Preserving born digital architectural drawings: developing preservation strategies in relation to the design process

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PRESERVING BORN DIGITAL ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS

Between Paper and Pixels: Transmedial traffic in architectural drawingTU Delft and Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam

Nov 30 – Dec 1, 2016

Henk VanstappenDATABLE

Developing preservation strategies in relation to the design process

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I. The Problem

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Analog drawing

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Analog drawings• Carrier: paper• Information: ink• Hardware: eye• Software: brain• Context, scale: legend

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Born digital drawings

© Abel Cahen

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Born digital drawings

• Carrier: disc• Hardware: Intel PC• Software: Windows + AutoCAD• Information: shapes, attributes• Context: file properties, metadata

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Digital information hierarchy

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MiniCAD hierarchy

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Obsolete format risk

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II. Preservation strategies

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Computer museum

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Computer museum

• Hard to manage• I/O limits• Hardware will fail

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Emulation

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Emulation

• Complex, error prone• Licensed OS• Periodical updates

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Migration

© Abel Cahen

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Migration

© Abel Cahen

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Migration

• Open format (DXF, DAE, PRC, PDF)• Possible information loss

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[end of

manual.]

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Migration information loss

© Crepain/Binst architecten

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Migration information loss

© Crepain/Binst architecten

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availability openess intelligence other

3DM ✖ ✖COLLADA ✖DGN ✖ ✖DWG ✖ ✖DXF ✖ ✖ ✖IFC ✖ ✖ ✖IGES ✖ ✖OBJ ✖ ✖ ✖PDF/A-2/3 ✖ ✖PDF/E ✖ ✖PDF/E-2 ✖PRC ✖ ✖STEP ✖ ✖SVG ✖U3D ✖ ✖VRML ✖ ✖XRD ✖

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III. The use cases

• Administration (e.g. construction permit)• Re-use in architectural practice• Architectural history: “documenting the design

process”

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III. The use cases

• Administration (e.g. construction permit)• Re-use in architectural practice• Architectural history: “documenting the design

process”

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A simple design process typology

1. Analog creatives2. Digital creatives3. Born digital designers

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1. CAD as a digital drawing board

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1. CAD as a digital drawing board

• Creative process is analog (sketching)• 2D drawings by collaborator

• Preservation strategy:– migration to PDF/A-2 or DXF– printing is an option…

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2. Creative use of digital tools

© Abel Cahen

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2. Creative use of digital tools

© Abel Cahen

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2. Creative use of digital tools

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2. Creative use of digital tools

© FRANKEN/ARCHITECTEN

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2. Creative use of digital tools

• Multitude of tools and formats• Often mixed analog/digital process

• Preservation strategy:– Document creation process and tools– Rigorous selection–Migrate key documents to open formats (dxf, dae,

tiff, iges, pdf/a-2, …)

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3. Born digital design

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3. Born digital design

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3. Born digital design

• Parametric design and scripting• High information level in files (BIM)

• Preservation strategy:– Document creation process and tools–Migrate documents: PRC, PDF/E-2

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IV. Conclusion

1. No turnkey solutions2. Significant properties depend on:

a. creative process b. use case

3. Significant properties determine appropriate archival formats

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thanks!

[email protected]