SEED-Layout
SEED-Layout (SL) represents that portion of SEED that deals with preliminary layout design. It is a generative design system whose capabilities are based on an explicit internal representation of design constraints. This allows SL to play a more active part in placing and shaping design elements than commercial CAD packages are able to do, even advanced ones. As such, SL should be interesting for researchers dealing with generative design.
We make the last prototype here available to the research community. But be forewarned: SL is not a commercial product—it has bugs and can be crashed, and portions that we envisaged have never been implemented. But in spite of this, researchers may want to "play" with it to get a better sense of the underlying ideas and how they may relate to practice.
The version provided here runs under Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The download package consists of a compressed zip file, which, if extracted, will generate a directory called "seed" containing the following items:
- SL executable
- readme.txt file containing instructions on how to set a few environmental variables needed by SL
- a "data" directory with the "PS_LIB" subdirectory, which SL uses to read or save what it calls "problem statements."
Hitting the Start download link on the left will open an agreement, which you must read carefully and accept in order to initialize the download.
Independently of this, you may hit the links on the left to open and save pdf files containing the following documents, which you will need to get started with SL:
- SL Tutorial
- SL Reference Manual
Please note that these documents are drafts that have not been checked for errors or tested in practice. Not everything works as explained, but you should be able to get a good idea about the underlying concepts.
References:
Flemming, U. and Chien, S.F. "Schematic Layout Design in SEED Environment"
Journal of Architectural Engineering 1(1995) 162-169.
Interactive introduction
(albeit based on an earlier version of the user interface).
Last change made to this page: 25 April, 2005
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