Style
Thechoiceofparticularvariablesandcon gurationsofvariablesisadetermin-antofthestyleofthedesign(Simon,1975).Thelabel‘style’canbeusedinatleasttwoways:eithertodescribeaparticularprocessofdesigningorasameansofdescribingarecognizablesetofcharacteristicsofadesign.Thus,itispossibletotalkaboutthe‘Gothic’styleinbuildingsorthe‘hightech”styleofconsumergoods.Preciselywhatgoestomakeupeachofthesestylesisextremelydif culttoarticulateeventhoughweabletorecognizeeachofthesestyleswithverylittledif culty.Anappropriatequestiontoposeis:howcanweunderstandwhatpro-ducesastyleduringtheformulationstageofadesigningprocess?Thisbringsusbacktotheconceptsdescribedinthispaper.
‘Thehistoryoftasteandfashionisthehistoryofpreferences,ofvariousactsofchoicebetweendifferentalternatives......[But]anactofchoiceisonlyofsymptomaticsigni cance,isexpressiveofsomethingonlyifwecanreallywanttotreatstylesassymptomaticofsomethingelse,wecannotdowithoutsometheoryofthealternatives’(Gombrich,quotedfrom(Simon,1975)).Ifweuseaparticularstyleasthe tnessofinterestthenitshouldbepossibletoutilisethegeneticengineeringapproachdescribedinthispapertodetermineifthereisauniquesetofgenesorgenecombinationswhichiscapableofbeingtheprogenitorsofthatstyle.Forthistooccursatisfactorilyaricherformofpatternrecognitionwillbeneededthanthatalludedtohere.Wewillneedtobeabletodetermineawidervarietyofgeneschemasinthegenotypesofthosedesignswhichexhibitthedesiredstyle.
Theuseofgeneticengineeringinevolvingschemasofinterestopensupapo-tentialsubsymbolicmodelofemergenceincludingtheemergenceofdomainse-