Thomas Kvan

• University of Melbourne

This piece of literature review is additional written version of my Ph.D. thesis in the year of 2005. I upload it to public for whom are interested.

This research explores the transformation of business models of private firms over the 15-year transition period of China's joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO) since 2001, during which the market institution in China went through significant restructuring. This study aims to examine how private architecture firms emerged from and survived th...

We start by stating the obvious: human activities have profound impacts on the environment. While there are more apparent and singularly evident mechanisms by which we harm the natural environment, such as through pollutants and waste, the impact of human settlements is more extensive yet less examined outcome. It has been widely noted that our hum...

This paper shows the importance and value of ambiguity to reveal opportunities hidden in problems and the manner in which ambiguity is removed from applications of design thinking. It describes the value of introducing, sustaining and using ambiguity and explains the different types of ambiguity. It follows up by describing the events when a design...

While relocatable, prefabricated learning environments have formed an important component of school infrastructure in Australia, prefabrication for permanent school buildings is a new and emerging field. This review of prefabrication for schools is timely. In 2017, Australia's two largest state education departments committed to prefabrication prog...

This research investigates sustainable building design from a new perspective – green design in relation to green building rating systems. We examine the potential influence of Green Star (GS) in Australia on the design of a project and compare this with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) in America and Assessment Standard for...

The Chilean social housing program is a highly structured system of incentives and rules that although successful in meeting quantitative goals has neglected the quality of its outcomes. Over time, initiatives based upon user participation and self-help action have been disregarded to favour the efficiency of a housing delivery system in which mass...

The roles of professions in the construction industry in markets globally differ from one another according to the socio-political, cultural and historical contexts they are situated in, reflecting the institutional nature of the markets themselves. The institutional logics of state, market and profession compete to shape firm strategies. We adopt...

Driven by international trends and government policy, it is a requirement for all newly built schools in New Zealand to be designed as innovative learning environments (ILEs) with flexible learning spaces. These environments, celebrated by some for the “transformational” educational opportunities they may provide, also raise questions about whether...

This paper examines naturally ventilated buildings in hot and humid summer zones and proposes an air enthalpy-based energy conservation rating method with an emphasis on the combined thermal comfort-ventilation parameters, particularly the impact of humidity and human adaptations on thermal comfort. The new method starts with energy flow analysis t...

By merging a range of digital and physical media, the architectural design pro-cess is enriched by different perceptions, comprehensions and conceptions of spatial volumes within both physical and virtual environments. With the inter-changing and crossing over of design environments from reality to virtuality the limits of each one are dismantled,...

Ensuring quality in affordable housing remains a major challenge for both developed and developing countries. Residential quality can be explained as the capacity of a dwelling to meet the specific needs and preferences of its occupants, a condition that is often associated with the high costs of custom buildings. This chapter introduces the notion...

This paper proposes a methodology to evaluate the effects of computer-mediated communication on of the design exchanges you plan? A commonly used method is to analyze the work done and to identify tools which support this type of work. In general, research on the effects of computer-mediation on collaborative work has concentrated mainly on social-...

This paper discusses the challenges that designers face when modelling the anticipated behaviours of people: their movement and transactions around and within precinct scale development. Building Information Modelling (BIM) software philosophy contrasts with that of City Information Modelling (CIM)—the route by which we consider how precinct scale...

Recent initiatives towards improving residential conditions of Chilean social housing largely depend on self-help personalisation as means to facilitate greater coherence between the needs of different households and the characteristics of their dwellings. Although self-construction is widespread among these mass housing developments, there is stil...

Over the past decade, ‘smart’ cities have capitalized on new technologies and insights to transform their systems, operations and services. The rationale behind the use of these technologies is that an evidence-based, analytical approach to decision-making will lead to more robust and sustainable outcomes. However, harvesting high-quality data from...

Urban futures are typically conceptualized as starting anew; an urban future is usually represented as a quest for an ideal state, replacing the status quo with visionary statement about ‘better’ futures. Repeatedly, propositions reinvent the way we live, work and play. The major urban innovations for the changing cityscape from the last 100 years,...

As the global population continues to grow and an increasing number of people move to cities, there is need for ambitious approaches to provide urban information infrastructures and analytical tools to support smart urban design and planning. This chapter introduces the Australian Urban Intelligence Network, which brings together a network of resea...

This article explores connections between interprofessional education (IPE) models and the design of learning spaces for undergraduate and graduate education in the anatomical sciences and other professional preparation. The authors argue that for IPE models to be successful and sustained they must be embodied in the environment in which interprofe...

Consulting engineering firms were surveyed to determine their success in managing CADD implementation. Survey results were analyzed, and several findings became apparent. Committed resources are necessary for success. Unsuccessful firms hardly involved people affected by the change to CADD. Unsuccessful firms failed to evaluate alternative systems....

In 2007 the world's population became more urban than rural, and, according to the United Nations, this trend is to continue for the foreseeable future. With the increasing trend of people moving to urban localities-predominantly cities-additional pressures on services, infrastructure and housing is affecting the overall quality of life of city dwe...

Abstract Many institutions have invested considerably in the provision of student facilities - lecture halls, tutorial rooms and classrooms - spaces we call collectively learning environments. In expending resources on such facilities, we have assumed that we have needed to create this range of spaces for such activities. However, how do we know we...

If communities are to have a substantive role in the design and planning of their physical environment, then they must have the capability to do so. In this article, the meaning of capability is defined in terms of a normative framework for the evaluation of well-being known as the capability approach. A capability set for design is theorized from...

This book investigates what the history of Hong Kong’s urban development has to teach other cities as they face environmental challenges, social and demographic change and the need for new models of dense urbanism.

This paper examines the commitment profiles of Hong Kong Chinese architecture students with the 3-factor model of professional commitment and its impact on burnout. The Chinese version of Maslach Burnout Inventory - Student Survey and adapted version of Occupational Commitment Questionnaire are administered to measure burnout and commitment profile...

Burnout is a multidimensional indicator of people's psychological relationship with their job, the opposite end of which is engagement. Culture's impact on students' burnout is investigated by examining the burnout level of Hong Kong Chinese architecture students and its correlation with Confucian conformity values, the dominant societal cultural v...

This paper examines commitment profiles of Hong Kong Chinese architecture students, and the correlation between burnout and the healthiness of students' commitment profiles. 294 students enrolled in the Bachelor and Master programs of architecture in two universities in Hong Kong participated in the study. The Chinese version of the Maslach Burnout...

What is the role of representation and simulation in the design process and how do these support learning in the design studio? How can augmented reality assist such learning? To examine this, the chapter will first consider how modes of representation have been used in architectural design, with particular focus on the role of models, then conside...

This paper examines burnout's consequence on architecture students' commitment profile. The Chinese version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey and the revised version of the Occupational Commitment Questionnaire were administered to students enrolled in two architecture schools in Hong Kong; 294 of which participated in the study. Mult...

Within a general context of economic reform that began in the late 1970s, China set out to establish architectural practice in a professional context in 1980 and established a professional framework in 1995. Practice, however has moved at a different pace in evolving professional attitudes and behaviors. This paper traces the profession of architec...

Increasing recognition is being accorded to the important role of digital media in the management of heritage. Although little explored, there is significant potential for virtual communities to contribute to the interpretation of heritage and engender a sense of place. By way of a case study, the authors examine the theoretical and practical aspec...

This paper brings forth an overview of design and interaction within realms stretching from reality to virtuality. In recent years, architects have been exploring creative technologies and potentials using a variety of interfaces ranging from real and virtual to augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) media. The process of design and method o...

There has been a growing research interest in investigating techniques to combine real and virtual spaces. A variety of ?reality? concepts such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality and their supporting technologies have emerged in the field of design to adopt the task of replacing or merging our physical world with the virtual world. The differ...

Summary form only given. Studies of design activities have revealed identifies differences in the engagement in problem framing activities. The studies on categorization, feature, and relation of different kinds of design activities have revealed different forms of participation and support. It has been broadly agreed that paper-based sketching hel...

A survey of undergraduate students in Australia and Hong Kong revealed that a specially adapted version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (the MBI-SS) possesses good internal consistency reliability among construction students. A three-component model of student burnout, comprising emotional exhaustion, cynicism and personal efficacy was supported i...

This paper investigates the support of generative architectural design processes using cellular automata systems with a high level of involvement of human designers. Previous applications of cellular automata to architectural design have oftentimes been characterised by their limited generative capacity for top–down developmental control and for pr...

This paper investigates the role of virtual communities in the interpretation of cultural heritage and examines some of the emerging issues in an online case study.

This paper introduces a voxel-based collaborative modelling system called CoBlocks which was developed to support designers in building models together in a synchronized virtual environment. This is due to the fact that voxel models are gaining more attention in computer-aided design (CAD) systems as they support simple and intuitive modelling for...

This paper investigates the appropriateness of competence-based assessment in professional education validation, considering architectural education in Asia as a case study. Competence-based assessment originated in teacher training and vocational training settings in the USA and the UK. Competence-based assessment has been increasingly adopted by...

This paper sets up a paradigm for creative architectural animations, drawing cinematic, architectural and narrative theories together to form a ?Spatial Character?. Based on this definition, students created architectural animations. These served as working platform of an entry to the FEIDAD-Competition that defined and placed architecture into a c...

Problem framing is an essential element of the design process because it is an important design activity in solving design problems. It is the first part of a cyclical design process which involves “framing”, “moving”, and “reflecting”. Framing activities can be considered as a typical cognitive design process involving several levels. As an essent...

Reviewing a decade of research from the University of Hong Kong, the paper traces a path that develops understandings of communication in design activities.

Tsuyoshi Sasada, known as Tee to so many of us, died on 30 September 2005 at the age of 64 after a long illness.Tee retired from Osaka University in 2004 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age but retained his association as Emeritus Professor.At the time of his death he held appointments as Honorary Professor, National Chiao Tung University (T...

In a common meeting environment with projector-and-screen settings, the discussion may be dominated by a presenter who has the control of the content displayed. Although frequently used for architectural discussions, this digitally-engaged setting may not be optimal in its support of participation and discussion of design ideas. This paper presents...

This survey was conducted to investigate the phenomenon of ‘burnout’ among construction professionals within the Hong Kong construction industry. The structure of ‘burnout’ and its contributing factors and consequential effects on work and non-work aspects were examined Emotional exhaustion and cynicism as structured within the most widely recognis...

Architectural curricula and studio design programmes are typically written with concerns for theoretical and professional training in mind without attending to ways in which a particular problem may privilege some students. Using Kolb's model, this study explores learning styles of architectural students in China and correlates their learning style...

This paper presents an investigation into the use of cellular automata systems for the design of high-density architecture for Asian cities. In this architectural context, urban form is shaped by architectural solutions that are developed in a copy-and-paste manner. To this background, cellular automata are introduced and discussed with respect to...

We use linkographs as a means to examine single and double loop learning within three designed settings. Two types of learning are dynamic processes related to design process. The linkograph is a technique to examine the inter-connective pattern of design moves. Extending our previous analysis of design communications, we investigate the extent to...

This paper describes the context and proposal for an alternative approach to the common pattern of application of digital tools in the area of cultural heritage, also know as Virtual Heritage (VH). It investigates and addresses arising issues in a digital case study developed to implement a theoretical framework and investigate how and if existing...

We use linkographs as a means to examine single and double loop learning within three designed settings. Two types of learning are dynamic processes related to design process. The linkograph is a technique to examine the inter-connective pattern of design moves. Extending our previous analysis of design communications, we investigate the extent to...

As the design jury changed from closed to open format, it inevitably becomes a learning environment in architectural education. But its educational goal has not been best achieved. A significant problem reported in the literature is that students are not able to participate effectively along the review process. In this research, we conducted a surv...

Inspired from the idea of using voxels in the conceptual stages of architectural design, a synchronous collaborative design system, CoBlocks, was developed. This paper raises the problem that simply adopting the voxel representations would take voxels as graphic primitives and offer design operations at the voxel level. We introduce the object desc...

By merging a range of digital and physical media, the architectural design pro-cess is enriched by different perceptions, comprehensions and conceptions of spatial volumes within both physical and virtual environments. With the inter-changing and crossing over of design environments from reality to virtuality the limits of each one are dismantled,...

In order to improve pedagogical effectiveness, this study aims at gaining an insight on architectural students? problem framing activities using digital versus paper media. The role of problem framing in design process and its contribution to design learning has been variously studied. Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the role o...

Crossing over a variety of digital and physical media, creation and representation of an architectural design process can influence perception, comprehension and conception of spatial volumes within both physical and virtual environments. These tools then transform and translate the design process from virtual to tangible portrayal of architectural...

We are experiencing qualitative developments that are substantively affecting several facets of design education. Professional relationships, construction techniques, buildings, materials, design tools and ways of working are changing rapidly. Of particular interest to us in this paper is the role of digital media in schools of architecture and our...

Concerns have been expressed that digital tools disrupt the design process. Schön identifies the importance of problem framing in both design practice and design education. In this paper we use teamwork protocol analysis to examine the problem framing activities of architecture students to identify differences in framing activities in three differe...

The development of research in computer aided architectural design has evolved in the context of architectural design. A review of Tom Maver's work is undertaken from the perspective of his shortest paper, CAAD's Seven Deadly Sins. In that paper cautions were given to researchers. Here these cautions are interpreted in the context of the dual herit...

In this study, we examined the perception and understanding of spatial volumes within immersive and non-immersive virtual environments by comparison with representation using conventional media. We examined the relative effectiveness of these conditions in enabling the translation to a tangible representation, through a series of design experiments...

Examining case studies in design teaching and their analysis, we identify the role of structural activities and other solution searching activities in design learning and problem solving. The case studies follow students working on the same problem under two conditions - one group is taught using traditional face-to-face teaching while the other gr...

In this paper, we examine the perception and understanding of spatial volumes within immersive, non-immersive virtual environments and physical models and their translation to a tangible representation in a series of design-representation experiments. Students experienced, assessed, and analysed spatial relationships of volumes and spaces and subse...

This paper presents the results from two experiments in working on descriptions of form in immersive virtual environments (IVE). Recently, Virtual Environments (VE) are increasingly used as environments for design and research. Using VE to visualize ideas from the initial steps of design, the architect is challenged to deal with perception of space...

This paper presents the results from two experiments in working on descriptions of form in immersive virtual environments (IVE). Recently; Virtual Environments (VE) are increasingly used as environments for design and research. Using VE to visualize ideas from the initial steps of design; the architect is challenged to deal with perception of space...

Virtual Environments (VE) are increasingly offered as environments for design. Using VE to visualize ideas from the initial steps of design, the architect is challenged to deal with perception of space, solid and void, without translations to and from a two dimensional media. From this new ability, we might expect new forms of design expression. Th...

Rapid prototyping (RP) technology has developed as a result of the requirements of manufacturing industry. There are a number of other application areas where RP has been used to good effect and one of these is architectural modelling. However, such application areas often have different requirements from what is offered by the current technology....

At the beginning of the 20th century, the clarion call of the Modern Movement was sounded to awaken architects to the purity and clarity of engineered and manufactured goods. In this aesthetic, the house was to be considered a manufactured item, drawing upon scientific and engineering logic for the design to be clarified and reduced to the essentia...

This paper describes how Rapid Prototyping technology has been integrated into a conceptual design course in the Department of Architecture in The University of Hong Kong. Students have been using this technology for nearly 3 years now and the demand for models and the range and complexity of the models is ever increasing. A number of factors have...

Virtual Environments (VE) influence design processes increasingly. We investigate the outcome of creation, interpretation and communication of architectural design, by using a three-dimensional (3D) maze together with text-based communication in a series of collaborative design experiments. The goal of our study was to identify how designers use an...

Since 1993 schools of architecture all over the world conduct in various forms of Virtual Design Studio (VDS). They have become an established part of teaching design within the digital realm. They vary in task and structure; are purely text-based or include various forms of interactive; synchronous or asynchronous collaboration. However; ?virtual?...

Since 1993 schools of architecture all over the world conduct in various forms of Virtual Design Studio (VDS). They have become an established part of teaching design within the digital realm. They vary in task and structure, are purely text-based or include various forms of interactive, synchronous or asynchronous collaboration. However, “virtuali...

Since 1993 schools of architecture all over the world conduct in various forms of Virtual Design Studio (VDS). They have become an established part of teaching design within the digital realm. They vary in task and structure, are purely text-based or include various forms of interactive, synchronous or asynchronous collaboration. However, ?virtual?...

Using Virtual Environment (VE) to visualize ideas from the initial steps of design, the architect is challenged to deal with perception of space, solid and void, without translations to and from a two dimensional media. In this moment, we may expect new forms of design expression. The goal of our study was to identify how designers use and communic...

Virtual design studios (VDS) are proliferating as schools of architecture experiment with the technology of the Internet. Discussions about VDS typically focus on technological issues — which hardware, what software — or environments — MOOs, ftp. Recently, some papers have been written on the perceptual issues and the social aspects of remote desig...

This paper considers aspects of strategic knowledge in design and some implications for designing in collaborative environments. Two key questions underline the concerns. First, how can strategic knowledge for collaborative design be taught and second, what kind of computer-based collaborative designing might best support the learning of strategic...

In the many years of conferences on the teaching of computer skills or application of computers in design studios, we see discussions about the needs, methods and benefits of teaching the use of computer tools. A few of the papers review how students learn but none report how computer tools can be directly beneficial to the student's learning of de...

Virtual studios have proliferated and a large number of design schools now engage in them. Typically, they bring together students in several institutions, although some are used to support teaching in a single studio. We have to ask why we engage in virtual studios. The process is not easy, certainly not easier than teaching at a desk locally. Som...

In the many years of conferences on the teaching of computer skills or application of computers in design studios; we see discussions about the needs; methods and benefits of teaching the use of computer tools. A few of the papers review how students learn but none report how computer tools can be directly beneficial to the student?s learning of de...

Collaborative activities are an important application of computer technology now that telecommunications infrastructure has been established to support it. There are many students in schools of architecture who are undertaking collaborative projects using the Internet and many practices who work together exchanging files and interacting on shared d...

How can we best use computer technology to facilitate remote design teamwork? From looking at virtual studio collaborations, we propose that multiple solutions exist rather than a single one. In examining both published results and own student projects, we identify the following factors to be considered in finding the best fit between technology an...

Earlier studies suggest that benefits may be found in chat line communication rather than high bandwidth video-conferencing conditions when considering collaborative design learning. This paper draws together studies that look at this conjecture and concludes that chat line collaboration reduces fixation in problem space exploration. This encourage...

An abstract is not available.

The application of computer tools to mediating and promoting collaborative design efforts between mutually distant parties has become feasible. Technology is again ahead of practice, and problems of assimilation have only begun to be explored. This paper postulates the requirements of environments for computer-mediated collaborative design in archi...

Beginning in 1993, small groups of students of architectural design at different institutions around the world participated in collaborative design projects using a variety of tools, including CAD, Internet and teleconferencing. This programme, known as the "Virtual Design Studio" (VDS), allows students to work collectively with colleagues from dif...

A design problem shared over the Internet raises issues of how digital media and group dynamics affect networked design collaborations. This paper describes how to conduct a long-distance studio and compares asynchronous and synchronous collaborative techniques. Digital methods are discussed in relationship to both the creative process and design c...

This paper explains the logistical and technical issues involved in design collaboration and how to?address them strategically in projects for design, teaching and research. Five years of arranging?projects, studying peer results and involving novices in exchanges point out the benefits and pitfalls?of Internet partnering. Rather than a single univ...

The use of computers in the design of the built environment has reached a watershed. From peripheral devices in the design process, they have in recent years come to take centre stage. An illustration is immediately at hand. Just as the entries to the competition for the Chicago Tribune Tower in 1922 defined the state-of-the-art at the beginning of...

Architectural design is described in part as the solving of ill-defined or wicked problems. In these activities, designers are not only simply given well-stated problems but also need to find and formulate problems. This process is called as ?problem framing?. Paper media have been for many years the design tools used by designers to help them enga...

The use of new media in the service of cultural heritage is a fast growing field, known variously as virtual or digital heritage. New Heritage, under this denomination, broadens the definition of the field to address the complexity of cultural heritage such as the related social, political and economic issues. This book is a collection of 20 key es...