designs while
the nicest conceptual spatial senses were from
manual design attempts. Moreover, while most
computer-generated or computer-aided works
had almost similar characteristics, some of the
excellent manual design solutions were unique
indeed in comparison. The study found that
the most successful cases were those that were
designed completely manually but visualized
digitally. This is because in such cases the
designers would utilize the capabilities of each
method to compensate the shortcomings of
the other. These findings concur with the earlier
conclusions from the artefact and protocol
analysis that neither
methods nor conventional CAD software are the
perfect media to be used during conceptual
architectural design process. Herewith, Table 2
presents a summary of challenges and benefits
of each visualization method during conceptual
architectural design phase.
traditional sketching
With both ethnography and artefact and
protocol analyzes suggesting
winner between the traditional sketching
method and the conventional CAD software,
the study strongly recommend the need
to develop an alternative design medium
that could successfully transgress between
both advantages. The alternative sketching
tool must be able to facilitate intuitive idea
expression abilities, and the excellent modelling
and walkthrough capabilities while able to
technically provide faster
process when in use.
no media
documentation
Identifying Key enablers in VR 3D Sketching
Interface That Can
Cognition and Collaboration during Conceptual
Optimize Designers’

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Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research - Volume 5 - Issue 1 - March 2011
Mediating C ognitive Transformation with VR 3D Sketching during C onceptual Architectural Design Process
FARZAD POUR RAHIMIAN, RAHINAH IBRAHIM, RAHMITA WIRZA BINTI O. K. RAHMAT, MUHAMAD TAUFIK B.
ABDULLAH, MOHD SALEH B. HJ J AAFAR
106
Design Sessions
An experimental protocol analysis research has
been conducted to identify key enablers in VR 3D
sketching interface which can optimize novice
designers’ cognition and collaboration during
conceptual design sessions (Pour Rahimian and
Ibrahim, 2010). The study employed a cognitive
approach to design process to articulate
all aspects of the utilized medium during
conceptual architectural
Here the traditional sketching method—which
is usually appreciated by many scholars—is
selected as a baseline to be compared with the
proposed 3D sketching design methodology
and to reveal the cognitive and collaborative
impacts of the proposed design system. The
experiment comprised of five main steps: 1) to
conduct experiments, 2) to transcribe protocols,
3) to parse process into the segments, 4) to
encode the segments based on a coding
scheme, and 5) to analyze and interpret the
encoded protocols. In encoding the collected
data and developing the hypotheses the study
categorized designers’ cognitive actions into five
major action categories as physical, perceptual,
design process.
functional, conceptual, and collaborative. In
interpreting the finding the study relied on the
observations of the designers’ behaviours during
the experiment and also on statistical analysis
of the encoded design protocols. Nevertheless,
in the implications the impact of the encoded
data is rather high compared to the behavioural
observations.
Even though the number of participants, which is
six people, seems somewhat small, the protocols
included pairs’ verbal accounts concurrently
per experiment, therefore providing adequate
data for an empirical exploratory study. Three
participant groups are exactly the same number
that Clayton, Kunz, and Fischer (1998) suggested
to use for guaranteeing the validation of such
Charrette-based experiments. Furthermore, the
number of similar previous practices (e.g. Bilda
et al., 2006, Kim and Maher, 2008, Menezes and
Lawson, 2006) that used 2-3 pairs of designers as
their participants reconfirms the facts that the
utilized sample size is good enough for inferring
the hypotheses via the findings.
Table 2: summary of challenges and benefits of each visualization method during conceptual architectural design
phase( Source: Pour Rahimian, Ibrahim, & Jaafar, 2008).

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Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research - Volume 5 - Issue 1 - March 2011
Mediating C ognitive Transformation with VR 3D Sketching during C onceptual Architectural Design Process
FARZAD POUR RAHIMIAN, RAHINAH IBRAHIM, RAHMITA WIRZA BINTI O. K. RAHMAT, MUHAMAD TAUFIK B.
ABDULLAH, MOHD SALEH B. HJ J AAFAR
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Discussions
Overcoming the Shortcomings of Conventional
Sketching Methods
Our ethnography study and the artefact
and protocol analyzes on the ethnography
findings (Ibrahim and Pour Rahimian, 2010; Pour
Rahimian, Ibrahim, & Jaafar, 2008) concluded
that there is no better winner for the choice
of current media for external representation
purposes. Both studies affirm the inflexibility of
traditional geometric modelling tools against
intuitive ideations. Moreover, both have equally
observed the shortcomings of conventional
manual sketching tools for further articulating
design ideas whereby it had difficulties in
turning tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge
for collaboration purposes. On the other hand,
the results have shown that neither manual
sketching tools nor current CAD interfaces
are the perfect media for current conceptual
design communications. The alternative tool
must also support all intuitive idea expression
besides the precise manufacturing oriented
modelling and effortless design walkthrough.
This is because any new alternative need to
acknowledge Griffith et al.’s (2003) idea about
the tacit role of knowledge during a design
process. The proposed VR tool may help
designers to articulate this tacit knowledge and
documenting that tacit knowledge into explicit
data.
Implications for VR 3D Sketching Interface
The results of the artefact and protocol analyzes
show that major barriers with conventional
sketching design tools when designing complex
design procedures were mainly due to their
shortcomings in advanced visualization for
communication
progresses. This was particularly so for novice
designers who did not know how to sketch
manually very well. Current conventional
sketching tools cannot be replaced directly with
current geometrical CAD modelling tools since
the study found that certain definite intuitive
characteristics of conceptual design processes
cannot be supported by existing CAD software.
In brief, the inflexibility of traditional arithmetical
modelling software on one hand and the
restricted visualization capabilities of current
manual sketching tools on the other hand are
increasing the tendency for substituting manual
modelling techniques with digital technique.
Hence, the study proposes that an alternative
3D sketching tool becomes an intermediate
sketching tool that bridges both characteristics.
purposes as the design
In using the sketching metaphor, Levet et al.
(2006) have proposed the use of some design
interfaces in which designers can swiftly
produce a 3D prototype to exemplify the 3D
object they have in mind. Kwon et al. (2005)
have considered this factor in order to improve
computing performance for expediting the
progress of the conceptual phase into the
remaining design stages—i.e. applying the
digital format as early as possible after the use
of such analogue conventional tools.
Cognitive-Based Protocol Analysis Experiment
for Testing Efficiency of VR 3D Sketching
The main aim of this experiment was to provide
objective and empirical evidence for the
subjective view that proposed VR based 3D
sketching interface improves the designers’
spatial cognition and collaboration during
conceptual architectural design phase. In

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Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research - Volume 5 - Issue 1 - March 2011
Mediating C ognitive Transformation with VR 3D Sketching during C onceptual Architectural Design Process
FARZAD POUR RAHIMIAN, RAHINAH IBRAHIM, RAHMITA WIRZA BINTI O. K. RAHMAT, MUHAMAD TAUFIK B.
ABDULLAH, MOHD SALEH B. HJ J AAFAR
108
this experiment the focus was on designers’
cognitive and collaborative actions and the
hypotheses were being tested relying on the
designers’ actions. The codes assigned to
the different segments were considered as
the units of analysis of this study. Although
this experiment was made up of three pairs
of designers performing six design sessions in
total, the experiment provides adequate data
for observing overall designingly trends and
actions. Besides, this study is guided by Clayton
et al.’s (1998) recommendations in validating
the results. Moreover, during the exploratory
study the study has revealed consistent
improvements in the main five aspects of design
sessions and spatial cognition across the three
pairs that further validate the claim that 3D
sketching interface facilitates better quality of
designing.
From the empirically collected data, the
study found that in 3D sketching sessions the
increased integration of the physical actions
with mental perceptions and conceptions led to
occurrence of epistemic actions to improve the
designers’ spatial cognition. Besides, relying on
the literature (Kirsh and Maglio, 1994) the study
posited that the epistemic actions facilitated
by the rich interface offloaded the designers’
mental cognition partly into the physical world,
thus letting them have freer mind to create
more design ideas.
Moreover, 3D sketching interface improved the
designers’ perception of visio-spatial features,
particularly in terms of unexpected discoveries
of spatial features and relationships. Based
on outstanding design theories, (e.g. Schön
(1983a)) the study explains how association
between mental cognition with the perception
of physical attributes can stimulate creativity
and offload the mental load. Furthermore,
the author paraphrased from Suwa et al.’s
(2000) arguments to explain how unexpected
discoveries can lead to more creativity and also
to the occurrence of more situative inventions.
In terms of functional-conceptual actions of
the design process, the study discovered that
3D sketching interface improved the designers’
problem finding behaviours as well as improving
their co-evolutionary conceptions of their
perceptions and problem findings. Borrowing
from Suwa et al.’s (2000) this study called the
most important aspect of the problem finding
behaviours as ‘situative-inventions’ and argued
how the increased percentage of the co-
evolutionary and situative-inventions actions
can lead to improved creativity in 3D sketching
design session. Further, it had the same argument
about the capability of the co-evolutionary
conceptions in increasing design creativity.
Lastly, in terms of the collaborative activities,
the study has observed that the explicit
representation ability, which is applied in the
proposed 3D sketching interface, is capable
to motivate the designers to share more ideas
together. Moreover, the study explained how
this interface is capable to change the type
of conversations from ordinary clarifications to
new proposals and arguments for development
of the problem and solutions space. Finally,
the author cited from Kim and Maher (2008) to
show that emergence of this quality in design
conversations can enhance the creativity of
the design process.
In conclusion, this study posits that the emerging
VR technologies are capable to facilitate

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Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research - Volume 5 - Issue 1 - March 2011
Mediating C ognitive Transformation with VR 3D Sketching during C onceptual Architectural Design Process
FARZAD POUR RAHIMIAN, RAHINAH IBRAHIM, RAHMITA WIRZA BINTI O. K. RAHMAT, MUHAMAD TAUFIK B.
ABDULLAH, MOHD SALEH B. HJ J AAFAR
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some senses beyond the visual aspects of the
design artefact by offering a new generation
of promising CAD tools, which are constantly
in touch with designers’ cognition and
collaboration during conceptual architectural
design process. It also conjectures that by
utilizing the same digital format during both
conceptual architectural and engineering
stages of the building design process—the full
design integration aimed by Fruchter (1998)—
can be better facilitated.
Conclusions
A sequential mixed method research comprising
case study and protocol analysis studies is
conducted. The case study contributes in
extending theoretical foundations for improving
designers’ cognition
conceptual design process. These foundations
became recommendations for improving and
optimizing operational behaviours of design
project teams. On the other hand, the purpose
of the protocol analysis was to empirically
evaluate and verify the role of 3D sketching
using VR technology to facilitate integration
between conceptual and engineering parts
of building design process. The study identifies:
1) issues and challenges for multidisciplinary
architecture-engineering-construction
teams in project collaborations, 2) inherent
characteristics of the conceptual design process
and its external representation tools, and 3) the
theoretical and technical requirements of the
proposed 3D sketching in VR as a new external
representation tool.
collaboration during
(AEC)
The conducted empirical protocol analysis
experiment compares
sketching design interface with traditional
the proposed 3D
design methods. It explains the results of
implementing the basic VR-based design
interface to recommend how 3D sketching can
be developed as a collaborative medium in a VR
environment. Moreover, adopting a cognitive
approach to design, it identifies supportive
characteristics of VR in enhancing designers’
cognition and collaboration in conceptual
architectural design stages. The findings of
this study contribute to three main areas
namely architectural education, architectural
profession, and integrated building industry. The
following sections describe those impacts and
contributions besides proposing future research
on those mentioned areas.
Claimed Contributions and Impacts of the
Study
i. Integrating the design process. The theoretical
foundations of this study about cognitive and
collaborative aspects of implementing VR
3D sketching interface contributes towards
transforming conceptual architectural design
phase from analogue to digital process. This
study claims that this transformation can
fill in the existing gap between analogue
conceptual architectural design process and
remaining digital engineering parts of building
design process. This is because in the building
industry, conceptual architectural phase is the
only stage that is yet to be computerized.
Therefore, implementing VR 3D sketching
interface is expected to improve the integration
of the entire design process by digitization of
this phase. This idea is also supported by Kwon
et al. (2005) that digitization of conceptual
architectural design phase can improve
the integration of the whole design process.

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Mediating C ognitive Transformation with VR 3D Sketching during C onceptual Architectural Design Process
FARZAD POUR RAHIMIAN, RAHINAH IBRAHIM, RAHMITA WIRZA BINTI O. K. RAHMAT, MUHAMAD TAUFIK B.
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110
Additionally, Fruchter (1998) recommends the
integration of design process since she believes
that it can better support collaboration among
team members besides benefiting the process
by decreasing labour and material costs.
Therefore, the study claims that migrating from
analogue to digital conceptual architectural
design process can become a stepping-
stone for trans-disciplinary
share VR 3D sketching interfaces in distant
locations. The author expects that this could
be successful by enabling professionals to save
and amplify design semantics throughout a
project development lifecycle phases. Thus,
advancing methodologies and technologies
in the design phase that lead towards 4D
construction implementation (Ibrahim, 2007)
besides developing a new generation of
architects who are able to work collaboratively
in geographically dispersed locations (Ibrahim
et al., 2007).
teamwork to
ii. Improving design cognition and collaboration.
This study contributes to the development of
theoretical foundations towards implementing
VR 3D sketching interface as a more flexible
and explicit conceptual architectural design
interface compared to existing conceptual
design interfaces. The study claims that it can
improve the quality of architectural education
by providing a more capable and explicit
design interface. The results revealed that this
interface can become stimuli for accelerating
designers’ creativity during design process. The
findings confirm Suwa et al.’s (2000) arguments
relating to more explicit design interfaces as
aspect of ‘learning through experience’. The
study agreed that VR 3D sketching interface can
become stimulus for retrieving more knowledge
and accelerating inventions by articulating
tacit knowledge of design. Moreover, it
claims that more explicit visualization in VR 3D
sketching interface can facilitate better design
conversations hence improving knowledge flow
between mentor and apprentice in mentoring
sessions.
iii. Developing a new approach for studying
design process. This study contributes to
architectural design education by extending
Figure 3: A 3D sketching design outcome by Group 2 (Source: Pour Rahimian and Ibrahim, 2009).

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Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research - Volume 5 - Issue 1 - March 2011
Mediating C ognitive Transformation with VR 3D Sketching during C onceptual Architectural Design Process
FARZAD POUR RAHIMIAN, RAHINAH IBRAHIM, RAHMITA WIRZA BINTI O. K. RAHMAT, MUHAMAD TAUFIK B.
ABDULLAH, MOHD SALEH B. HJ J AAFAR
111
the findings of a qualitative case study research
into the conducted quantitative experiment.
So far, all the previous studies that dealt with
architectural education either qualitatively or in
some experimental laboratory conditions were
not quite successful in integrating designers’
cognition with their collaborative behaviours.
The
researchers to obtain their insight into designers’
needs for external representation interfaces
through conducting qualitative research. It
also helps them to microscopically evaluate
developed theoretical constructs by adopting
a quantitative approach. This study claims
that extending the findings of a preliminary
qualitative study can enrich the quantitative
research by providing higher level of theoretical
foundations for establishing assumptions and
interpreting the findings.
adopted mixed method helps the
iv. Documenting educational design process
in Malaysian context. This study contributes
by identifying and documenting designers’
cognitive and collaborative conceptual design
behaviours in the Malaysian context. This study
categorized their collaborative behaviours into
two major groups: 1) their collaboration with
design situation, and 2) their collaboration with
other team members. With regard to cognitive
behaviours the study formulized Malaysian
designers’ collective cognitive behaviours in
five major levels: physical-action, perceptual-
actions, functional-actions, conceptual-actions,
and collaborative-actions. The accomplished full
scenario documentations during ethnography
and protocol analysis research can be used as
a reference for future researches in architectural
design education in the Malaysian context.
Recommendations for Future Study
The results of this study are expected to help
the development of cutting-edge information
technologies in architectural education and
profession. Therefore, this study suggests some
further researches to extend the cognitive
and collaborative features of the proposed
VR 3D sketching interface towards creation of
some professional and pedagogical programs.
The created programs should involve more
elaborated design practices to support new
global and complicated design processes. They
are also expected to consider the global and
non-collocated practices during conceptual
design phases. The authors believes that it
can train professional graduates who are
competent in multidisciplinary teamwork and
equally competent in utilizing IT/ICT in delivering
their building projects within the allotted time
and budget.
The results and implications of this research only
revealed the virtue of the new VR technology in
enhancing design interfaces in term of supporting
designers’ cognition
However, further research is recommended to
reveal more technical and theoretical aspects
for extending the implemented VR 3D sketching
interface towards creating an advanced
curriculum for IT/ ICT based design studio. The
potential researches are listed below:
i. to test VR 3D sketching in non-collocated
collaborative conceptual design projects,
ii. to seek the effects of the fully immersive
interfaces on the
processes,
iii. to investigate the designers’ collaborations
when using multiple haptic design tools, and
and collaboration.
designers’ cognitive

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Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research - Volume 5 - Issue 1 - March 2011
Mediating C ognitive Transformation with VR 3D Sketching during C onceptual Architectural Design Process
FARZAD POUR RAHIMIAN, RAHINAH IBRAHIM, RAHMITA WIRZA BINTI O. K. RAHMAT, MUHAMAD TAUFIK B.
ABDULLAH, MOHD SALEH B. HJ J AAFAR
112
iv. to explore higher capabilities of haptic design
tools in architectural design by developing
customized environments based on open
source application programming interfaces.
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge that this research is a part of
doctoral study by the first author at Universiti Putra
Malaysia (UPM) partly sponsored by UPM’s Graduate
Research Fellowship (GRF). We also would like to
acknowledge contributions of the fifth and second
year architectural students respectively in semesters
1st and 2nd 2008/2009 at the Faculty of Design and
Architecture, UPM. Finally, we acknowledge that
this paper is an extended version of a paper that
was published in Proceedings of the International
Conference on Computing in Civil and Building
Engineering 2010, the University of Nottingham, June
30-July 2, 2010.
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