drawing diagrams as an aid to architectural design process

designers draw diagrams to think about architectural concepts and design concerns. scientists are interested in programming computers to recognize and interpret design diagrams to deliver appropriate tools for the design task at hand. researchers conducted empirical studies to find out if designers share drawing conventions when designing. the experiment results show that designers use different diagramming conventions when thinking about different design concerns. this paper discusses the use of freehand diagrams and sketches in architectural design. it examines the roles of diagrams in various contexts: pedagogical books, design studies, designers’ introspective accounts and empirical studies of drawing in design. it offers several examples of thinking with diagrams in design and concludes with a discussion of the requirements for computational support for the diagrams in design thinking