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Top1. Introduction
Representing the main link between planning and actualization, design is widely considered the major activity in architecture and engineering disciplines. Typically, design evolves through a recursive process that encompasses various cycles, phases, layers and tasks. Moreover, it is widely recognized that design does not have a particular definite approach, method, process or solution. In addition, design can be considered a knowledge-driven act of oscillation between perception, cognition and action. Throughout any design processing cycle, knowledge visualization is essential to all stages, and particularly more significant in the early stages of design conception.
Designers and theorists have produced many scholarly works to unveil the mysterious aspects of design (e.g. Aspelund, 2010; Bartholomew, 2013; Eilouti, 2010, 2012, 2015; Panero and Zelnik, 1979; Pressman, 2012; Sully, 2012; Thompson and Blossom, 2015). Some of these works are concerned with the process of designing. For instance, Dodsworth and Andesrson (2015) describe the design process as a malleable structure in which different tasks are adaptable to each project’s unique nature. Design for them represents an iterative cycle that starts with the client, from whom the whole process evolves, and moves to the concept proposal preparation which includes the planning and sourcing stages. Subsequently, the design is developed and presented to the client to be finalized, detailed, supplemented with schedules of quantities and specifications and finally implemented. Within this cycle that starts and ends with a client, concept derivation is proposed to be a result of listing and selecting some adjectives that describe a desired experience which is concluded from the client’s brief to inspire the design. Similarly, design for Pressman (2012) is derived through a cycle that starts with defining a problem and moves to information collection, brainstorming and analysis of ideas. Subsequently, the generation process focuses on the development of solutions, as well as on the presentation of ideas and improvement of design. This cycle has three major phases: inspiration, ideation and implementation. Along the same line of thought, Smith and Smith (2014) explain the various aspects of design process, culture and making as well as the idea generation and development process in design. They describe design as a non-linear process that moves forward and backward between the various forms of knowledge and experiences to imagine the future product. This process applies a combination of a retrospective strategy to explore the resources, and a prospective one to visualize the product. Design process represents also the main concern of Cross and Roozenburg who focus in their study (1992) on the interdisciplinary comparison of design process in engineering and in architecture to reintegrate the models of the two to improve design education and practice in both disciplines. While the previous examples are concerned with design process, the major concern of some scholarly works is the composition of design and its constituent components (e.g. Ercan and Elias-Ozkan, 2015). In addition to literature in design process and composition, some studies focus on design methods such as evidence-based design (Yilmaz et al., 2016) and user-centered design (Miaskiewicz and Kozar, 2011).