Compute Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) of large complexes typically involves interaction between multiple users that collaborate in developing different parts or aspects of the designed structure. In this paper we introduce a new framework that implements a collaborative CAAD software architecture to regulate multiple graphical web clients interacting with multiple distributed computation servers. The key components of the system are: (a) geometric modeling services for CAAD, (b) a shared language interface, (c) a distribution layer for hierarchical object communication, JDBC access to an IBM DB2 database, and CORBA services (d) collaboration layer for multi-user coordination and control, and (e) a shared Java~1/VRML~2 client browser. The geometric modeling services are based on a geometric programming language PlaSM~3 with an exportable Java interface[3]. PLaSM provides a design system kernel suitable for the initial stages of high level conceptual design and for the final detailed shape representation. The collaboration layer is provided by the Shastra collaboration toolkit[1][2]. This toolkit provides connections to multiple distributed network services. This allows for connecting multiple geometric modeling engines to the DB2 distributed database server providing persistent storage and safe transactions for concurrent data modifications. Collaborative users are provided with knowledge of the trans-actions made by other users endowing them with collaborative awareness of global activity. A java enhanced VRML browser provides a graphical thin-client interface with on demand extensible capabilities that is accessed using regular web browsers. The resulting system is an innovative web based CAAD system that takes full advantage of interoperability with network services, multi-user coordination, and web connectivity to support collaborative architectural design.
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