Proposal for a software model based on the critical analysis of packages used in interior architecture

Abstract

Interior architectural education and practice employ various different general purpose software packages. Nonetheless, this study claims that as none of packages is developed specifically for interior architectural design process and purposes, both interior architecture education and market seek ways to fulfill their specific needs. This study aims at proposing a model for domain specific software for interior architecture. Within this conception, initially, general purpose and domain specific CAAD software used in interior architecture are defined. Then, selected software are analyzed according to ‘drawing’, ’transformation’, ‘view’, ‘rendering’ and ‘other’ features. Interior architectural domain specific requirements are obtained as a result of these analyses and comparisons. Consequently, questionnaires and interviews are performed with interior architectural students and professionals in order to determine user needs. The analysis of the user needs provide significant background information about software features and quality attributes of the proposed model.