The Applicability of the Axiomatic and Decision-Based Design Equations in Variant Design

Abstract For sometime Nam Suh’s axiomatic design has been a view of design science; a view in which design science is seen as a process subject to a set of rules or governing, rational axioms. The two principal limitations of axiomatic design as espoused by Suh are 1) its inability to be used at every stage in a design process, and 2) the lack of supporting tools for designing with the axioms. It is our contention that in order to improve the existing axiomatic approach to design, a new model for designing is needed. In this paper we offer a fundamental algebraic model for design, the Decision-Based Design equations, that encompasses Suh’s axiomatic design and is applicable at any stage in a design process.