Patrick Kelly Lecturer BSc (Dal), MSc (TUNS) Research Research interest focuses on multimedia and its use as a viable tool in three areas: visualization and processes related to architectural design; presentation of architectural design projects; and use as an educational tool for teaching architectural design and history. Background Background includes teaching in both architecture and computer programming. The latest developments in many sciences, especially the physical sciences and computer science are followed, with a special interest in areas with possible application to architecture. Research objectives • To determine how techniques such as fly-throughs, animation, photo-realistic renderings and virtual reality aid the design process; assessing the capabilities of computer hardware and software to accomplish the desired results. • Determining time- and cost-effective ways to use multimedia as a replacement for or in conjunction with traditional presentation techniques. • Producing a multimedia tool kit to augment traditional methods used in the teaching of architectural design and the history of architecture. Methods Students are instructed in the necessary software early in the term and set to work on a design project resulting in a multimedia presentation. Monitoring and evaluation of the process produces data and new knowledge which is recirculated to the following year's program. Relativity and applicability As computer capabilities increase, they offer the prospect of providing designers with tools that will allow them to explore possible design solutions in manners which cannot be done using traditional methods. To meet this challenge, effective methods of providing students with this new set of skills must be found so that they can begin to use them, intuitively, in the design process. In a world in which an increasing amount of information is being displayed with interactive multimedia, all students must learn how to deal with these issues. This is especially true in architecture which relies on graphics as its chief method for communicating information.. As universities are under increasing pressure to teach more students with fewer human resources, interactive multimedia tools offer a way in which students can acquire and reference a large amount of basic information. This offers the possibility of freeing up time for faculty members to concentrate their teaching in more advanced areas. In addition, such compilations, possibly with some changes, may have the capability of being a marketable item to either industry or the general public. Archaeoastronomy Many ancient buildings and monuments were designed and built to incorporate alignments determined by celestial objects, such as the sun, the moon, the planets and the stars. These structures can be found all over the globe and over a span of time reaching from the present to the distant past. Unfortunately, with the possible exception of the simple sundial, many people are unaware of the possibilities that these concepts can have in the design of modern structures.