Journal of Engineering Design
Journal of Engineering Design
Journal of Engineering Design
To cite this article: NIGEL CROSS & NORBERT ROOZENBURG (1992) Modelling the Design Process in Engineering and in
Architecture, Journal of Engineering Design, 3:4, 325-337, DOI: 10.1080/09544829208914765
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Journal of Engineering Design, Vol. 3, No.4, 1992 325
SUMMARY Models of the design process in engineering seem to have converged upon a
consensus represented, for example, by the German VDI model. However, after starting
from common origins, models of the design process in architecture have diverged from the
engineering consensus, in response to criticisms from both theorists and practitioners.
There now appear to be significant differences between the engineering and architectural
design models. Criticisms of the consensus model of engineering design have also been
made, similar in some ways to the earlier criticisms of the architectural design models.
We discuss the similarities and differences between the two consensus models-in
engineering and architecture-and identify prescriptive vs, descriptive emphases. We
suggest that attempts should be made to reintegrate the two models to improve common
features of design education and practice across the disciplines.
1. Introduction
This paper is concerned with the differences that have arisen between models of the
design process in different disciplines, especially between engineering and architecture.
We find these differences both interesting and informative, especially since early
models of the design process in these disciplines had common origins and substantial
similarities. We propose in this paper to analyse the differences that have emerged and
to suggest the need to reintegrate the models.
Nigel Cross and Norbert Roozenburg, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering) Delft Technological
University, 2628 BX Delft, The Netherlands.
326 N. Cross & N. Roozenburg
Results
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This consensus model is fundamentally derived from the ways in which engineer-
ing design problems are conventionally perceived and modelled. Machines and pro-
ducts are technical systems that transform energy, material and information. The
functional behaviour of a technical system is fully determined by physical principles
and can be described by physical laws. The engineering design problem is to find and
define the geometry and the materials of the system in such a way that the required
Modelling the Design Process 327
prespecified physical behaviour is realized in the most effective and efficient way.
Amongst others, Hubka and Eder [8) have set out these fundamentals in great detail.
Underlying this model is a structure based upon a systems engineering approach to
the development of complex systems. According to this approach, development
projects are to be structured in two 'dimensions'. The vertical dimension corresponds
to the origination phases in the life cycle of a product (such as feasibility study,
preliminary design, detailed design, planning for production, planning for distribution,
planning for retirement). The horizontal dimension is the problem-solving process that
takes place in every phase of the vertical structure: analysing and defining problems,
synthesizing solutions, simulating or predicting performance, and evaluating and
choosing the best system. This two-dimensional view can be traced to Hall [9) (see
Fig. 2); Asimow [10) was one of the first who applied this view to modelling the
engineering design process.
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STEPSOFTHE I 2 3 4 5 6 7
FINESTRUCTURE Problem Value Systems Systems Oprimiza- Decision Planning
(Logic) -----> Definition System Synthesis Analysis tion of AI· Making for Action
tematives
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concepts are established, and those concepts are then gradually refined in increasingly
more detail. Secondly, it assumes that complex problems should be decomposed into
subproblems, for which subsolutions are to be found and 'synthesized' into overall
solutions for the design problem (see Fig. 3).
Overolt problem
Subproblems
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Individual problem,
Individual solufion,
Sub solutions
Overall solution
architectural design, respectively, and both used similar models to help describe and
teach the design process. In industrial design there was also a similar basic model of
the design process represented by Archer [14] (see Fig. 5).
Design process,
2 Feasibility
3 Outline ptoposals
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4 SChemedesign
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Training
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question the orthodox view that designers should resist bringing their own preconcep-
tions to bear on the problem. They argued that designers not only do but inevitably
must 'prestructure' their problems in order to solve them. They suggested that the
prevailing 'analysis-synthesis' model of design (in which exhaustive problem analysis
must precede solution synthesis) was derived from a fallacious view of the role of
inductive logic in science and that designers have to rely on a form of preconception
-their prior knowledge of solution types. Hillier et al. therefore proposed a model of
design based (like Popper's view of science) on the centrality of conjectures. In this
'conjecture-analysis' model, the designer must first generate a solution conjecture
which is then subjected to analysis and evaluation, rather than analysis preceding
synthesis or conjecture. (Similar arguments and proposals in a systems engineering
context have also been made by Rzevski [16].)
Later, Darke [17] developed this model a little further. Based on interviews with
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participants refine their understanding of both the solution and the problem in
parallel;
• it assumes design problems, by definition, to be ill-defined problems.
These and other related arguments and developments have been presented by Cross
[22].
In retrospect, we might say that in architecture and industrial design the attention
of the design researchers and theorists shifted from the vertical (linear, procedural)
dimension of the design process to the horizontal (iterative, problem-solving) dimen-
sion.
are available for engineering designers; the architects therefore have to rely much more
on trial-and-error design procedures. Architects also tend to view their design prob-
lems as inherently ill-defined problems, whereas engineers' problems are more usually
well defined.
There may also be fundamental differences related to preferences in cognitive
styles between engineers and architects. Such a dichotomy might arise because of
differences between engineering's science-based, problem-focused education and archi-
tecture's arts-based, solution-focused education, as suggested by Lawson [25]. Cross
[26] identified cognitive styles (such as serialist vs holist, convergent vs divergent)
with 'designing styles' and suggested that models of the design process by different
authors also could be characterized as representing different cognitive styles. Thus,
some models represent a serialistic design strategy, while others are holistic, some
represent a convergent design strategy, while others a divergent design strategy.
The characteristics of the consensus models of engineering design and architectural
design are contrasted in Table 1.
Assumes problems are (or can be) Assumes problems are ill-defined
well defined
Systematic, expert process Opportunistic, argumentative process
Starts with problem-analysis; avoids Starts with solution-conjecture; accepts
preconceptions prestructures
Linear Cyclical
Tree-like problem structure Lattice problem structure
Prescriptive of design behaviour Descriptive of design behaviour
design [11, 27]. In practice, many product design projects can or must do without the
'invention' of new technical principles and start from known, 'proven' concepts.
However, the consensus model offers little procedural advice with respect to embodi-
ment and detailed design. It has even been questioned whether detailed procedural
models for these phases may exist [28, 29], because the decisions to be taken in these
phases are strongly interrelated, owing to the complexity of technical systems. The
process in these phases is essentially one of continuously refining a concept, jumping
from one subproblem to another, anticipating decisions still to be taken and correcting
earlier decisions in the light of the current state of the design proposal. Therefore, it
seems that the iterative problem-solving model mirrors these phases better than does a
linear procedural model.
As in architecture, the model of engineering design has also been criticized from an
empirical point of view. In practice, the behaviour of engineering designers very
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seldom resembles the behaviour prescribed by the consensus model. Several authors
[27, 30, 31] have stated that, contrary to what the consensus model assumes, working
from abstract problem formulations to concrete solutions and splitting problems into
subproblems are iterative and recursive processes that rely upon anticipations of
possible solutions. As such these observations do not disqualify the model, because it is
a prescriptive model that intends to structure, and not to predict, design behaviour, but
there is not much sense in prescribing 'impossible' behaviour. However, there is until
now little empirical evidence in favour of the effectiveness of the model contrasted to
conventional intuitive ways of working, or against it. Empirical research into the
engineering design process is only beginning to gain momentum, so opinions on the
value of the model as a heuristic method for engineering design are still largely based
on personal experiences and beliefs in its rationality.
The model has also been criticized from a methodological point of view. For
instance, function structures might be of limited heuristic value [32], partitioning the
design process into a large number of small steps might lead to an uncontrollable
explosion of possible solutions [30] and often, when appearance is important, the total
form of a product has to be determined before or in relation to the form of the parts
(as 'dictated' by the chosen principles [2, 33]).
the benefits and progress that genuinely have been made in the course of developing
both the consensus models over the recent decades. These comments apply not only to
the education of professional designers but also-and perhaps especially-to the
rapidly growing development of design in general education (i.e. in the schools), where
the educational weaknesses of simplified models of the design process have already
been criticized [34].
An integrated model is still a long way off although some authors have attempted
to move towards it [35]. The present authors have also each attempted some
integration in their recent books. Roozenburg and Eekels [36] deal with both type
models. They consider the basic design cycle (see Fig. 7), a model of the problem-
solving process in design, as the more fundamental model, and use this cycle (instead
of a linear procedural model) as the frame of reference for the discussion of
methodological problems and methods.
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function
Cross [37] has proposed a 'hybrid model'-it has descriptive and prescriptive
traits-(see Fig. 8) with the following features. Firstly, a symmetrical relationship is
assumed between problem and solution, and between subproblems and subsolutions.
This attempts to demonstrate and indicate that the relationship is not one way from
problem to solution, but that problem definition is often dependent upon solution
concepts. This is an acknowledgement that making solution conjectures is often a
Modelling the Design Process 335
means of helping to clarify the problem. At lower levels, there are similar interactions
between identifying subproblems and generating subsolutions. The upper and lower
double-headed arrows in Fig. 8 indicate that the designer's thinking will oscillate to-
and-fro between problem/subproblems and solution/subsolutions.
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7. Conclusion
We have discussed some positive and negative features of both consensus models. The
consensus model of engineering design is essentially a concise prescription of the tasks
in a design process. It is strong in its rationality-as founded in the theory of technical
systems-but has some shortcomings with respect to the cognitive processes that take
place in the heads of designers. In contrast, the models that nowadays prevail in
architecture reflect design as it is carried out by practitioners. These models are
primarily descriptive and, hence, they offer little guidance to those who believe-as we
do-that better ways of working than those in practice are possible and worthwhile to
develop.
336 N. Cross & N. Roozenburg
We have argued for the need to make a reintegration of the consensus models of
engineering and architecture, building on the strengths of each. Good models will be
built upon rationality adapted to the properties and features of the tasks to be
performed, and to the cognitive characteristics of the designer. This calls for an
integration of the insights that have been gained from design methodology in both
engineering and architecture, if design practice in general is to benefit from these
insights. Above all, it is in education that models of the design process are needed that
are neither overly prescriptive nor weakly permissive, but are reliable, robust and
formative of good design behaviour.
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