設計原是一種處理大量資訊之活動。以建築為例，設計往往不是一個建築師或設計者所為完成之工作。同時，在全球經濟之發展下，國際合作與團隊合作工作將日趨重要。本文主要在探討因地域或組織等因素所產生的分散式環境中，設計作業型態所面臨的各種重要課題，包括：設計合作、溝通、管理，與資訊網路之應用。杵文籍由設計案例與教學實驗以探討設計合作的架構，設計溝通的模式，設計管理的方法，與網路的設計文化等各種議題。研發由於通訊技術與網路之迅速發展，在皆散式環境設計作業已具體可行。未在研究與實應用之發方向應是群體合作作業之模式研究與電腦輔助合作工具與溝通介面設計。

　　　　　Design is an activity involved in handling a large volume of information. In architectural design, the design task cannot be accomplished by a single architect or designer. Meanwhile, in the global economy, international cooperation and teamwork will become more important. This paper is aimed to address the design issuers in the distributed environment caused by the location and organizational factors, including design collaboration, communication, management, and computer network applications. By empirical design cases studies and design experiments, this paper analyzes issues related to the framework of design collaboration, the design communication patterns, the management methods, and the networked design culture. The research findings show that designers working with communication and networks in a distributed environment is feasible. Future directions for research and practice are to study the models of collaborative work, and develop tools for computer supported collaborative works and communication interfaces.