The subject of the paper is the possibilities and limitations of domain knowledge in design computing, as experienced in the development of a case-base of school buildings. In case-based design domain knowledge is used not only in the documentation and analysis of the cases but also in the structure of the case-base. The cases were documented and analysed using a geometric and topological representation. With respect to typological classification the highest abstraction level was occupied by three established types, the corridor, hall and pavilion type, which represent practically all school buildings in our case-base. Progressive abstraction of the geometric and topological representation returned the components of each type at various levels of specificity that correspond to different levels of design thinking and decision taking. The resulting typological / case-base structure provides a transparent description of both parts and global arrangements and has led to the identification of subtypes, variations and hybrids.@en

In recent years Dutch secondary education has been undergoing a fundamental change due to the introduction of new didactic approaches which relate strongly to ongoing social and technological developments. This affects existing school buildings, the majority of which is quite conventional in spatial terms and is characterized by limited flexibility and transformability. Consequently, most schools require extensive modifications in their spatial and building structure. The requirements underlying these modifications are not stable. Many schools have become interested in experimental ideas that may require inevitably further changes in the buildings. The paper considers the continuous transformation of Dutch school buildings with respect to their typology: by correlating new design briefs to building types rather than their instances we arrive at general guidelines that can be easily adapted to specific cases. To achieve this, the types are analysed with respect to geometry, topology and zoning. The results of the analysis describe the affordances of each type in terms of general flexibility, transformability and adaptability, as well as in relation to generic briefs. They also provide an explanation of the historical evolution of the types and the means for relating primary characteristics to local configurations, thereby allowing the accurate description of hybrid instances. The descriptions and analysis of buildings are organized into a polyhierarchical multi-level database that supports typological abstraction and offers several starting points (at various abstraction levels) for matching a new brief to an existing building. This enriches the development of the brief or a design solution with explicit, specific information derived from concrete precedents with known form, structure, behaviour and performance.@en