ASCA

		ASCA'97 Conference Report
		Toward 2000: Communication, Computers and Architectural Education
		University of Wales, Cardiff. 25th - 27th March 1997
		The annual ASCA (Architectural Schools Computing Association) conference facilitates the interchange of information and ideas between Schools of Architecture in the UK and Eire. The funding bodies for Higher Education in the UK and the Department of Education for Northern Ireland, decided to fund Computers in Teaching Initiative (CTI) Centres which would provide computing information and support for particular subject areas. The CTI Centre for the Built Environment has been established at the University of Wales in Cardiff. It was fitting, therefore, that this year's meeting should be held at the Welsh School of Architecture.
		Day One
		The conference was opened with a warm welcome to the pleasant surroundings of the University Halls by Jeff Johns of the Welsh School of Architecture. The annual ASCA conference traditionally begins with reports from the schools represented. These revealed a great deal of similarity in terms of the courses taught, software used and the financial problems experienced. Similar questions still remain unanswered, such as whether students should be required to purchase their own machines. The event organisation was good and the framework was therefore set for a productive interchange of ideas. Delegates did not, unfortunately, take full advantage of the inherent potential, too much time being spent on discussions about local problems which could not be solved, or over-detailed discussion concerning software.
		Day Two
		After a presentation on the 'Learning Technology Dissemination Initiative' (LTDI), given by Alison Murison (Edinburgh College of Art), came the unofficial main theme of the day, ArchiCAD. Too much time was devoted to this session, and over-detailed information in this slot meant that further discussion of other programmed events became impossible. Following lunch, a short video conferencing session was held over SuperJANET (the first large-scale, general purpose, broadband network to be developed in a real user community, currently interconnecting over 100 universities and research laboratories); JANET standing for the Joint Academic NETwork. The conference was run between two sites on the University campus in Cardiff and was designed to show the potential of this medium for small 'travel free' discussions. This was followed by a tour of the impressive Welsh School of Architecture. Whilst in the School there was a presentation by a local professional artist from ARTSTATION. This is a company who have developed a small robot that can plot large (30m2) flattened sections of three dimensional CAD forms using a piece of dedicated software called 'Splicer'. The day ended with a tour of the Cardiff Bay development.
		Day Three
		The third day commenced with a demonstration of 3D Studio Max, with a beta version of the new Lightscape rendering plug-in. The plug-in allows the Lightscape radiosity rendering engine to be used within 3DS. Radiosity is not view specific and should allow movement within the rendered model once the rendering has been calculated. Lighting prediction calculations, which previously required specialist programs such as LumenMicro, will now be possible within the 3DS design environment. This was followed by a demonstration of Apple's Quicktime VR, a hybrid between digital photography and virtual reality. QTVR scenes can be exported directly from some CAAD software packages or composed from photographs taken using a 15mm lens and Apple's tripod adapter. Although QTVR is not true virtual reality, the user can look up and down, turn around and zoom in or out. It is available on both Mac and PC platforms. Third in the planned sequence of events was the chance to view student work from Liverpool John Moores University and Queens University Belfast. The conference concluded with Jeff Johns announcing the possibility of a nationwide videoconference for ASCA members, to be scheduled later in the year. Phill Berridge School of Architecture University of Liverpool

ASCA'97 Conference Report

Toward 2000: Communication, Computers and Architectural Education