Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 February 2009
Over the past decade “design assistance,” that is, where the computer is viewed as an Intelligent Design Assistant (IDA) (MacCallum et al., 1987), has emerged in knowledge based design support and has formed the basic research strategy for the CAD Centre, University of Strathclyde, since the mid-1980s. Within this philosophy, an IDA would act as a colleague to a designer, providing guidance, learning from past design experiences, carrying out semi- and fully-automated tasks, explaining its reasoning and in essence complementing the designer's own natural skills, and thus leaving the ultimate decision-making, control, and responsibility with the designer (Fig. 1).