Drawing historically has been a way for the profession to transmit its knowledge. Simulations (a contemporary form of drawing) provide pseudo-objective datasets from which evaluations can be made. Often, these representations ultimately are constructed upon misinformed conceptual foundations. Complexity increases, and knowledge turns stale. New forms of knowledge are needed that relate humans to nonhumans in a trustworthy way.
CATIA/DigitalProject facilitates communication between multiple participants in the construction industry. It allows highly controlled geometric and material coordination, in turn providing 'users' the potential to hyper-specify each other's discipline into new formal and conceptual territories. However, the specificity granted by such software brings with it preconceptions that must be considered at every step of the design process, especially during the espoused 'evaluative phase' of simulation.
Simulations can be used as design tools, insofar as the simulation viewer understands the overwrought biases contained therein. Accordingly, both simulation maker and simulation viewer are not to be trusted outright. More interesting than simulations which seek to produce whole-truths are those that produce half or partial knowledges around a subject. When multiple contingencies shape the design and construction process, selective determinism coupled with intuitive, relational understanding is where designers may find the most leverage.
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