University of Sydney Design Lab

The University of Sydney Design Lab, formerly the Key Centre of Design Computing and Cognition, is a teaching and research centre of the University's School of Architecture, Design and Planning, established in 1968. The aim of the centre is to apply human-centred design to products, services and systems.

The Key Centre of Design Computing and Cognition was founded in 1968 by John Gero^[1] (its Foundation Director) to research computers in design as a way of modeling and understanding designing. In 2007, after the departure of its co-directors John Gero and Mary Lou Maher,^[2] it changed its name to the Design Lab. During the intervening years its ambit grew to embrace teaching. The KCDC’s research is founded on the use of a scientific approach to the development of models, theories and methods to understand designs and designing.

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Naming history

• 1968 Computer Applications Research Unit (Gero 1972)
• 1973 Renamed Architectural Computing Unit
• 1982 Renamed Design Computing Unit
• 1990 Renamed Key Centre of Design Computing^[10]
• 1998 Renamed Key Centre of Design Computing and Cognition^[11]
• 2007 Renamed Design Lab

Research

The KCDC from 1968-2007 had four overlapping foci in its design research:

• The first phase (1968-1975) researched design via simulation (Gero 1970).
• The second phase (1972-1983) researched design via optimization.
• The third phase (1979-2007) researched design using artificial intelligence and knowledge-based approaches, with a focus on design theory, design synthesis and computational creativity (Gero and Maher 1996a; Gero and Maher 1996b).
• The fourth phase (1992-2007) researched cognitive aspects of designing^[12] as a basis for models of design and as foundations for design computing.

Teaching

• Undergraduate architecture student teaching of computational approaches to design, introduced in 1966 (predating the establishment of the Centre)
• Professional courses for practicing designers on computational approaches to design, introduced in 1969
• PhD program in design research, introduced in 1969 (Gero 2004)
• Master of Architectural Computing, introduced in 1978
• Graduate Diploma in Architectural Computing, introduced in 1978 (Gero 1980)
• Master of Design Science (Design Computing), introduced in 1988
• Bachelor of Design Computing, introduced in 2003

Conferences

The Key Centre was very active in organizing conferences and workshops^[13] as a means of both creating a research community and producing a broader impact.