Quantifying the Intangible - A tool for retrospective protocol studies of sketching during the early conceptual de-sign of architecture

Sketching is a craft supporting the development of ideas and design intentions, as well as an effective tool for communication during the early architectural design stages by making them tangible. Even though sketch-based interaction is a promising approach for Computer-Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) systems, it remains a challenge for computers to recognise information in a sketch. Design protocol studies conducted to deconstruct the sketch and sketching process collect solely qualitative data so far. However, the 'metis' projects aim to create an intelligent design assistant, using an artificial neural network (ANN), in the manner of Negroponte’s Architecture Machine. By assimilating to the user's idiosyncrasies, the system suggests further design steps to the architect to improve the design decision making process for economic growth, qualitative self-education through the dialogue and reducing stress. For training such ANN quantitative data is needed. In order to produce quantifiable results from such a study, we propose our open-source web-tool ‘Sketch Protocol Analyser’. By correlating different parameters (i.e. video, transcript and sketch built) through the same labels and their timestamps, we create quantitative data for further use.