Note on the Computer as an Aid to the Architect

There is at present much interest in "building systems"— methods of building in which components varying in size from foot-wide wall panels to complete floors are made in a factory and assembled on site. One such systemf consists of a set of components— wall panels, door and window panels, heating and plumbing units, staircases, structural columns and so forth. These comprise a complete "kit of parts", which are designed to a common 4 in. module and can be fitted together in almost any arrangement, so long as the components are set in position on the "tartan grid" illustrated in Fig. 1. Wall units, doors and windows lie along the grid lines between the intersections; columns at the intersections. A full description of this system will be found in The IBIS System—a descriptive booklet issued at the Richard Thomas and Baldwins—Pressed Steel Company stand at the 1964 IBSAC Exhibition. See also Gordon (1965) and Williams (1965). The variety possible with this system, and its modular basis, suggested that a computer could usefully carry out many of the routine checks and calculations which an architect must undertake. Freed from this work he would then be able to explore more fully the design possibilities open to him. Such a computer system is described here. It was produced in great haste for demonstration at the 1964 IBSAC Exhibition and as such incorporates only a sample of the various checks and calculations possible.