Graphics support for a World-Wide-Web based architectural design service

This paper describes the design and implementation of a Web-based graphical editor and visualization tool for 3D architectural forms. This Design Development Tool enables end-users to Select, Customize and Visualize house designs drawn from a large library. Having used this tool to select a base house design, the user can customize their selected design using a constraint-based graphical editor, and then view and walk through a 3D model of the resulting house. The work described is part of the larger LaHave House Project which explores the creation of an automated architectural design service based on an industrial design approach to architecture in which Architects design families of similarly structured objects, rather than individual ones. The houses in the library have been generated in terms of a modular kit of over 1400 3D parts.