Computer Aided Design (CAD) for geometric modeling:

Information from GIS is collected and primarily presented in a two-dimensional format. At the same time, three-dimensional modeling is important in demonstrating a more tangible and "real" simulation of familiar urban and topographic conditions. One example of this application involves the demonstration of current and future zoning constraints on building footprints and massing within various neighborhoods. Zoning laws are written documents and they currently require "translation" into three-dimensional terms. The public, politicians and planning departments seldom understand the specific physical and formal implications of the zoning laws that are currently written. Geometric modeling can demonstrate current conditions and new approaches that more convincingly approximate the familiar settings of traditional small town planning.

Geometric modeling also applies to work involving specific housing studies. A computer based approach is patterned on the "Sears Catalog House" from the early part of this century, in which various combinations of standardized assembly elements can be organized by home owners. The computer technology allows individuals to quickly visualize economical possibilities within a graphically defined "kit of parts" of housing options. Rather than relinquishing this process of "product development" and individual participation in the organization of housing options to free-market forces of speculative development, our design study proposes a more sensitive relationship between current affordable housing practice and traditions from the past. This connection between specific affordable options in housing and a relationship to familiar practices in the past reinforces the previously described role of re-uniting a neighborhood's development with patterns of evolution as identified through the GIS and urban design work.