Design methods in

architecture.
Heath, T Method in architecture. John
Wiley Chichester (1984). 256pp. 17.95.
I am afraid that this is a curate's egg
of a book. On the one hand it must
be welcomed as few architects with
the practical design experience of the
author have ever made significant
contributions to the design methods
debate. A more cautious welcome
may also be extended for bringing
together in one book some of the
wide ranging background to design
methods relevant to architecture previously only traceable through
many conference papers.
Yet a number of reservations arise
as a curious sense of deja-vu comes
over one in reading the book. The
author admits to it having been a
long time in gestation - the topic
being originally prompted by having
to write a review of Newell and
Simon's " H u m a n problem solving".
Newell and Simon's book was published in 1972 and most of the
references in Heath's book date from
around that period. He therefore
discusses the relationship of philosophy of science to design method up
to Popper, but does not mention the
more recent interest in Kuhn's paradigms and Feyerabend's anarchism.
He gives a 'modern history of design
methods' which describes the second
generation participatory models, but
no mention is made of third generation models which attempt to reestablish a designers' role in design
method.
Although the stimulus for writing
the book arose from a classic text in
machine intelligence the author
makes no mention of the current
work in c o m p u t e r - a i d e d design
which is attempting to find ways of
building knowledge into computer
programs - work that inevitably is
affecting how designers might represent design data and take design
decisions.

52

It is difficult to identify the readership to whom this book might

appeal. The turgid first half which
covers the ' b a c k g r o u n d theory'
makes such heavy going of it as to
deter any other than the most motivated of readers. If used as a teaching
text so many caveats would apply as
to neutralise its possible benefits.
Finally, having worked in Glasgow for the past ten years, I must
confess some puzzlement over the
text reference on p197 and the picture on p198 of 'the Bygger development in Glasgow'. I am afraid I know
of no such development but the
picture looks remarkably like Byker
wall near Newcastle (England).
Alan H. Bridges

CAD/CAM
Groover, M P and Zimmers, E W CAD/
CAM: Computer-aided design and manufacturing. Prentice-Hall, London, (1984).
489pp. 16.95.
Basically, books dealing with CAD
can aproach the subject from a number of different angles. Interactive
design techniques, computer
graphics, engineering applications
can each be treated in depth or
mentioned superficially. It all depends on the target audience; such is
the extent of CAD and the diversity
of its readership. Computer scientists require books on computm
graphics and datastructures for software development, engineers require
principles for system development
and enhancement, and, if they are
users, basic understanding to ensure
that they apply CAD effectively.
Management have to rapidly assimulate knowledge in order to specie,
procure and implement systems
appropriate to their needs. The book
CAD/CAM (Groover and Zimmer) is
aimed at a particular audience, the
manufacturing engineer, but engineering professionals in general
will find it a useful summary of

modern computer-based manufacturing techniques. Because the book

is entitled CAD/CAM rather than
CAD it therefore has to cover manufacturing activities, however, this
book is predominantly about CAM,
which reflects the author's background.
Groover's earlier book (Automation, P r o d u c t i o n Systems, and
CAM) is an excellent and almost
standard p r o d u c t i o n engineering
textbook, and one can see more than
a passing resemblance between this
and his contribution on CAD/CAM.
There are many interpretations of
what CAD/CAM should be, and
some argue that it essentially involves information, created by design engineers to be used for specifying manufacturing operations. In
this book, CAD/CAM is given its
widest interpretation with coverage
ranging from basic computer technology through design, manufacturing processes and computer control.
It deals with production equipment
like machine tools, robotics, production systems and, a relatively smaller
section on CAD. It is not a book
primarily for engineering designers.
The text is organised into eight
major parts, plus an introduction.
The parts cover basic computer technology and fundamentals of CAD,
NC, industrial robots, group technology and process planning, production management systems, computer and quality control, and finally
a short chapter on implementing a
CAD/CAM system. Because lhe
book deals s,~ much with applications, it tends ~o suffer from a lack of
coherency to bind all the various
design and manul:acturing activities
~ogether. The geometrical modal is
supposed to do this:, but these
aspects on integration are treated
very lightly here. Certainly it is not a
book for anyone requiring {undamental knowledge on interactive
graphical techniques in engineering.
But in its favour it is well structured.
clearly written and tidily presented,
contains lists of references for lurch-

DESIGN S'FUDII'2S