Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Fusion
Volume 2
Volume 2 - eCAADe 32 | 1
Editor
Emine Mine Thompson
Department of Architecture and Built Environment
Faculty of Engineering and Environment
Northumbria University
Fusion - Proceedings of the 32nd International Conference on Education and research in Com-
puter aided Architectural Design in Europe, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK, 10-12 Septem-
ber 2014, Volume 2. Edited by Emine Mine Thompson. Brussels: Education and research in
Computer aided Architectural Design in Europe; Newcastle upon Tyne: Department of Archi-
tecture and Built Environment, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria Univer-
sity.
Copyright © 2014
Publisher: eCAADe (Education and research in Computer aided Architectural Design in Eu-
rope) and Department of Architecture and Built Environment, Faculty of Engineering and En-
vironment, Northumbria University.
All rights reserved. Nothing from this publication may be produced, stored in computerised
system or published in any form or in any manner, including electronic, mechanical, repro-
graphic or photographic, without prior written permission from the publisher.
2 | eCAADe 32 - Volume 2
eCAADe 2014
Edited by
Emine Mine Thompson
Volume 2 - eCAADe 32 | 3
4 | eCAADe 32 - Volume 2
Theme
This is the second volume of the conference proceedings of the 32nd eCAADe conference,
held from 10-12 September 2013 at the Department of Architecture and Built Environment,
Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne,
England. Both volumes together contain 130 papers that were submitted and accepted to
this conference.
The theme of the 32nd eCAADe conference is Fusion- data integration at its best.
All quests for data integration in architecture and the construction industry lead ultimately
to FUSION, a synthesis of knowledge that transcends mere combination. FUSION is the
dream of a knowledge system that will enable multiple sets of data, in manifold formats, to
be presented in a unified view. This conference is exploring the possibilities for advanced
levels of data integration in the service of the representation and management of the natural
environment, and the design, visualisation and making of the built environment. These
proceedings are presenting the contributions which explore the elusive goal of FUSION in
architecture and related fields.
The second volume of the proceedings contains 65 papers grouped under nine sub-themes
(Generative Design- Parametric Modelling, Material, Collaboration and Participation, VR, Spatial
Analysis, Shape, Form and Geometry 2, BIM, Design Tool 2 and Smart and Responsive Design).
Autodesk
Bentley
Northumbria University
Welcome to the 32nd proceedings of eCAADe in Newcastle upon Tyne, England - exactly fif-
teen years after the last eCAADe conference in England we are very happy to welcome you
back.
The idea of bringing the eCAADe conference to Newcastle dates back to October 2010. Since
then there have been many structural changes at Northumbria University and although many
unexpected things took place, the conference organisation was one of the constant threads
of life’s tapestry during this time.
Over the last four years many people helped to make this conference possible and it is my plea-
sure to acknowledge and thank them here. First of all, I would like to thank all Associate Deans
for Research and Innovation, initially Prof David Greenwood, and later on Prof Fary Ghassem-
looy, and then Prof John Woodward who supported the idea very enthusiastically. Also a huge
thanks goes to Margaret Horne (Director of Built Environment Visualisation Centre), Peter Bea-
cock (Director of Architecture), Ruth Dalton (Head of VRV Group) and Kevin Thomas (Head of
Architecture and Built Environment) for allowing time and space so that the organisation pro-
cess runs smoothly and for their trust and understanding.
Secondly, the previous conference organisers Henri Achten and Rudi Stouffs passed on their
experience and knowledge without hesitation - Thank you! Financial support was generously
provided by Autodesk and Bentley Systems and Northumbria University.
I would also like to thank to eCAADe council. The Council was very supportive from begin-
ning to the end and gave help with many aspects of the organisation. Both Presidents José
Duarte (until 2013) and Johan Verbeke (since 2013) encouraged and gave full support during
the organisation. Also, Bob Martens, as liaison with the conference host, and Nele De Meyere,
This year, authors were challenged with the use of two different submission systems. Initially,
for the abstract submissions we utilised the OpenConf system which ran smoothly and we
thank Martin Winchester for his support on this. For the full paper submissions, Gabriel Wurzer
and his team allowed us to test-drive the ProceeDings tool in its Beta version. This is has been
a learning curve both for the ProceeDings team and for the organisation team. Although there
might still have some little issues to iron out, ProceeDings tool is a fantastic aid to the confer-
ence organiser. A huge thanks goes to Gabriel Wurzer, Wolfgang E. Lorenz and Gerda Hartl
who worked so hard to put together these proceedings; your efforts are highly appreciated.
The call for extended abstracts generated 240 submissions. With the help of the eighty-five
international reviewers, each submission was double-blind reviewed by three reviewers. 152
extended abstracts were accepted for full paper submission. Regrettably some authors with-
drew from submitting the final paper and eventually 130 papers made it to publication and
presentation. I thank and congratulate all the authors for their hard work and support on us-
ing the ProceeDings tool and finalizing their papers. I also owe a huge thanks to the reviewers
(see the reviewers list), who volunteered their time in order to assess the submissions.
For the third year in a row eCAADe is publishing two volumes of proceedings. We believe this
shows the growing interest for the eCAADe in general and also the continuing development
of computing and its reflection in architecture and design education and research. This year
another new approach with regards to the proceedings was evaluated: an option to provide
the proceedings as either electronic copy only or both hard and electronic copy. It is our belief
that this was a successful trail with the almost 50/50 divide on the request for the proceedings
(42% requesting electronic copy and 58% requesting both).
As the chair, I had support from the organisation committee, especially James Charlton, Ruth
Dalton, Andy Dunhill, Julie Clarke, Sara Walker, Bob Giddings, Minnie Fraser, David Green-
During the conference we had session chairs who led the twenty-five presentation sessions
and the student volunteers who assisted everybody throughout the conference - Thank you
all!
I am also very grateful to our Keynote Speakers; Christian Derix (Director of the Computational
Design Research group of Aedas Architects), Dr Andrew Hudson-Smith (Director of the Centre
for Advanced Spatial Analysis – CASA at The Bartlett, University College London) and Professor
Stephen Lockley (Chair of Building Modelling at Northumbria University and Research and Edu-
cation director of the BIM Academy).
A further special thanks also goes to Robert Aish (Bartlett School of Architecture and Visiting
Professor, University of Bath) and Professor Tom Maver (Research Professor, Mackintosh School
of Architecture and Emeritus Professor, University of Strathclyde) who arranged and co-chaired
the Rountable Session on “Design Computation in Practice” with the roundtable participants;
Shajay Bhooshan (Zaha Hadid Architects), Cobus Bothma (Kohn Pedersen Fox), Christian Derix
(Aedas Architect), and Francis Aish (Foster and Partners) who deserves my sincere thanks and
acknowledgements.
Finally I want to thank to my family for their understanding, patience and support over the last
four years while I was busy with the organisation of this conference.
Andy Dunhill
Bob Giddings
Brian Agnew
David Greenwood
Dawn Whitton
James Charlton
Julie Clarke
Lawrence Hughes
Minnie Fraser
Oliver Jones
Ruth Dalton
Sara Walker
Sherif Abdelmohsen, Ain Shams University, Egypt Harald Gatermann, HS Bochum University of Ap-
Henri Achten, Czech Technical University in plied Sciences, Germany
Prague, Czech Republic Evelyn Gavrilou, University of Thessaly, Greece
Asterios Agkathidis University of Liverpool, United Bob Giddings, Northumbria University, United
Kingdom Kingdom
Brian Agnew, Northumbria University, United Thomas Grasl, SWAP Architects, Austria
Kingdom Paul Greenhalgh, University of Northumbria,
Seraphim Alvanides, Northumbria University, United Kingdom
United Kingdom David Greenwood, Northumbria University,
Aleksander Asanowicz, Bialystok University of United Kingdom
Technology, Poland Christiane M. Herr, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool Uni-
versity, China
Claudio Benghi, Northumbria University, United
Kingdom Lawrence Hughes, Northumbria University,
United Kingdom
Andre Brown, University of Liverpool, United King-
dom Mustafa Emre İlal, Izmir Institute of Technology,
Gulen Cagdas, Istanbul Technical University Fac- Turkey
ulty of Architecture, Turkey Umit Isikdag, Beykent University, Turkey
Gabriela Celani, University of Campinas, Brazil Angie Johnson, Northumbria University, United
Kingdom
Tomo Cerovsek, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Oliver Jones, Northumbria University, United
James Charlton, Northumbria University, United Kingdom
Kingdom
Anja Jutraž, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Ar-
Julie Clarke, Northumbria University, United King- chitecture, Slovenia
dom Matevz Juvancic, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of
Birgul Colakoglu, Yildiz Technical University, Architecture, Slovenia
Turkey Anetta Kepczynska-Walczak, Lodz University of
Ruth Dalton, Northumbria University, United Technology Poland, Poland
Kingdom Joachim Kieferle, RheinMain University, Germany
Bauke de Vries, Eindhoven University of Technol- Erik Kjems, Aalborg University, Denmark
ogy, Netherlands Michael Knight, University of Liverpool, United
Halime Demirkan, Bilkent University, Turkey Kingdom
Dirk Donath, Bauhaus University Weimar, Ger- Tuba Kocaturk, University of Liverpool, School of
many Architecture, United Kingdom
Andy Dunhill, Northumbria University, United Volker Koch, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology,
Kingdom Germany
Dietrich Elger, Koopx Architects Engineers, Ger- Branko Kolarevic, University of Calgary, Canada
many Jose Kos, Federal University of Santa Catarina ,
Antonio Fioravanti, Sapienza University of Rome, Brazil
Italy Alexander Koutamanis, Delft University of Tech-
Thomas Fischer, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool Univer- nology, Netherlands
sity, China Andrew Li, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Pia Fricker, ETH Zurich, Switzerland United States
Christian Derix
Christian Derix is director of the Computational Design Research group of Aedas Architects, which he
founded in 2004 in London, UK. CDR develops computational simulations for generative and analytical
design processes with an emphasis on spatial configurations and human occupation. Derix studied ar-
chitecture and computation in Italy and the UK and has researched and taught the subject at various
European universities since 2001. Currently he is associate professor at IE University Madrid and visiting
professor at the University of Sheffield. The work of CDR has recently won award commendations for
their Spatial Simulation framework at awards such as the 2010 Presidents Medal for Research in Practice
of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the 2011 Italian Compasso d’Oro for algorithmic design
and user participation in industrial design for the VITA Shelving System or the Centre for Tall Buildings
and Urban Habitat’s (CTBUH) 2012 Innovation award for the computer-activated responsive façade of
the Al Bahar towers.
Andrew Hudson-Smith
Dr Andrew Hudson-Smith is Director of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) at The Bartlett,
University College London. Andy is a Reader in Digital Urban Systems and Editor-in-Chief of Future In-
ternet Journal, he is also an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the Greater London
Authority Smart London Board and Course Founder of the MRes in Advanced Spatial Analysis and Visu-
alisation at University College London . He is also course founder of the new MSc in Smart Cities and
Urban Analytics and the MRes in Smart Cities. His research focus on location based digital technologies
and he has been at the forefront of web 2.0 technologies for communication, outreach and developing
unique contributions. His research can be found at Digital Urban website. Finally, he is Editor of the
Open Journal of the Internet of Things.
Stephen Lockley
Professor Stephen Lockley is currently chair of Building Modelling at Northumbria University. From 1998-
2002 he was the director of the Construction Informatics Research Centre and Chair of Architectural In-
formatics at Newcastle University and has worked in industry as research and development director for
the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Enterprise division between 2002-2007. He has returned to
academia and his work now is in the area of the next generation of computer aided construction, Build-
ing Information Modelling (BIM), in particular researching and developing innovative software tools for
construction and design. He is a director of BuildingSmart UK and Ireland and sits on the British Stan-
dards Committee B555 for Construction Information. He is also research and education director of the
BIM Academy.
115 Material
117 Multi-layered Breathing Architectural Envelope
Andreas Lund Larsen, Isak Worre Foged, Rasmus Lund Jensen
123 Material Fusion
Kostas Grigoriadis
251 VR
253 New Virtual Reality for Architectural Investigations
Anette Kreutzberg
373 BIM
375 Building Information Deduced
Martin Tamke, Morten Myrup Jensen, Jakob Beetz, Thomas Krijnen, Dag Fjeld
Edvardsen
This paper deals with possibilities for evaluation and visualization of structural
solutions created in the conceptual design phase. The goal is to support
transparency of structural analysis results, and to support architects'
decision-making by providing them with opportunity to compare different
structural solutions. Research will be implemented into the developed software
tool, with the aim to support architects in the shaping process and to teach them
to better understand form and forces.
In seeking how to solve the problem, many users use analyse it in the Grasshopper (GH) environment. The
the available optimizations. But inexperienced users user of Donkey, compared with the above mentioned
might trust blindly in founded optimal results that IEA approach, gets much more freedom in creating
may not fit their preferences. parametric models (see figure 2b).
An example of successful symbiosis between a It is also my aim to support architects' decision-
user and an optimization algorithm in the design pro- making during the shaping process in the concep-
cess is the Interactive Evolutionary Algorithm (IEA), tual design phase, which is absent in the above men-
which includes not only a quantitative criteria, but tioned tools. My proposed decision-making method
also a hard-to-code, qualitative criteria (aesthetic is based on the comparison of alternatives stored in
user preferences) (von Buelow 2009). This process the field of solutions. In contrast to the IEA approach,
also supports users' creativity during the design pro- the field of solutions is created directly by the user.
cess by showing different alternatives and parallel This way, the user becomes more aware of actions
scenarios (Soddu 1998). Each possible alternative is (model changes) and reactions (analysis feedback)
evaluated so the user can compare all alternatives. which leads to a better understanding of the struc-
This way the user can deduce the relationship be- tural behaviour of the structure (a learning process
tween form and structural performance (see figure based on "guess and check" method).
2a).
The educational aim of this IEA application can EVALUATION AND VISUALIZATION
be seen in the project TopoStruct (Muller 2011),
Evaluation
where shape-grammar is used to provide variability
The motivation for the proposed decision-making
of design alternatives, that allows one to compare de-
method is the IEA approach where visual represen-
sign solutions both within and between typologies.
tation of a structural form is also supported with cal-
A sophisticated system of generating solutions
culated evaluation criterion - the fitness value. The
on the algorithm side brings restrictions in modelling
total weight of the structure is usually used as a fit-
freedom.
ness value. In the case of IEA the weight, besides
My research draws inspiration from both of the
the production costs, reflects also the stress in the
approaches mentioned above. I have created a soft-
structure, because the analysis calculates an optimal
ware tool, Donkey[2], that like Karamba or Millipede,
profile area for each element of the structure. This
allows the user to create an analytical model and
approach can be easily used only in statically deter-
Visualization
In my previous paper I dealt with the questions of
overall evaluation of structures composed of a com-
bination of elements (Kurilla 2013). Structural engi-
neers basically take into consideration a maximum
value for the entire structure. This way problem-
atic solutions are not explored, and learning process
based on solving them is not supported. I introduced
a method which divides PRR value into a pair of val-
ues: Overloading (representing maximum - penal-
ization value) and Efficiency (representing arithmetic
average of values' distances from 100%) see figure 3. Dividing PRR value into two values allows one to
This method facilitates a better comparison of alter- store solutions created during the design process
natives and also allows to explore problematic solu- into the 2D graph (see figure 4a). This way it is pos-
tions. sible to visualize and compare different solutions. By
Figure 7
Secondary
exploration of the
field of solutions
tions and evaluated. Then the user chooses a dis- and there are many more other possibilities depend-
placement as a sorting criterion to sort the alterna- ing on the user's knowledge and creativity.
tives in ascending order. The second alternative has
a smaller displacement, which is why it was chosen, FUTURE WORK AND CONCLUSION
and becomes a starting point for the next design de- Thanks to storing alternative solutions in the field
velopment. This way the user can also determine size of solutions throughout the design process, the sec-
profiles, explore more innovative and complex forms, ondary exploration of the field of solutions can also
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors thank Ladislav Svoboda and Bořek
Patzák for cooperation and developing MIDAS and
OOFEM[1] tools. We also gratefully acknowledge the
endowment of the MOLAB and FA CTU in Prague
under project SGS13/153/OHK1/2T/15. We would
like to extend special thanks to Justína Kurillová and
Arthur Smith. Finally we would like to thank Matěj
Lepš, Jan Zeman and Jan Novák from Faculty of
Civil Engineering and Martin Pospíšil from FA CTU in
Prague for their consultations and collaboration.
REFERENCES
von Buelow, P. 2009 'A comparison of methods for us-
ing genetic algorithms to guide parametric associa-
tive design', In Proceedings of the International Asso-
ciation for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) Sympo-
sium 2009, Valencia, p. 11
Kurilla, L., Achten, H. and Florián, M. 2013 'Scripting De-
sign Supported by Feedback Loop from Structural
Analysis', Proceedings of eCAADe 2013, Delft, pp. 51-
60
Martin Tamke1 , Gregory Quinn2 , Henrik Leander Evers3 , Anders Holden Deleuran4 ,
Christoph Gengnagel5
1,3,4
CITA - Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Con-
servation 2,5 KET - Universität der Künste Berlin
1,3,4
cita.karch.dk 2,5 http://www.arch.udk-berlin.de/gengnagel
1,3,4
{martin.tamke|heve|adel}@kadk.dk 2,5 {g.quinn|gengnagel}@udk-berlin.de
The Dermoid project, a series of three plywood grid shells, navigates at the
interface between parametrically designed architectural spaces and the efficiency
and resourcefulness of the simulations that are necessary in order to build them.
It highlights the increasingly common challenges and conflicts which occur in
building practice ranging from design to fabrication and highlights approaches
that facilitate implementation in multiple scales of material, element and
structure.
THE RELATION OF PARAMETRIC DESIGN vic 2003) depends greatly on the models, that are
AND SIMULATION used for the simulation of the designs performance.
Frederic Migrayou coined in 2003 the term "digital Where simulations might be understood as tools that
Figure 1 chain" (Migrayou 2003) for workflows that link the
The Dermoid III digital design space with the fabrication of architec-
demonstrator in tural objects. Where this definition was related to
May 2013 in the level of geometry, current research is venturing
Melbourne into workflows in design, which take material and
structural behaviour into account (Schwinn 2013).
Though different methods of simulation might be
used, all provide a means to predict and evaluate
the behaviour of a building structure in the design
phase. Repeated feedback from simulation is used to
improve the design. However the validity of this per-
formance based approach towards design (Kolare-
can be readily applied in design, they are often only computational form-finding and production tools
providing reliable results in a quite narrow set of are here linked to structural analysis and in order
framing conditions. These are often directly depend- to integrate material behavior in the design with
ing on the datasets and assumptions, which form the the production of bespoke structural elements. The
base of the simulation model. In the case of sim- project provides hence a rich ground for the discus-
ulating material behaviour, the underlying data for sion of principal approaches in design, simulation
material properties is for instance found through re- and testing of bespoke material systems (Lafuente et
peated tests on standardised material samples. A al. 2012; also see figure 2).
precise simulation becomes a seemingly challeng-
ing task the more complex a structure becomes, the MATERIAL SYSTEM
more individualised elements interact and finally the Where material is often seen as stiff and bound to
more a structure diverges from an existing well un- a defined geometry, the Dermoid series nurtures an
derstood structural typology - all of which are recent understanding of material as pliable and adaptive.
tendencies in architectural research, even more com- Using strategies of Active Bending, as described
plicated through the use of novel composite con- by Lienhard (Lienhard 2012), exclusively planar ply-
structions and materials. wood elements of 4mm material thickness curved
A further challenge emerges through size, as to form curved T-profiles. The flanges of the curved
the simulation of large systems does not scale lin- "S-beams" are elastically bent and locked in position
early and forces modellers to use more and more ab- by means of entirely reversible mortise joints. Two
stract underlying models. In consequence the re- of these S-beams are then connected to one other
sults of simulation are becoming seemingly inappro- through pinned tenon joints forming a bifurcating
priate and can hardly provide good quality feedback base element referred to as a wishbone (Fig.3).
about the performance of a design. The question Extensive experimentation led to refinement of
emerges how simulation can be effective and effi- the tolerances in sizing and spacing of teeth and per-
cient in projects that want to make use of the inno- foration. Other parameters such as allowable bend-
vations of the digital chain on material and construc- ing curvatures for a given plywood thickness and zip-
tion level. per configurations were also explored in depth dur-
ing early development (Fig.4). The prototyping led
PROJECT finally to a near annihilation of tolerances in the fabri-
The three Dermoid demonstrators (Burry 2013, cation and construction system, which was reflected
Tamke 2012; see e.g. figure 1) explore the potential in the space of parameters in the design system.
of a novel interplay between structure, construction,
production, assembly and material. The streamlined
Figure 12
Comparison of
beam and spring
model out-of-plane.
Both simulations
are inaccurate with
the spring model
having the largest
error.
1,2,3
{j.c.hubers|M.Turrin|I.Erbas}@tudelft.nl 4 i.chatzikonstantinou@yasar.edu.tr
Figure 3
Some functions of
pCOLAD in a still
from the
Blackboard
Collaborate
recording
Figure 7
Alternatives 1, 2
and 3.
Figure 9
The parts don't fit.
Building designers make decisions in early design stages that have large impact
on building performance, including those of energy-, daylight- and indoor
environment performance. Building performance simulation (BPS) tools can
support the designer, in making better decisions, by providing the performance
consequences of design choices. However BPS tools often require deep technical
knowledge and is too time consuming to use to effectively support the design
exploration in the early design stages. To solve this challenge, the current paper
proposes: Sentient building performance simulation systems, which combine one
or more high precision BPS tools to provide near instantaneous performance
feedback directly in the design tool. Sentient BPS systems are essentially
combining: 1) design tools, 2) parametric tools, 3) BPS tools, 4) dynamic
databases 5) interpolation techniques and 6) prediction techniques as a fast and
valid simulation system for the early design stage.
pends enormously on the experience of the modeler, terpolation algorithm that makes it feasible to sim-
which comes from practical knowledge and contex- ulate less solutions and still provide the building de-
tual understanding of the subject in order to solve signer with fast and precise results (from one or more
similar problems. Valid operation and BPS tool in- building BPS tools). The idea is essentially to con-
put requires competent simulation experts or "sim- struct a result database containing building perfor-
ulationists" as Souza calls them. mance feedback data needed to accompany the de-
signer's own solutions. The system further reduces
INTRODUCING SENTIENT BUILDING PER- the number of solutions needed to be simulated, as
it observes user activity and adjusts the BPS tool to
FORMANCE SIMULATION SYSTEMS
simulate and improve interpolation precision. To ef-
Sentient, also meaning consious and responsive ex-
fectively do this, the system attempts to predict the
presses an almost - human-like behavior. How-
space of interest of the building designer while uti-
ever interesting (and frightening) an awakening con-
lizing multivariate interpolation capabilities of the
sciousness in our computer companions are, the abil-
system. Essentially the system presents building per-
ity of a machine to respond to building designers de-
formance feedback of solutions that is of interest to
mands is what is important to us in this article. Sen-
the designer for decision making in the early design
tient BPS systems are suggested as a highly respon-
stages, in a very efficient way.
sive alternative to building designers who are either
Sentient BPS systems are built by recognizing the
using simple proximate BPS tools or complicated but
need to separate the building designer and the sim-
slow BPS tools in early design exploration.
ulationist in the early design stages. The system de-
The sentient BPS system is based on paramet-
taches the complexity of the BPS environment from
ric modeling procedures, which decreases the deci-
the building designer. The building designers re-
sion space into a finite size. The system utilizes a
quests (design solutions) for performance evaluation
database structure combined with a multivariate in-
are sent to a separated (web) performance simula-
space of interest quickly in the design process. Min- over the entire the space of interest. The idea with
imizing variables and resolutions, however can be this function is to gradually improve the overall dis-
rather difficult when the building designer have not tribution of simulations, in the space of interest, by
yet decided all the design objectives. Of this rea- an incremental expansion variable resolutions.
son an interest prediction algorithm has been imple- Weight-function, t is a variable listener function,
mented, hence to further reduce the needed simu- which essentially is a timer function that reads the
lations, to cover the actual interest space within the particular variable states of navigational controllers
boundaries of the defined variables and their resolu- (aka. sliders) embedded in Grasshopper. Basically
tions. the listener function identifies the state of every vari-
An interest prediction algorithm is implemented able and how long time it remains in that state.
on the basis of a continuous weight factorization of The highest weight is given to the variable with the
the yet-to-be-simulated unique data combinations. fewest alterations, which arguably must be the pre-
There are basically three weight functions in the pre- ferred state of interest of that particular variable.
diction algorithm; s, t, w (shown in the right side of Weight-function, w is a simple overwrite-
Figure 3). function that favorably alters the weight of a given
state on a given variable. It gives the building de-
Weight functions s, t and w signer an option to alter a specific request (design
Weight-function, s is given to all variable states but solution) to become more important than all other
distributed flat out semi-random by utilizing a se- requests queued for simulation. The exact combina-
quence of primes (Figure 3). Imagine all states is tions of variable states are sent directly to the BPS to
distributed in a sequence, where every third state is perform an analysis based on that specific request.
weighted less than every fifth, every fifth is weighted weight sj , tj , wj [0..1], as follows: For every
less than the seventh etc. In this way the system is variable state in the sequence j :
set in a progressive loading-state that helps to get
"rough" and faster interpolations "evenly" distributed weight(j) = sj + tj + wj (3)
REFERENCES
Bleil de Souza, C, BDS 2012, 'Contrasting paradigms of
design thinking: The building thermal simulation
tool user vs. the building designer', Automation in
Construction, 22, pp. 112-122
Klitgaard, Jens, JK, Kirkegaard, Poul Henning, PHK and
Mullins, Michael, MM 2006 'On the Integration of
Digital Design and Analysis Tools', Digital Architec-
ture and Construction, South Korea, pp. 187-196
Negendahl, K., KN 2013, 'Building Performance Simula-
tion in the early design stage: An introduction to In-
tegrated Dynamic Models', Submitted to Automation
in Construction, ., p. .
Caldas, L., LC 2001, An evolution-based generative design
system: using adaptation to shape architectural form,
Ph.D. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Burry, M., MB 2013, Scripting cultures: Architectural design
and programming, AD Primers
Sullivan, R, RS, Arasteh, D, DA, Papamichael, K., KP and
McCluney, R., RMC 1988, 'An indices approach for
evaluating the performance of fenestration systems
in nonresidential buildings', ASHRAE Transactions,
94, p. .
Petersen, S., SP 2011, Simulation-based support for inte-
grated design of new low-energy office buildings, Ph.D.
Figure 1
Integrative
Computation
Design Process
Global Manipulation
Compared to local and regional manipulation, global
manipulations change the geometry dynamically.
Figure 7
For example, even one single long-span pinch can
Regional
deform the entire geometry by connecting strategic
Manipulation
points together. Hanging the fabric is also a method
(multiple pinches)
of global manipulation. Since spacer fabric has cer-
tain weight, the effect of pinching manipulation can
be emphasized by gravity (Figure 8). Global manipu-
lation can deform global geometry more efficiently,
using fewer manipulations. Consequently, local and
regional manipulations are used to modify and rein-
force the base geometry crested from global manip-
ulations (Figure 9).
Figure 8
Global COMPUTATIONAL SIMULATION
Manipulation Based on this physical prototyping, the 3D form is
(hanging) simulated using a live physics engine. In this ap-
proach, the entire knitted pattern is translated to a
system of particles and springs, and the elasticity of
the spacer fabric is controlled by variables such as the
stiffness and rest length of these springs. In addition,
two meshes, consisting of particles and springs for
top and bottom layer of the spacer fabric are used
to show curvature changes. By applying additional
springs to this setup, the geometry is relaxed and
ARCHITECTURAL APPLICATION
The potential in this fibrous spacer fabric reinforcing
Figure 13 process is the development of a self-supporting en-
Information Flow closed structure without use of extensive formwork
for Robotic in which there are many architectural applications.
Fabrication New architectural tectonics can be generated with
complex spatial arrangements utilizing the specific
character of spacer fabric (Figure 14, 15) . The emerg-
ing surface articulations can be instrumentalized to
modulate performative criteria such as structural re-
inforcement, acoustics and thermal regulation. Espe-
cially the characteristic soft light conditions and re-
ciprocal relation between structural depth and light
transmission have the potential to create stunning in-
terior qualities. As a building envelope in particular,
this new fibrous design methodology explores an ar-
chitectural potential to create a weatherproof, habit-
able space in a large scale.
Figure 14
Prototype_A
Structure by Spacer
Fabric
Matrix Application
Spacer fabrics can be infused with resin and solidified
into the controlled geometry. This can be done either
before or after adding the manipulations. Currently
the resin is applied in a manual process during the
physical experiments. Potentially the fabrics can be
pre-impregnated with resin before applying the ma-
nipulations and stored at cold temperatures, slowing
the catalyzation process. After the resin infusion, the
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research was mainly conducted in Institute for
Computational Design, University of Stuttgart. And,
the spacer fabric was sponsored by Heinrich Essers
GmbH & Co KG / Essedea GmbH & Co KG.
REFERENCES
Brebbia, C.A, de Wilde, W.P and Blain, W.R 1988
'Computer Aided Design in Composite Material
Technology', Computational Mechanics Publications,
Southampton
Gay, D, Hoa, S.V and Tsai, S.W 2003 'CompositeMaterials:
Design and Applications', CRC Press, London
Hensel, M and Menges, A (eds) 2008, , Form Follows Per-
formance: Zur Wechselwirkung von Material, Struktur,
Umwelt, ArchPlus No. 188, ArchPlus Verlag, Aachen
Kuma, T 2014 'Shrink Film Architecture', Rethinking
Comprehensive Design: Speculative Counterculture,
Proceedings of the 19th International Conference of
the Association of Computer-Aided Architectural De-
sign Research in Asia CAADRIA 2014, Kyoto, p. pp.
181–190
Menges, A 2007 'Computational Morphogenesis – Inte-
gral Form Generation and Materialization Processes',
Proceedings of the Third International Conference of
the Arab Society for Computer Aided Architectural De-
sign, pp. 725-744
Menges, A 2009 'Integral Computational Design for
Composite Spacer Fabric Structures: Integral Pro-
cesses of Form Generation and Fabrication for Sand-
wich Structured Composites with 3D Warp-Knitted
Textile Core', Session 09: Modes of Production -
eCAADe 27, pp. 289-298
Menges, A (eds) 2012, Material Computation – Higher In-
tegration in Morphogenetic Design, Architectural De-
sign, Vol. 82 No. 2, Wiley Academy, London
This paper reflects a collaborative, research led design project, aiming to explore
the potentials offered by incorporating parametric / generative tools and
performative lighting simulation software in order to design and fabricate a small
pavilion for the School of Architecture. The Deceptive Landscape pavilion was
designed in the framework of a masters level, research led, and collaborative
design studio. During its intense 12 weeks schedule, student teams were asked to
explore and apply generative / parametric tools such as Rhino and Grasshopper,
in order to design and later construct a small pavilion, with a theme of their
choice. In addition, each team was asked to optimise their design proposal by
embedding environmental software plug-ins (e.g. DIVA for Rhino) in their design
process, thereby aiming to re-inform their parametric models and set
performance targets. Finally each team was expected to propose a file to factory
fabrication technique, following all constrains of a limited, predetermined
budget. The most convincing and consistent proposal, was then chosen for
fabrication. The finalised project serves as verification of the effectiveness of the
design system and teaching methods used.
Figure 5 ary towards the centre, with the most dense areas be-
Solar radiation map ing the darkest. The footprint's shape proved to be
by DIVA, square foot another relevant factor, hence an elongated rectan-
print, dense grid gular shape and a wider grid of pipes, appeared to
produce similar but less extreme illumination effects
(Figure 6).
In order to intensify the illumination variabil-
ity even more, we used the solar map as a guide
to form the installation's third dimension. By using
the "image sampler" component in Grasshopper, the
image map (Figure 6) was translated into a three-
dimensional extruded surface, where the high lumi-
Figure 6 nance areas (red colour) would be translated into
Solar radiation map the minimum height value (400mm), while the low
by DIVA, luminance areas (green colour) into the maximum
rectangular foot height value (2000mm) (Figure 7). All pipes were
print, reduced then trimmed according to the three-dimensional
density grid nurb surface.
REFERENCES
Agkathidis, A and Brown, A 2013, 'Tree-Structure
Canopy: A Case Study in Design and Fabrication of
Complex Steel Structures using Digital tools', Inter-
national Journal of Architecture and Computing, 11,
p. 87–104
Biloria, N 2011, 'InfoMatters, a multi-agent systems ap-
proach for generating performative architectural
formation', International Journal of Architecture and
Computing, 03, p. 205–222
Castorina, G 2012 'Performative Topologies: An Evo-
lutionary Shape Optimization Framework for Day-
lighting Performance Coupling a Particle-Spring
System With an Energy Simulation Tool', ACA-
DIA2012, San Francisco, pp. 479-490
Dutt, F and Das, S 2013, 'Computational Design of Bio In-
spired Responsive Architectural façade System', In-
ternational Journal of Architecture and Computing,
04, p. 613–633
Ljubas, A 2010, 'Tubular Framework', in Agkathidis, A
(eds) 2010, Digital Manufacturing in Design and Ar-
chitecture, BIS, Amsterdam, pp. 56-59
Mueller, V and Smith, M 2013, 'Generative Components
Domenico D'Uva
Politecnico di Milano - Department of Architecture and Urban Studies
http://www.dastu.polimi.it/
doduva@gmail.com
Figure 4
Gaussian curvature
analysis. In green
flat surfaces.
Positive and
negative curvature
(Red and blu
colours ) means
curvature different
from zero
easily discretized into flat panels, then the junction on the cases studied it is possible to confirm that the
areas have been panelized manually. method is applicable to the majority of the complex
The procedure works for receiving as an input a surfaces.
complex surface, giving as output a series of flat pan- Figure 6
els, chosen by dimension, number and shape. If the Kunsthaus Graz.
results are not satisfactory, it is necessary to repeat Limit of
the procedure, until the panels are correctly shaped. panelization
The balance point between curvature and shape of method. Manual
the panel would be achieved with some reiterations paneling area in
of the procedure, which is far from being optimized. red.
A possible solution of this issue is the use of evo-
lutionary solvers applied to the panels generation.
One example of this tools is Galapagos. But this work
hadn't taken this last step because it seemed unuse-
ful to parameterize a subtle feeling, as the perception
of the shape with tools which had not reached a sat- The results have been achieved through the
isfying level of stability and diffusion. use of two different software, Lunchbox and Pan-
eling Tools. Both have been proved to be easy to
RESULTS AND LIMITS OF THE METHOD use, but Lunchbox is more friendly, because it pro-
The cases are listed from the simplest to the most vides straightforward results. Paneling tools, despite
complex, and the first four are solved with the auto- the slightly more complex procedure, provides more
mated procedure mentioned before. The sole Kun- flexibility in defining of panels with specific aspect
sthaus, see figure 6, was analyzed with the panel- and specific location in the facade. The advantages
ing software and the process didn't manage to re- of this method are summed up in the easiness of the
duce completely the surface into flat panels. Based process, which is completely automated in most of
REFERENCES
M., L. 2014, 'Il Bim, questo sconosciuto', Giornale
dell’Architettura, 1(114), p. 8
Migayrou, F. and Mennan, Z. 2003 'Achitecture non Stan-
dard', Proceedings of the Architecture non Standard,
Paris
It is a fact that the Animation and architecture have common and strong bonds in
various forms. According to animators, and architects as well, there are two main
and vital concepts which are the basics of animation, these are Timing and
Spacing. The paper represents an analogy between animation and architecture
focusing on these two concepts. So, in the following sections we discover the
relation between animation and deforming geometry in architecture. By looking
through the history and theory of architecture we find many architects' attempts
to apply animation as a concept within their forms. This paper will review what
pioneers have achieved in designing through animation. At the end of the paper a
case study is being analyzed by showing how the concept of animation is applied
to an existing building due to the research's main points.
Adding Controls
To automate and simplify the actions and reactions
of for the building, special controls is added. These
controllers will help the designer to apply (The Tim-
ing and Spacing sliders) to decide the placement of
deformer or action, and the density of the effect upon
the geometry.
The snowflake geometry was interpreted as
CASE STUDY shapes with a fractal nature of edges as shown in
This is a presentation about the parametric setup of the following (Figure 7).The complete model is con-
LAVA's Snowflake tower. The parametric definition is trolled by eight typical snowflake configurations,
based on the concept of a "Snowflake". The Model al- with a specific on a central spine. The central spine
lowed designers to tweak the tower design on both defines the height of the tower, the number of floors,
micro and macro scale. Apart of just studying the and the floor height as shown in (Figure 6) .Due to our
width of balconies or radius of the core, they were hypothesis: The vertical spine represents the bone
also able to generate completely different shapes as system, or the creation structure. In this case we
shown in (figure 6). have one bone for the spine, if we intended to twist
the tower we should have added more bones.The
snowflake section represents the plan unit as shown
in (Figures 8).
CONCLUSION
Timing and spacing can be applied to architecture to
produce new strategies for deforming and manipu-
lating architectural geometry in a sophisticated man-
ner.Timing can control the change of Forces that oc- Figure 10
curs to the geometry, while Spacing can be applied Different section at
in two different models: different levels of
the tower that have
1. Control the weight of deformations upon cer- a unique shape and
tain cluster of the geometry deciding points parameters [3].
of high density, and points of low density; and
this is similar to its effect on animation.
Figure 11
Variations of the
same controllers [4].
REFERENCES
Darlene A., Brady 1997 'The Mind', ACADIA 1997 Confer-
ence Proceedings, Ohio (USA), pp. 85-93
Mechael A., Ambrose 2009 'Spatial and Temporal Se-
quence: Film, animation and design theory - toward
a constructed morphology', Proceedings of the Arab
Society for Computer Aided Architectural Design (AS-
CAAD), Manama (Kingdom of Bahrain), pp. 165-168
Achten, Henri 2001 'Normative Positions in Architectural
Design - Deriving and Applying Design Methods',
19th eCAADe Conference Proceedings, Helsinki (Fin-
land), pp. 263-268
Ching, Francis D. K. 2008, Architecture: Form, Space, and
Order, 3rd Edition, Wiley, US
Dounas, Theodoros 2009 'Animation as a Framework for
generative Design', In (Proceedings of eCAADe 2009),
(Turkey), pp. 213-215
Gorczyca, Adam 2013 'A Motion as a Modern Way of ex-
pressing Architecture', Proceedings of the 7th Euro-
pean Architectural Endoscopy Association Conference,
Montpellier, France, pp. 73-81
Holland, Nathaniel 2011, Inform Form Perform, Ph.D. The-
sis, University of Nebraska
Lynn, Greg 1999, Animate Form, Princeton architectural
press, New york
Riad, Mahmoud May, 2009, Architecture: Music, City, AND
Culture, Ph.D. Thesis, Faculty of the Graduate School
of the University of Maryland
[1] http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/aim/a_notes/anim_-
principles.html
[2] http://www.architecturenewsplus.com/projects/685
[3] http://www.grasshopper3d.com/photo/
snowflaketower4-1/prev?context=album&albumId=
2985220%3AAlbum%3A22665
[4] http://www.l-a-v-a.net/
[5] http://docs.unity3d.com/412/Documentation/ Man-
ual/AssetPreparationandImport.html
[6] http://www.galinsky.com/buildings
[7] http://thecreatorsproject.tumblr.com/post/
26495396059/vintage-strobe-light-photographs-are-a-
beautiful
"Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, INTRODUCTION AND PREMISES
"you'd generally get to somewhere else-if you run very The Red Queen hypothesis is an hypothesis in evolu-
fast for a long time, as we've been doing." tionary biology that derives from the dialogue re-
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, ported in the introductory quote which proposes
you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in that the struggle organisms face in order to adapt,
the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you evolve and spread is not just aimed to gain repro-
must run at least twice as fast as that!" ductive advantage, but it's also a basic prerequisite
Carroll, L. - Through the Looking-Glass and What for survival while facing similarly evolving opposing
Alice Found There, chapter 2 organisms in an ever-changing environment. These
tral square open space hall and a transversing volume (or lead to an emergence of ) cooperation or com-
which cuts parallel to one side close to its edge) isn't petition. Our intention was to go beyond the sheer
quite fit for the task. collaborative bearing of single swarms and tap into
There are embryos of art and writing culture and the spatial formation qualities (which are essential
DIY culture, but they need to be nurtured in appro- in defining the resource distribution network topol-
priate spaces: heterogeneous yet continuous spaces, ogy) of processes triggered only by the competition
that can offer a variety of differentiated qualities of two or more populations sharing a common habi-
while still grant information and physical exchange tat, which in this case is the parasitized host. Thus,
among each other. These are the kind of evaluation our simulation involves two populations of parasites
and filtering criteria that will be adopted in the pro- (simulated as stigmergy-based multi-agent systems)
cess of driving the spatial explorations towards a pos- competing for the host's resources.
sible convergence. Starting from the theoretical premises in Jones
(2010), the classical multi-agent system model theo-
SIMULATION FRAMEWORK rized by Reynolds and comprised of the basic local
Multi-agent based simulations emulate the behav- rules of cohesion, separation and alignment was ex-
ioral qualities of swarm systems by interaction rules tended with chemotaxic stigmergy, the capacity of
among individuals and/or between an individual and perceiving and react to chemical gradients of con-
its environment; such rules can be aimed towards centration (Figure 3).
Figure 5
Simulation samples:
stigmergic
grammar on spatial
negotiation and
volumetric growth
on surfaces
ment of a custom strategy for mapping 2D simulation "weight" (in mesh modeling, weight refers to the rel-
to 3D topological space through undistorted projec- ative importance of a vertex during an operation; in
tions, the surfaces intricate tectonics are the result of our case the weight was represented in a scale form
multiple populations of agents acting influenced by black to white). During each loop agents read the
several parameters, including inherited-endogenous data directly from the mesh vertices, and translate
(such as performative ones) and intentional (designer it into behavioral outcome (including feeding back
decisions) ones. a change in the same data that was read). Propri-
eties and parameters of the agents cognitive system
Figure 8
was assigned to each weight layer, with the precise
Softbody
intent to avoid direct control on agents movements,
information layers
but only influence their environment perception and
stored as vertex
consequently the way they translate perceived and
colors
embedded data into structured configurations, like
spatial layouts, matter organization and structure for-
mation.
Competitive behavior once again allows for the
definition of an intricate double system of interlock-
ing elements, creating fibrous based material sys-
tems in two different ways: the first based on matter
accumulation through additive deposition (compli-
Mesh vertices acted as tensor space, embedding ant with contemporary additive manufacturing pro-
two different information layers derived form solar cesses) and the second based on non-woven net-
radiation analysis and FEA structural stress analysis works methodologies.
(both mapped as RGB values map; Figure 8). A third The purpose of the Red Queen Hypothesis is to
layer (again, there is potentially no limit to the num- investigate alternative proposals in the topic of build-
ber of information layers embedded) was added up ing redevelopment through parasitism; in order to
to let the designer influence and drive intention- explore such strategy it is necessary to introduce in
ally the growth process by painting mesh vertices the computational design process access to increas-
Figure 10
Photos of 3D
printed model
showing inner
space articulation
and the structural
surface's
interlocking pattern
AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank families for contin-
uous moral support, classmates and colleagues for
providing constructive critics . Special thank goes
to the open-source community, which helped during
the development , sharing knowledge, technical sup-
port and free software distribution.
REFERENCES
Eberhard, W G 2001, 'Under the influence: webs
and building behavior of Plesiometa argyra
(Araneae: Tetragnathidae) when parasitized by Hy-
menoepimecis argyraphaga (Hymenoptera, Ichneu-
monidae)', Journal of Arachnology, 29(3), p. 354–366
Hamann, H 2009 'Pattern formation as a transient phe-
nomenon in the nonlinear dynamics of a multi-
agent system', MATHMOD 2009 – 6th Vienna Interna-
tional Conference on Mathematical Modeling Volume
I Issue: 35, ARGESIM and ASIM, German Simulation So-
ciety, Vienna, pp. 913-921
Jones, J 2010, 'Characteristics of Pattern Formation and
Evolution in Approximations of Physarum Transport
Networks', Artificial Life, 16(2), pp. 127-153
Von Mammen, S, Jacobs, C and Brebbia, C 2008 'Swarm-
driven idea models - From insect nests to modern
architecture', Eco-Architecture 2008, Second Interna-
tional Conference on Harmonisation Between Archi-
tecture and Nature, Winchester, UK, p. 117–126
Möbius, K 1880, 'Die Auster und die Austernwirtschaft
(tr. The Oyster and Oyster Farming)', U.S. Commission
Fish and Fisheries Report, -, pp. 683-751
Ramos, V 2002 'Self organized stigmergic document
maps: environment as a mechanism for context
learning', Actas del Primer Congreso Español de Algo-
ritmos Evolutivos y Bioinspirados, Mérida
Repenning, A 2006 'Collaborative Diffusion: Program-
ming Antiobjects', OOPSLA 2006, ACM SIGPLAN In-
designs that often utilize a grid-like tessellation to the placement of twig figures over the triangulation
control the pattern propagation and interrelation of using a recursive algorithm (Figure 2). As a result, the
tiles (Figure 1). This grid is further subdivided into uniformity, continuity and overall distribution of pat-
triangles to produce alternating repetitions of fig- tern figures could be maintained and controlled.
ures and interlocking relations. Although these sub- The algorithm begins by subdividing any type
divisions mainly follow orthogonal scaffolds, triangu- of polygonal tile into triangular patches by joining
lar scaffolds could enable the extension of this tech- edge curves to the center of the tile (Figure 2). These
nique to any type of polygonal subdivisions. For in- triangles are used to sample random points within
stance any shape could be achieved by joining trian- the boundary with predefined or parametric density
gle patches of various sizes together. Similarly, any factors. Once the points are acquired the figures
polygonal shape could be subdivided into triangles are placed starting from the midpoints of the edge
to convert the non-uniform shape into a number of curves of the tile using a recursive algorithm. Each
smaller triangular tiles. As a result, Crane's rule based figure is placed using two end points and a start-
pattern making technique could be extended to any ing deviation to define an arc. If this arc is above a
type of polygonal tiles, or triangulated surfaces that certain curvature threshold, then the arc is extended
could be explored using digital tools. logarithmically to be turned into a twig figure. For
The relationship between triangulation and fig- subsequent points this operation is repeated, until
uring produces various challenges on the notion of all the points inside the tile have been connected to
digital pattern making. For instance, since the adja- the figures. For the selection of the points the clos-
cency of tiles and the figures to be placed on top of est point with nominal deviation trajectory is cho-
the triangulation become more dynamic the end re- sen that maintains the overall aesthetic of the pattern
sult can disturb the continuity and regularity of pat- while colonizing the tile space with figures.
tern. To solve this issue our paper introduces another There are various advantages of using triangu-
dimension to scaffolding using an approach similar lations to define this form of recursive figure place-
to Poisson sampling (Bridson, 2007) and recursive fig- ment. Firstly triangles define a plane in both two and
ure placement. Rather than placing figures directly three dimensions, since its corner points remain flat
inside triangle patches, the triangles will be used to in any configuration. This enables the algorithm to
generate uniform point clouds that define the num- be easily extended for tiles in three dimensions. Sec-
ber of figures. These points are then used to define ondly, the overall triangle subdivision prevents con-
Figure 3
Testing the script
on different
tessellations. While
the effect of the
orthogonal grid in
rectangle tiles (left)
remain visible in the
end pattern, in
hexagonal (center)
and voronoi (right)
tessellations the tile
edges become
harder to notice.
struction of accidental intersections among figures boundary lines to connect shared edges of tiles. This
that might disturb the overall pattern. Thirdly, this approach maintains the overall continuity and cur-
technique is applicable to any type of polygonal tes- vature of figures. The resulting continuity and con-
sellations. Since any polygon shape could be subdi- figuration of the pattern tends to blur the polygonal
vided into triangle patches the algorithm could be di- edges by overrunning boundaries with figures.
rectly applied to orthogonal, triangular, hexagonal or In this algorithm the point sampling is achieved
Voronoi tessellations (Figure 3). Finally, the algorithm by using a uniform radius to distribute point clouds
begins figure placement from the midpoint of tile inside triangle subdivisions. However, the point sam-
pling prior to figuring also enables using different pa- started testing various triangle based mesh surfaces
rameters to control the density and distribution of to apply our twig distribution algorithm. Although
pattern. For instance, by using multiple point attrac- the patterns could be generated this way, the pro-
tors it is possible to create gradual variations of point duced triangles cause various problems. Firstly, the
density radii for different tiles. While the whole al- amount of cutting out of the triangle pieces causes
gorithm progresses in the same fashion, each tiles the final pieces to bend and lose their initial structural
gets different amounts of bifurcation and tendrilling rigidity. Secondly, using triangle pieces results in a
due to their distance to attractors that change the ra- lot of fabricated pieces and joints to be managed to
dius of point sampling (Figure 4). While the attrac- construct a three dimensional surface. Because of all
tors could be positioned in any location over the tiles these issues we decided to convert our mesh surfaces
to control the density of points, the continuity of the into planar facetted panels by traversing through sur-
pattern is still maintained with S-figures on bound- face information using surface normals to define flat
aries that occur in low density areas. polygons (Baerlecken et.al 2013). This approach rec-
ognizes the curvature of the surface and converts it
DYNAMIC SCAFFOLDING into open edged planar tiles rather than reducing the
To test the dynamic relationship between the bifur- complexity and approximating fully-connected flat
cating figures and scaffolding tessellations we further pieces (Cohen-Steiner et.al. 2004). This way the con-
expanded our implementation to work on three di- tinuity and curvature of the input surfaces are main-
mensional tiles. Our initial idea was to use the gener- tained while reducing the amount of pieces to be fab-
ated lines as patterns that will be cut out of flat metal ricated.
sheets to create a figure-ground relationship. We Although any surface could be converted into
Figure 5
An early test model
shown from
different angles. On
the right: the folded
flanges on tile
edges are used to
construct the whole
installation.
Figure 7
fabrication test with
individual part (left)
and different
assemblies (middle
and right).
Figure 8
geometric scaffold
for planar surfaces
(left), digital
scaffolding and
patterning (middle),
prototype (right)
REFERENCES
Baerlecken, D and Gokmen, S 2013 'Gemming: Archi-
tectonics of Facets', SIGraDi 2013 [Proceedings of the
17th Conference of the Iberoamerican Society of Dig-
ital Graphics - ISBN: 978-956-7051-86-1] Chile - Val-
paraíso 20 - 22 November 2013
Bridson, R 2007 'Fast Poisson disk sampling in arbitrary
dimensions', ACM SIGGRAPH. Vol. 2007
Cohen-Steiner, D, Alliez, P and Desbrun, M 2004, 'Vari-
ational shape Approximation', ACM Transactions on
Graphics, 23(3), pp. pp. 905-914
Crane, W 1900, Line and Form, Dodo Press
METHOD
Experiments are conducted to examine both the en-
vironmental performance and the visual expression
Computational system
The computational system is based on the
"Schematic of an integrated performance-
based/driven architectural design platform" de-
scribed by Xing Shi (Shi, 2010). It consists of a looping
process between simulation, evaluation, optimiza-
Figure 4
tion and generation (refer to Figure 5). The simula-
Arrangement of the
tion starts with inputs from the weather data and the
segment for the
calculated internal loads. The generated envelope
thermal simolation
surface geometry is put through a series of opera-
of the envelope.
tions to split it up in smaller pieces and is translated
into numbers to feed into the equations of the sim-
ulation. In Figure 4 a representation of the arrange-
ment of thes smaller pieces is shown for a section of
the wall. Each cube is a volume fraction of the enve-
lope. The segments is used to calculate the tempera-
ture change through the envelope by calculating the
transmition between each segment for each time
step.
The simulation outputs the CO2 concentration
and the room temperature in a graph as a func-
The setup used for the development of the enve- tion of time. A simulation will simulate for a pe-
lope is as illustrated on Figure 3 consisting of three riod of 5 days for a winter situation. The results will
zones; an internal environment, an external environ- then be analyzed and converted to a fitness num-
ment and a wall section between the two. The exter- ber to feed into the evolutionary algorithmic soft-
nal environment is defined by wind direction, wind ware Rhinoceros Grasshopper plugin Galapagos de-
veloped by McNeel, in order to generate a new de- rectangles are returned. It can be towards a point
sign to be analyzed. The generation is based on a or a curve as illustrated on Figure 7. The patterning
design system input outlining the boundaries for the is determining where on the wall there is a poten-
design. The final output is then a design with corre- tial for enlargement of the surface area. It is the de-
sponding performance simulation results. gree of subdivisions and the oscillation in depth of
the pattern that determine the area and the subse-
Design system quent performance of the envelope segment. Mov-
The design system is based on a simple set of rules. ing each face of the subdivided surface perpendicu-
A rectangular surface is split into two. A division on lar with a distance defined by a function of sinus and
the center of the longest edge does this. These two thus oscillating the wall surface create the depth of
new surfaces return as new inputs to be subdivided. the patterning.
Creating a pattern of fragments as the rectangles gets
smaller as illustrated on Figure 6. The pattern can be RESULTS
varied by not returning some of the rectangles caus- It can be seen that giving different inputs to the de-
ing them to stop subdividing. The patterning can sign system outputs designs of different character-
be controlled by different methods selecting which
Figure 7
Example of designs
for two different
selection methods.
istics. The transparency in the selection of subdivi- perature. As the performance of the envelope is
sion is largely affected by the method. The selection linked explicitly to the patterns created, a merge be-
method with curves, see Figure 9, almost draws the tween architectural surface articulation and ventila-
curves on the wall with the patenting and thus the tion modification is evident. This allows for an archi-
system of selection becomes easy readable. For com- tectural method where a designer has rich opportu-
parison the point selection method, see Figure 8, ap- nities to express both visual and thermal perceptions
pears more random and without a visible geometric simultaneously as an integrative design approach.
logic. Still, if looking thoroughly on the pattern and
understanding the design system, the point distribu- DISCUSSION
tion can be read. This clear relation between inputs A multilayered breathing envelope with a light
and appearance of the design gives the designer a weight dynamic insulator and a heavy layer for heat
large amount of control of the end resultant. recovery seems to be a promising source to en-
The simulation indicated a good possibility for ergy efficient natural ventilation. The optimisation
using a multi layered breathing envelope as a of the patterning showed only small improvements.
method for natural ventilation, thereby reducing the To achieve improved results a local variation of the
need for mechanical ventilation systems. Further- concrete layer thickness could be introduced, as the
more, the optimisation process of the interior enve- simulation indicates this to be a determining factors.
lope surface showed only minor change in the ther- Some aspects like vapor diffusion in the construction
mal performance and primarily in the relation be- and solar gains were discarded to simplify the study.
tween the surface temperature and the room tem-
REFERENCES
Dimoudi, A, Androutsopoulos, A and Lykoudis, S 2004,
'Experimental work on a linked, dynamic and venti-
lated, wall component', Energy and Buildings, 36, p. Figure 9
443–453 1:10 scale model of
Guohui, G 2000, 'Numerical evaluation of thermal com- a patterning design
fort in rooms with dynamic insulation', Building and towards curves.
Environment, 35, pp. 445-453
Hyldgård, C E, Funch, E J and Steen-Thøde, M 2001,
Grundlæggende klimateknik og bygningsfysik, For-
laget Aalborg universitet, Denmark
Imbabi, M S 2005, 'Modular breathing panels for energy
efficient, healthy building construction', Renewable
Energy, 31, pp. 729-738
Nørgaard, J, Daniels, O 2011, Air Permeable Heat Exchang-
ing Concrete, Master's Thesis, Aalborg University
SHI, X 2010, 'Performance-based and performance- Figure 10
driven architectural design and optimization', Fron- 1:1 model of a
tiers of Architecture and Civil Engineering in China, section of a
4(4), p. 512–518 envelope design.
Stampe, O B 2000, Varme- og klimateknik. Ventilation-
steknik, Danvak, Denmark
Taylor, B J, Cawthorne, D A and Imbabi, M S 1996, 'Ana-
lytical Investigation of the Steady-State Behaviour of
Dynamic and Diffusive Building Envelopes', Building
and Environment, 31(6), pp. 519-525
Taylor, B J and Imbabi, M S 1998, 'The application of dy-
namic insulation in buildings', Renewable Energy, 15,
pp. 377-382
Wong, J M, Glasser, F P and Imbabi, M S 2007, 'Evalua-
tion of thermal conductivity in air permeable con-
"a paradigm shift from focusing on form and aesthet-
crete for dynamic breathing wall construction', Ce-
ics to emphasizing the balance between traditional ment & Concrete Composites, 29, pp. 647-655
concerns of architectural design and the building's
Kostas Grigoriadis
Royal College of Art
http://www.rca.ac.uk/students/kostas-grigoriadis/
kostas.grigoriadis@network.rca.ac.uk
Figure 4
The output of the
simulation at frame
79, with the
openings covering
approximately15%
of the total wall
area. The copper
particles region is
shown in dark red
and the aluminium
in grey.
This research builds upon projects from both university and practice to explore
new approaches on how the multifunctionality, flexibility, and performance of
wood can be utilized to inform new approaches towards both design and
fabrication. The following projects use physical prototypes to bend wood just
within its tolerances, design with the high precision of multi-axis robotic
fabrication in mind, and finally inform the shape of a large free-form structure
through material properties.
Figure 1
Installation
"Bending without
Breaking" at the
entrance of the
Künstlerhaus
Vienna
ital performance of customized CAD will be further would allow the geometrical "flattening" of such a
discussed in this paper, as our full-scale application of surface, though at the expense of more complicated
these techniques for a freeform technology centre in knots and connection length.
Turkey has been greatly influenced by having the ma- One of the first challenges in the Düzce
terial inform the fabrication of the physical output. Teknopark project was therefore the topological and
The core element of the Düzce Teknopark is its outer geometrical optimization of the building's shell. As
shell, which was designed and optimized to offer a software tools, the CAD tool Rhinoceros, the para-
balanced layout of public and private areas as well metric modelling plugin Grasshopper, and the ge-
as high ecological and environmental performance, ometric optimization software Evolute Tools were
while visually representing the dynamic and innova- used. The latter software was specifically developed
tive research that is happening inside. Thus, the shell for processing complex surfaces (Eigensatz et al.
is geometrically a double-curved freeform geometry. 2010), but does not provide an automated solution
While such surfaces are nowadays easy to construct for such geometries, instead requiring careful inter-
in CAD software, they are highly complicated to turn action with both the geometry and the software's
into constructible, large-scale geometries, as - unlike parameters. Evolute works similar to a physics solver,
single-curved surfaces - they are not developable, re- where different weights are attached to certain prop-
quiring threedimensionally shaped façade elements, erties. The software then performs calculations, until
instead of simple 2D-cut parts. Only triangulation an equilibrium state is achieved where the defined
Figure 5
Optimization and
Analysis: Top view
before (left) and
after (middle) mesh
optimization in
Grasshopper,
planarity analysis in
Evolute (right): blue
is within required
glass planarity
tolerances
a performance-based design where geometric prop- ing 1:1 projects. Bending without Breaking has been
erties can be read from the outside. designed by Anton Putintsev, the laminated wood
At the moment, construction of the concrete structure by Benedikt Bernthaler.
foundation in Düzce are starting. Once finished, new
measurements will be taken and the current digital REFERENCES
model adapted to the physical realities of the con- Braumann, J and Brell-Cokcan, S 2011 'Parametric Robot
struction site. Ideally, we will then be able to link the Control: Integrated CAD/CAM for Architectural De-
geometric data to a CNC machine for a fluid design to sign', ACADIA 2011 Proceedings, Banff, pp. 242-251
fabrication process that not only takes the geometry, Brell-Cokcan, S and Braumann, J 2010 'A New Parametric
but also the material constraints into account. Design Tool for Robot Milling', ACADIA 2010 Proceed-
ings, New York, pp. 357-363
Eigensatz, M, Kilian, M, Schiftner, A, Mitra, N, Pottmann, H
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and Pauly, M 2010 'Paneling Architectural Freeform
This research has been supported by the Austrian Re- Surfaces', Proc. SIGGRAPH 2010
search Fund (FWF) through the PEEK project Robotic Jackson, P 2011, Folding Techniques for Designers, Lau-
rence King Publishers, London
Woodcraft (AR238G21). We want to thank our stu-
Lepik, A and Santner, A (eds) 2011, Metropol Parasol,
dents for their hard work and enthusiasm and the Hatje Cantz Verlag, Stuttgart
head of the Institute for Structural Design and Tim- Scheurer, F 2010, 'Materialising Complexity', Architectural
ber Construction Prof. Wolfgang Winter for foster- Design, 80, pp. 86-93
The Paresite - The Environmental Summer Pavilion designed for reSITE festival,
is a möbius shaped structure, built from torsed pine wood planks in triangular
grid with half cm thin pine wood triangular sheets that provide shadow and
evaporate moisture in dry weather. The sheets, cut in a tangential section,
interact with humidity by warping themselves, allowing air circulation for the
evaporation in arid conditions.The design was accomplished in Grasshopper for
Rhino in combination with Rhino and afterwards digitally fabricated.This
interdisciplinary project involved students from the Architectural Institute in
Prague (ARCHIP) and the students of the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences
at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (FLD CZU). The goal was to
design and build a pavilion from a solid pine wood in order to analyse its
material properties and reactions to the environment and to accommodate
functions for reSITE festival. The design was prepared within half term studio
course and completed in June 2013 on Karlovo Square in Prague where it hosted
1600 visitors during festival weekend.
MATERIAL PERFORMANCE its ability to bend, it was agreed to use green wood
The tradition of building wooden summer pavilions for the structure.
has been established in many architectural schools. The Environmental Summer Pavilion is based on
The most striking examples have been created at the concept of wooden oriental screens so called
the AA School of Architecture in London and at the 'mashrabīyas' (figure 2). Mashrabīyas absorb mois-
Institute for Computational Design - University of ture during the night when the relative humidity of
Stuttgart. Usually, they are built from ply-wood. On air is very high and release moisture whilst providing
the contrary, the project is aimed at experimenting shadow during the arid conditions of sunny summer
with the material performance of solid wood. The days. The performance of 'mashrabīyas' has been ex-
strength in the torsion of the planks and the humidity plored by Michael Hensel. Hensel writes:
- wood interaction has been explored. 'Mashrabīyas are multi-functional elements that
The form of pavilion does not allow subdivision control light penetration, airflow, privacy and views,
into planar surfaces, but anisotropic properties of the while operating on a synergetic relation between or-
material support torsion. Several prototypes of the namental pattern and material distribution' (Hensel
triangles with different plank thicknesses and mois- 2011).
ture content were sampled. The angles of cuts hold
the boards' torsion together in the joint. Because of
Figure 5
Offset of Möbius
Stripe
(photo courtesy of
Davidová, 2014)
REFERENCES
Dinwoodie, JM (eds) 2000, Timber, Its Nature and Be-
haviour, E and FN Spon, London
Hensel, M 2011, 'Performance-oriented Architecture and
the Spatial and Material Organisation Complex',
FORMakademisk, 4(1), pp. 3-23
Knight, E 1961, The Causes of Warp in Lumber Seasoning,
The structure itself was dynamic and it found its sta-
Western Pine Association, Oregon
ble state which a bit differs from the digital model. [1] http://www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/unroll
Furthermore, the project itself is disturbing the con- [2] http://patterninislamicart.com
cept of digital fabrication by the impossibility of gen-
This paper examines how designers can invigorate designs with a sense of
liveliness and indeterminacy through manipulation of pliable materials. Two
approaches to material manipulation are defined and juxtaposed in the paper:
The control associated with Frei Otto's elegantly tensioned membranes and the
noise associated with Sigurd Lewerentz's intensely material brick walls. These
historical approaches become pertinent in relation to current opportunities
offered by material simulation software in architecture. Simulation may be used
to increase control over the materialization of design, but is at the same time a
way to introduce the noise of real-time, real-world experiments into digital
design. The paper presents this discussion in parallel with documentation of the
research project 'Erratic', a recent installation carried out by the authors'
practice Norell/Rodhe. Constructed from polyurethane cold foam, the project
combines analogue experiments with digital simulations to target architectural
qualities like mass, figuration and relief.
has been described as a shift from form defined by cise definition of material characteristics on the other
pure mathematical objects, to form guided by mate- hand. Points were selected in zones based on a script
rial structure (Carpo 2014). that targeted surface curvature in order to expedite
In order to match the nature of our furrowing the process and quickly get a diversity of results. A
experiments, parameters in the simulation software series of design variations was developed inspired by
like bend, stretch and compression resistance, were the articulation and massing of erratic blocks. Each
adjusted towards a pliable material that produced erratic was given its own character based on relief, hi-
smooth, swelling curvatures as a result of the con- erarchy, scale and posture. In the form of 3D-printed
straining process. For several reasons, we decided to study models for the installation, these design vari-
work with a closed spheroid as a starting point. A ations also had a quality all of their own since they
closed surface reads as a solid and creates an ambigu- reproduced the formal outcome of the constraining
ity since it does not reveal its thickness. More impor- process, but suppressed other sensory input such as
tantly, when inserted into a space, a solid becomes texture and color (Figure 7).
a freestanding object rather than a semi-flat surface
that works as a floor, wall or ceiling. This provides an ERRATIC INSTALLATION
opportunity to extend its architectural qualities from In science, it has become important to distinguish
texture and relief to figural massing. Given these between real-world experiments and simulations
preferences, we devised a basic design process. An aimed at mimicking those experiments (Winsberg
irregular topological volume - essentially a sack - was 2010). In keeping with this terminology, our ana-
constrained in hundreds of points that were pulled logue studies of furrowing would qualify as exper-
towards the centre (Figure 6). Design decisions lay in iments and be epistemologically distinct from the
which points to select on the one hand, and the pre- digital simulations that we undertook in parallel. Ini-
Figure 7
Elevation and
section drawing of
digitally simulated
Erratic model (left).
3D-printed Erratic
study models,
created with digital
material simulation,
12 x 12 x 12 cm
each (right).
Figure 9 was a lot of room for styling once the surface was
Close up view of connected to the armature. The length of individ-
Erratic installation ual struts was gradually fine-tuned to shape larger
at the Aalto gestures as well as to remove unwanted concavities.
University Digital Finally, the porous polyurethane surface was pow-
Design Laboratory, dered with plaster powder, changing its materiality
Helsinki, 2013. from yellowish foam into a lustrous white surface akin
to the 3D-printed Erratics displayed in the accompa-
nying exhibition (Figure 9).
CONCLUSION
Constraining large-scale pliable surfaces can bring
supple and sensuous qualities associated with textile
Overall, the installation consists of a wooden ar- to an architectural scale. Digital simulation prior to
mature with 200 metal struts connected to a cus- construction is likely a necessity in this endeavour,
tom designed 50+ kilo, 50 sq m, 30 mm thick sack since sheer size prohibits full-scale mock-ups. Pliable
of expanded polyurethane cold foam. Using ADD's materials like polyurethane cold foam present new
onsite overhead crane the sack was gradually low- challenges to designers as they are more flexible than
ered over the armature and connected step by step most building materials, but at the same time more
in order to avoid heavy point loads on singular con- rigid than textiles. Further, the use of material simu-
straining points (Figure 10). Point-wise constrain- lation software in Erratic suggests that the dynamic
ing the surface to the armature was a scripted op- nature of these surfaces can be sustained across dig-
eration, where each point on the grid had a num- ital and analogue design mediums. The virtue of
bered counterpart on the surface in order to achieve the simulated massing studies for the installation was
the desired amount of furrowing. However, there not their local accuracy but the degree to which they
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Erratic was exhibited at The Aalto University Digital
Design Laboratory in Helsinki between September
19 and October 17, 2013. The project was developed
with funding from the research environment Archi-
tecture in the Making at Chalmers University of Tech-
nology, Department of Architecture in Gothenburg.
Project Design: Norell/Rodhe. Team: Daniel
Norell, Einar Rodhe, Hseng Tai Lintner, Stefan Sved-
berg, Axel Wolgers. Fabrication: Emballageteknik AB.
Marie Davidova
PhD research fellow at FA CTU / member of Collaborative Collective
http://www.fa.cvut.cz/En
marie.davidova@fa.cvut.cz
The wood - humidity interaction of solid wood has been tested through
generations on Norwegian traditional panelling. This concept has been further
explored by Michael Hensel and Steffen Reichert with Achim Menges on plywood
and laminates in basic research. Plywood or laminates are better programmable
but they are less sustainable due to the use of glue. This research focused on
predicting the performance of solid wood in tangential section which is applied to
humidity-temperature responsive screen for industrial production. With the
method Systems Oriented Design, the research evaluated data from material
science, forestry, meteorology, biology, chemistry and the production market. The
method was introduced by Birger Sevaldson in 2007 with the argument that the
changes in our globalized world and the need for sustainability demands an
increase of the complexity of the design process. (Sevaldson 2013)Several
samples has been tested for its environmental interaction. The data has been
integrated in parametric models that tested the overall systems. Based on the
simulations, the most suitable concept has been prototyped and measured for its
performance. This lead to another sampling of the material whose data are the
basis for another prototype. Ray 2 (figure 1) is an environmental responsive
screen that is airing the structure in dry weather, while closing up when the
humidity level is high, not allowing the moisture inside.
BACKGROUND the upper edge, just below the joint where they overlap.
Larsen and Marstein (2000) introduced traditional In dry weather, the lower board ends bend outwards,
Norwegian panelling cut in a tangential section of allowing dry air into construction. In wet weather the
solid wood. They explain the principle on the exam- boards close again".
ple of Traditional wooden panelling in boathouses, Further on Larsen and Marstein (2000) complain
Nordmøre, Norway: "The boards are nailed towards that such craft skills have been forgotten and con-
temporary panelling is designed to not allow such lication: "Study by Asif Amir Khan commenced from
performance. an analysis of pine cones and the way they open and
This challenge has been taken by contemporary close in relation to changes in the relative humidity
basic research which focuses on plywood and lami- level, which informed the design of full scale prototype
nates. Plywood and laminates are allowing greater of a screen that deploys the selforganisational capacity
performance and are more controllable than solid of thin timber sheets under changing humidity condi-
wood but my ongoing Life Cycle Assessment analy- tions" (Hensel and Menges 2006).
sis, in cooperation with Vladimír Kočí from the Insti- In 2007 Steffen Reichert, under the leadership of
tute of Chemical Technology, is leading to the answer Achim Menges, introduced their Responsive Surface
that the use of solid wood is more sustainable due to Structure. The project was further developed into
the use of glue in plywood. several prototypes. Reichert's and Menges's research
In 2004 Asif Amir Khan at the AA School of Ar- focuses on laminated veneers which are far too frag-
chitecture presented his screen based on pine plies ile for industrial solution but reach very good perfor-
which was published in the Morpho - Ecologies pub- mative capacity. They address the programming of
cumstances the complete closure is wanted, not al- ships. It is due to the vertical arrangement of cells
lowing any sunlight into the building. in timber and to the particular orientation of the mi-
The conducted research has been done on lami- crofibrills in the middle layer of the secondary cell
nates or plywood not considering the environmental wall between tangential and longitudinal shrinkage.
impact of the use of polyurethane glue. And due to a) restricting effect of the rays on radial
plain, b) increased thickness of the middle lamella on
MATERIAL PERFORMANCE OF SOLID the tangential plane in comparison with the radial
plane, c) difference in degree of lignification between
WOOD
the radial and tangential cell walls, d) small difference
According to Hoadley (1980) wood always remains
in microfibrillar angle between the two walls, and e)
hygroscopic (Hoadley 1980). Which means that it is
the alteration of earlywood and latewood in the ra-
adsorping or releasing water in relation to relative hu-
dial plane, which, due to the greater shrinkage of late-
midity and temperature.
wood, induces the weaker earlywood to shrink more
Based on that fact the wood shrinks, swell or
tangentially than if it would be isolated, between
moves and warps. If the wood always remains hy-
tangential and radial section (Diwoodie 2000). From
groscopic, I expect, that it also remains warping,
green wood to air dried, the pine shrinkage is 6,8%,
though Skaar (2011) explains the hysteresis effect.
3,8% and 0,201%, and swelling is 5,72% 3,04% and
That means, that the wood is less hygroscopic after
0,076%, in tangential, radial and longitudinal section,
the first desorption from the green wood when the
respectively (Němec 2005, also see figure 2). Reaction
initial resorption is the lowest (Skaar 2011).
and juvenile wood may shrink even 2% in longitudi-
Wood shrinks and swell or moves in relation to
nal section from green wood to oven dry (Glass and
relative humidity based on the specie and the grain
Zelinka 2010).
orientation. The greater shrinkage is associated with
Diwoodie (2000) specifies three cases of mois-
greater density (Glass and Zelinka 2010). Dinwoodie
ture flow in timber. Which is a) free liquid water in
explains that wood is anisotropic in its water relation-
cell cavities giving rise to bulk flow above the fibre
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The project was accomplished with the kind support
of Defio, s.r.o.
Dry-in-wet
This project demonstrates and tests how the green
wood shrinkage activated on drying could be used
for tightening on dry wood elements.
Various series of incisions were cut at a 45° angle
to the halved-log axis on the bark side. As the inserts
dry pine boards were used (Figure 2). The resulting
empty space inside of the panel could be used for
thermal insulation, e.g. by means of injecting cellu-
lose fibre insulation.
It has been assumed that the oblique orientation
of these incisions would harness the natural shrink-
age in green components and make them cling on
the dry inserts. In order to investigate the distribu-
tion, geometry and dimensions of these incisions and
inserts various variants were tested.
Wet-in-wet
This project demonstrates and tests how the
anisotropic shrinkage activated on drying could be
Three design paths were followed (Figure 1): used for producing all-wood connections in solid
wood panels. In Norway spruce, depending on au-
1. Dry-in-wet. The connecting mechanism based thor, tangential shrinkage amounts to between 4%
on green wood tightening on dry wood while (Dinwoodie 2000) - 7.8% [2], radial to 2% (Dinwoodie
shrinking. Dry wood inserts were fitted into 2000) - 3.6% [2] and longitudinal to <0.1% (Din-
the receiving incisions in green wood. woodie 2000) - 0.3% [2] (Figure 3).
Figure 3
Orthotropic
shrinkage in Stumps-in-boles
Norway spruce This project demonstrates and tests how randomly
placed stumps of branches could be used to pro-
vide connection between opposing layers of halved
round timber boles. A birch sample was halved along
the longitudinal axis. The sample with a projecting
branch stump was 3D-scanned. By means of a com-
puter script this information was subsequently trans-
lated into the position and angles of the hole to be
drilled in the paired element by a tiltable drill press.
The stump was successfully forced into the result-
ing hole (Figure 5). During the experiment it was
determined that since the branch stumps have ran-
dom spatial angles and possess a significant stiffness
it would be impossible to force more than one such
stump into a correspondingly inclined hole lest their
spatial angles were identical or almost identical. One
Various series of waving and straight incisions were way to overcome this is to increase the elasticity of
CNC-cut perpendicular and at a 45° angle to the the stumps. We achieved this by crushing the stumps
halved-log axis on the bark side, in order to produce in a carpenter's vice. The final result proven to be
the active elements of the panel. Their width after a failure: as branches shrunk more than the corre-
drying should shrink and cling on the receiving ribs sponding hole in the bole the connection has loos-
resulting from the identical incisions cut parallel to ened its snug fit after some time. This means the solu-
the log axis on the corresponding passive elements tion would only be possible while working with dried
of the panel (Figure 4). material, characterised by a higher modulus of elas-
Various patterns of the incisions and resulting ticity, thus not providing the sought synergy in the
ribs have been manufactured in order to test their process.
shrinkage and resulting connection.
Figure 5
Stumps-in-boles.
From 3D scan to
tiltable drill press
and assembly
tion efficiency, and transportability, given that the weaving recycled single-sided corrugated cardboard
project was aimed be realized 9000 km away from strips of variable widths on the secondary structural
the base of its designers. Material assemblies en- system.
countered in textile and weaving have been adopted Finally, a set of jointing techniques and custom-
early-on and have been in the core of the project's made joints were developed and constructed during
development process. As such the characteristics of the design process to respond to different needs and
lightness, elasticity and suppleness have been de- performing criteria.
terminant factors in selecting materials and defining The realized pavilion weighted less than 100kg
their organizational logic. with a total footprint ranging at 17.5 m². The to-
The pavilion was accordingly developed as a tal cost of materials was approximately 350€. The
structure-membrane interdependent system (Figure complete structure was hand-carried from Cyprus to
2). The structure (Primary and Secondary) was made Canada in three sports equipment bags weighting
out of recyclable locally produced (Cyprus) UPVC (EN less than 25kg each. Construction time was less than
61386-21:2004) electrical conduit pipes, bent in place 16 hours over two days by a team of two students and
and secured using custom-made metal and acrylic three faculty members.
digitally fabricated joints. 32mm width pipes were
used for the primary structure and 16mm width pipes INFORMATION WORKFLOW
were used for the secondary structure. The form was A great challenge for designers today is to integrate
achieved by instrumentalising the bending forces in- the physical behavior of materials and their struc-
duced on the pipes as defined by a computational tural and geometrical characteristics in computa-
model. tional models that enable full control over their so-
The membrane, serving structural (diaphragm) lutions (Fleishmann and Menges 2011).
and sheltering purposes, was realized by inter- Such an informational model was produced us-
ing a core parametric definition in Grasshopper 3D The above information workflow is illustrated in
[1], a parametric extension plugin of Rhinoceros 3d the diagram below and further explained in the fol-
(Figure 4). The model was used throughout the lowing pages (Figure 5).
design and construction process, continuously fu-
eled with information originating from testing par- Figure 5
allel simplified physical and digital models from and Information
to which there was a direct transition. Affordabil- Workflow Diagram
ity, Constructability and Transportability posed great
challenges for the research team that addressed lo-
gistics management extensively to respond to the
above areas. The ability to adapt and design based
on industry standards (sizes and profiles), without
compromising form complexity was critical in meet-
ing the budget and achieving a lightweight, easily
transportable, structure. As a result, research on ma-
terials was conducted early-on and a selection of lo-
cally available resources along with their properties
was documented. The pallet of materials became
part of the input parameters feeding the computa- MATERIALITY AND PERFORMANCE SIMU-
tional model. The main design objectives were there- LATION
fore defined by the same nature of the design prob- Through early physical prototyping, it became ev-
lem. As such, cost, weight and aesthetics, became ident that the bending performance of the struc-
the evaluation criteria for the outcome of the process. tural elements was a major factor in the geomet-
Filtering each design solution against the above stan- ric form-finding process. Due to the slenderness of
dards enabled constant revisiting of the input param- the PVC tubes, relatively low forces induced large
eters which resulted in further testing and develop- deformations and a significant increase in stiffness.
ment of the solution. Once a sufficiently fit outcome This "bending active" (Lienhard et al. 2011) behav-
was achieved, the computational model facilitated ior is based on the elastic deformation of initially
the production of construction information and doc- straight elements and their ability to store bending
umentation. induced stresses, or bending pre-stress. Such a de-
Figure 6
Bending
deformation -
Analytical Equation
Figure 7
Analytical
Form-finding
Figure 10
Adaptation to
curvature
tational freedom was accounted for in the analytical ware stores to form a two way 360-degree joint. A
models. Such an assumption would also require its similar detail was used to develop a 3-way structural
physical counterpart; a joint enabling rotation on 2- joint to connect the bracing arches to the main struc-
axis. This was resolved by combining pairs of plumb- ture of the pavilion. In this case three clamps were
ing pipe clamps using set screws, found in local hard- welded together to form a co-planar 3-way fixture,
Figure 11
Two-way
360-degree joints
(left) & Three-way
fixed joints (right)
Figure 12
Universal UPVC +
digitally fabricated
acrylic joints
REFERENCES
Fleishmann, M and Menges, A 2011 'ICD/ITKE Research
Pavilion: A Case Study of Multi-diciplinary Collobo-
rative Computational Design', Proceedings of the De-
sign Modelling Symposium 2011, Berlin
Georgiou, O, Richens, P and Richens, P 2011 'Perfor-
mance based interactive analysis', Proceedings of the
Design Modelling Symposium 2011, Berlin
Happold, E and Liddel, WI 1975, 'Timber lattice roof for
the Mannheim Bundesgartenschau', The Structural
Engineer, 53(3), pp. 99-135
Lienhard, J, Schleicher, S and Knippers, J 2011 'Bending-
active Structures – Research Pavilion ICD/ITKE', Pro-
ceedings of the International Symposium of the IABSE-
IASS Symposium, Taller Longer Lighter, London, UK
Mitchell, WJ 2004, 'Complexity in Digital Age', Science,
New Series, 303(5663), pp. 1472-1473
Oxman, R 2012, 'Informed tectonics in material-based
design', Design Studies, 33(5), pp. 427-455
Scheurer, F 2010, 'Materialising Complexity', Architectural
Design, 80(4), pp. 86-93
[1] http://www.grasshopper3d.com
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_program-
ming_interface
This paper looks at two distinct approaches to kinetic façades and smart building
assemblies reminiscent of designs for the Institut du Monde Arabe and for
Hoberman's Simon Center. The first approach uses Arduino
microcontroller-guided kinetic components with a distinct assemblage of
elements, each performing a dedicated function such as sensor, actuator, or
logical processing unit. The second approach incorporates custom-designed
smart materials-shape memory alloys (SMAs)-that not only complement or
replace the need for electrically operated sensors or actuators, but also eliminate
a microcontroller, since in this arrangement the material itself performs
computational functions. The paper will discuss case studies that use physical
computing and smart-material models as vehicles to discuss the value of each
approach to adaptive design in architecture. Building on these observations, the
paper looks into conceptual aspects of an integrated hybrid system that combines
both computation approaches and unique opportunities inherent to these hybrid
designs.
CONCLUSION
The future adaptable designs will incorporate both
smart material and information technologies, con-
tributing to increased building performance and re-
siliency as well as to aspirations of zero-energy archi-
tecture. As we increasingly embed electronic chips
into the built environment and every aspect of our
daily lives, the question of reliance and of the re-
quired energy sources for these assemblies remains
to be addressed. The shift from purely mechani-
cal and electronic controls--energy hungry--toward
In this paper we explore what EEG techniques teach us about people's responses
to environments. We explain two complementary projects: a sound art
installation in which a performer was rigged up with an EEG device and required
to sit for 30 minutes in a chair. Around him were positioned custom-made
instruments for generating electro-mechanical sounds. A screen behind the
performer showed a dynamic geometrical image that altered according to his
mood state and as picked up by EEG (engagement, meditation, frustration and
excitement), while a sound technologist operated the instruments. We used the
same sound sources for an experiment in which we tested people's responses to
sounds. We discuss the spatial implications of this work.
In this paper we explore what EEG techniques EEG is primarily designed for the clinic and the
teach us about people's responses to environments. laboratory, but this emerging technology is being de-
At the eCAADe2012 conference Mavros and Coyne ployed to make game play more responsive, for de-
reported on their study into the implications of EEG tecting people's emotional responses to movies, mu-
for spatial representation (Mavros et. al., 2012). They sic, marketing campaigns and environments, and for
were also able to provide further empirical evidence assisted control of prosthetic devices and comput-
of the benefits of taking respite from busy urban life ers. These new techniques of brain representation
by moving through parkland (Aspinall et al, 2013). In can help designers understand how the behaviours
this paper we'll demonstrate the outcome of a more we observe correspond to brain activity and even to
speculative approach to using EEG in a spatial con- specific regions of the brain (Damasio, 1999). The
text. We connect to the interest surrounding innova- technology is new and poses challenges in terms of
tive technologies for understanding the brain using validation. We have been exploring how best to de-
a mobile electroencephalography (EEG) device for ploy the technology to provide meaningful results in
recording and visualizing some of the key frequen- the context of design.
cies propagated through the human nervous system
in response to emotional stimuli.
METHOD OF STUDY
The headset consists of 16 sensors (14 plus 2 refer-
ence points), which record the EEG data from across
a participant's scalp (Figure 1, 2). The research team We created a set of 8 sound sources: 8 electro-
of Emotiv EPOC developed the Emotiv EPOC con- acoustic instruments. One of these was a Tibetan
trol panel, an application that among other suites in- Singing Bowl (Figure 4). It was created from a tra-
cludes the Affectiv Suite, which we used for the pur- ditional record player, a brass bowl, and a wooden
poses of our study. The Emotiv's Affective suite fil- paddle. A stationary microphone supports the pad-
ters and translates raw EEG signals to four variables dle, which then touches the side of the bowl. As the
indicating 4 affective state: excitement (long-term turntable platter rotates, a resonating sound is gen-
and short-term), frustration, engagement and med- erated due to friction. The sound shows continuous
itation. The headset has been successfully validated high frequencies representing the fundamental plus
against a medical grade headset (Badcock et al, 2013, overtones. The sound is characterized by multiple
Aspinall et al, 2012, Debener et al, 2012). transients and by grain. It also has a pulsation but
The USB receiver links the EEG headset to the overall is quite steady. The other sound sources in-
Emotiv EPOC control panel application wirelessly. cluded attachments to a piano soundboard, en elec-
We then recruited another application available from tromagnetic bow, a laser pointer on a turntable, wind
Emotiv EPOC, called Mind your OSCs. The latter sends chimes, a light sensor phasing theremin and a foot
out the affective suite values for each of the affec- operated piece of resonant wood shaped like a fish.
Figure 3
Raw EEG output
from one of the
participants in our
study
The descriptors
Loud sounds, sounds generated suddenly, and
sounds that have rapid temporal characteristics and
rapid change patterns produce higher levels of
arousal or feelings of unpleasentness in the listener
(Berlyne 1971; Burt et al. 1995; Foss et al. 1989;
Halpern et al. 1986 in Juslin et al., 2008). Low and
high pitched sounds raise arousal more readily than
sounds that are in the mid frequency range. Other
aspects of the stimuli such as novelty, surprise, com-
plexity, ambiquity and "puzzlingness" also influence
arousal levels (Berlyne, 1971, p.69).
We infer from our table that sounds of different
qualities induce different emotions. The sounds gen-
erated from the piano soundboard and the singing
bowl show low levels of engagement. We carried
out a spectral analysis of these sounds, which indi-
cated that they have either a full or a middle range
frequency spectrum. These sounds also exhibit slow
rhythmic characteristics and soft dynamics. At the
same time the sounds generated from the lazer mic
set up, the wind chimes, the light sensor and the
This article relates an experiment linking two types of forms: geometric forms
generated from algorithms by mathematical functions and sonic forms generated
from algorithms and linked to the first. In order to formalize a graphical and
musical object called "sonic object", were used the following tools: the
environment of a graphic program, the C# language and the Midi-dot-Net
musical library. Diverse equations are used to generate the geometric shapes
which generate periodical, cyclical and circular movements. Other equations
used in the experiment are formulas adapted from the Edward Lorenz's Strange
Attractor. Current research into the problem of the generation of patterns of
movement, such as that of Jules Moloney, and research which deals with
algorithms which generate shapes, such as that of Robert Krawczyk, have been
taken as references and parameters for comparison for this work..
dering which turns and moves in a linear fashion repetition. In order to define the quality of each note
in the horizontal and vertical directions. The values of the sound theme, the musical scales are used alter-
of the translation vector and the angles of rotation nately in the following order: chromatic, major, mi-
are stipulated randomly. All of the numerical ad- nor, pentatonic, scales of odd and even whole tones.
justments of the movements of translation and ro- The composition presented here did not make use
tation, as well as the definition of the parameters of of any specific rules from the tonal system or from
colour and transparency which each group of sonic the twelve-tone technique method. The duration is
objects acquires, form part of the aesthetic process randomly defined in a list of tempos which are trans-
of artistic choice of the final composition. The group- formed in milliseconds before being passed to the
ing of the sonic objects is ordered in circles of in- object which administers the duration of Threads of
creasing radius. The modes defining the evolution the system. The instruments chosen for the compo-
of the visual and sonic shapes which participate in sitions are also randomly defined within the set of
the compositions is an aspect of the process which is traditional MIDI instruments. In general, a subjec-
subject to continuous changes, being a key moment tive evaluation produced better auditory results for
of aesthetic choice. In the cloud study, the evolu- percussion instruments than for instruments whose
tion of the sonic phenomenon and the graphic phe- flow of sound is continuous, such as the string in-
nomenon is not synchronised although they share struments and wind instruments. This subjective ap-
the same temporal space. On hearing the result preciation led to the decision to use the piano, vi-
it can be clearly noted that there are moments in braphone, glockenspiel and other percussion instru-
which the graphic elements, evolving in an increas- ments. An observation of the configuration of a sonic
ing and continuous movement, lose the accompany- cloud shows that while visual evidence of formal ge-
ing sounds. These sound pauses were not intention- ometric ordering exists it is difficult to find. There
ally placed silences in the composition. The silent im- is the impression of a chaotic ordering which is not
age on the paper does not manage to express the governed by any rule. The greater density of red and
composition completely. It expresses only one part grey colours visible in the centre of the composition
of the composition sought. The unified and com- is perhaps the only visual evidence which manages,
plete result of the image and sound can be seen in a certain way, to suggest the presence of the reg-
at: https:sites.google.com/a/poli.ufrj.br/dc_menegotto ularity of the generating movement. In the auditory
In this exercise the sonic shape of the composition sphere, the cyclical repetition of the sonic theme can
is defined by uniform temporal segments which ex- reinforce the perception of the existence of an order
press the same cyclically repeated sound theme, al- which controls the generation. Nevertheless, the ob-
ternating the musical scales in each segment of the servation of the visual and sonic evidence requires at-
Figure 3
Strange Attractor
Mandala (1000
sonic objects)
REFERENCES
Burry, Jane and Mark, BUR 2010, The new mathematics of
architecture, Thames & Hudson, London
Holl, Steven, HOL 1994, 'Stretto House', in Elizabeth Mar-
tin, EM (eds) 1994, Architecture as a translation of
music. Pamphlet n°16, Princeton Architectural Press,
New York
Krawczyk, Robert J., KRA 2003, 'Dimension of Time in
Strange Attractors', ISAMA/Bridges 2003 Conference,
Mathematical Connections in Art, Music, and Science,
Granada University, Spain
Martin, Elizabeth, MAR 1994, 'y-Condition', in Elizabeth
Martin, EM (eds) 1994, Architecture as a translation of
music. Pamphlet n°16, Princeton Architectural Press,
New York
Menegotto, José Luis, MEN 2009, A caixa de música. Con-
traponto formal entre a arquitetura e a música, Ph.D.
Thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ
Moloney, Jules, MOL 2009, Designing kinetics for Archi-
tectural Facades: State Change, Routledge, London,
New York
Scruton, Roger, SCR 1979, Estética da arquitetura, Martins
Fontes, São Paulo
Sherbini, Khaled, Krawczyk, Robert J., SHE 2004
'Overview of Intelligent Architecture', Proceedings
of 1° ASCAAD International Conference, e-Design in
Architecture, KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Xenakis, Iannis, XEN 1992, Formalized Music. Thought
and Mathematics in Composition, Pendragon Rev.
created in a way that it produces competitive out- The ready-made documentation, despite being
comes, meeting similar esthetical expectations, but a compromise on the needs of investors, is chosen
at the same time improving adjustment of the design by many because of its price and possibility to see
to meet site conditions and individual user require- the visualizations and documentation at hand. Such
ments. method besides being relatively cheap is being fre-
quently chosen because it allows seeing the prod-
Existing models and proposed model uct before it is being sold. To meet different users'
Currently customers who wish to purchase building needs publishers are developing various designs to
documentation of a house face a dilemma whether cover all the possible solutions with predesigned al-
to have it designed by the architect or buy ready- ternatives. As a result customers find it difficult to
made construction documentation (refer to figure 1). choose the "perfect" house from numerous of types
Traditional process of acquisition of a house design presented in catalogues. They quickly tend to get lost
by direct cooperation with the architect is based on in the vast amount of possibilities and find it difficult
the thorough analysis of user's needs and specific to choose the solution that would fit all their needs.
site conditions. Such an analysis is a starting point Therefore such process is often very time-consuming
to provide design proposal, which is later on itera- and at the same time does not guarantee success.
tively being modified to fit users expectations. On Moreover, process of searching does not allow con-
the other hand this process is time consuming and it fronting designs with the plot where the building is
is hard to predict the final outcome at the beginning. going to be built and verify if it responds to local con-
Moreover, cost of architect's service is much higher ditions. Therefore buyers of such documentation fre-
then the cost of ready-made documentation, there- quently realize that they want to adapt chosen de-
fore majority of single family houses built in Poland sign to the specific site conditions and to have it re-
are constructed basing on a ready-made documen- designed when the building is being placed on the
tation. actual site plan. However, such houses are typically
Site Planner to estimate the initial dimensions of the could be either in a form of direct access, such as a
building, set plot development area and propose op- door, or an open wall or there could be no connection
timal arrangement of the house on the plot. Building when modules are separated by wall. Every mod-
is located in order to maximize indoor sunlight and to ule reacts responsively to its surroundings. Figure 3
create south facing outdoors, while the garage is lo- presents possible adjacent connections for the mod-
cated to minimize its shading area on the site and to ule of kitchen.
minimize access path to the building. As a result Site Home planner creates a framework for cus-
Planner determines building position on the plot, lo- tomers to participate in the design process of house
cation of major entries and exact location of the main layout, which due to various customers' needs is an
building axis. This information is transferred to the ill-defined problem. Therefore in order to provide
Home Planner where it is used for detailed distribu- customers with the designs that fulfil their needs,
tion of functional program, while Site Planer is con- they are invited to participate in the design process
stantly used in the background to verify the size of where they can individually verify their expectations
the house, its position in the development area and with provided capabilities. This participation process
its correspondence to the master plan regulations. should be finalized with a complete planar layout of
the spaces on each floor determining position of all
Home Planner the rooms and their surroundings. In order to guide
In Home Planner user can customize in detail the de- users through this process optimization goals and in-
sign of his house. The configuration tools allow mod- termediate task are being set. Spatial distribution of
ifying spatial distribution of home functional pro- functional modules takes place in relation to the ex-
gram. Size and location of every module represent- ternal and internal context. For this purpose the ori-
ing different rooms can be changed and all the mod- entation to the World coordinates (which affect in-
ules can be added or removed. All the modules are door sunlight) and the privacy gradient (which sug-
based on modular grid (Figure 2) of 60 by 60 cm and gests placing common areas, such as the living room,
have the same depth, which allows connecting them closer to the entrance, while private spaces, such as
together and flexibly reconfiguring. Type of this con- bedrooms farther away) are used. Moreover, Home
nection is pre-set for every module separately and it Planner uses few optimization technics, which allow
for creating more rational floor plans. Optimization mation Model, which allows for exploration and visu-
is focused on diminishing the number of installation alization of the design, evaluation of the building for
shafts and for creating compact circulation scheme. its energy and environmental performance and esti-
When a planar layout of the spaces on each floor is mation of the final building cost.
completed, building layout is further developed by
adding more details. Home Planner is adding major CONCLUSION
entries to the building, which are placed at the ends The proposed system for customer participation in
of the circulation scheme axes and transferred to the the design process of mass-customized houses could
Facade Creator for customization of the facade. become feasible alternative to the traditional process
of provisioning affordable houses based on ready-
Facade Creator made documentation. The invented design system
Facade Creator allows user to individually compose was tested for possibility of designing small houses as
the facades of the house in relation to its roof pitch. well as middle-sized houses (Figure 4). The first four
User starts by placing building entries on the facade examples from the left present houses with identical
in the exact position taken from the Home Planner. functional program with approximately 100 square
These entries become then guiding facade openings meters of living area and with a garage for one car.
to which corners' guidelines are added. These guide- The last four examples illustrate the same principles
lines are used to generate possible localization of ad- but for the middle-sized house with approximately
ditional facade openings from which the user can 145 square meters and a garage for two cars.
choose the secondary facade openings based on his Invented system may give a solution for upgrad-
preferences. Chosen facade openings become guid- ing living conditions, site adaptation and architec-
ing facade openings and the whole process starts tural quality of widely popular catalogue houses.
from the beginning. Based on the invented set of Development of such system may improve the liv-
rules Facade Creator is able to create asymmetrical ing quality in these market areas where architec-
although internally consistent composition of the fa- tural knowledge is unaffordable, omitted and simply
cade. At the last stage user can choose the finishing missing. Introducing customer participation in the
materials from the predefined sets. design process of mass-customized houses allows
At the end of this process location of the entire users to find out individual design goals transforming
facade opening is transferred back to the Home Plan- the design process from being ill-defined into goal-
ner and marked on the floor plan layout. All that in- oriented. Therefore allowing people to influence the
formation is collected in parametric Building Infor- design themselves can improve level of their satisfac-
tion and adjustment of the design to their needs. Pre- The proposed framework for the development of
scribed in the system architects' design rules should the computer design tool integrates architectural de-
allow conscious and informative self-configuration of sign knowledge with customer willingness for partic-
houses. Therefore such tools may also give the op- ipation in the design of their homes. Hence, to test
portunity to indirectly educate the public, by letting the usefulness of the invented design system com-
them practically interact with the design rules. Con- puter software is being developed. Although the
figuration process should be conceived as a reiter- computer system, in a form of a mobile application
ative process of understanding contradictory condi- called Homepose (Figure 5), is still under develop-
tions, finding a solution, evaluation and deciding. ment, it is important to discuss, at this stage, its as-
sumptions and objectives in order to assure the rele-
vance of final outcome. It is not clear, at this point, if Figure 5
customers purchasing new houses will be interested Homepose mobile
and capable to individually participate in the design application
process of such spaces.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
An early version of this work was conducted dur-
ing Kwieciński's Master Thesis at Faculty of Architec-
ture at the Warsaw University of Technology. Spe-
cial thanks go to Kuba Cupisz, who has contributed
to this research by creating Homepose application.
REFERENCES
Benros, D. and Duarte, J.P. 2009, 'An integrated system
for providing mass customized housing', Automa-
tion in Construction, 18(3), pp. 310-320
The care for the elderly and people with disability increasingly demand more
ingenuity to undertake, especially as it relates to the built environment. The
impact of the physical environment on health has been widely documented. The
knowledge of the special needs/preferences of this vulnerable group of users
(people suffering from Alzheimer, autism, dementia and other similar disabilities),
for the purpose building of performance evaluation and subsequent improvements
is essential. The challenge is that their conditions, as exemplified by the loss or
impairment of their capacity to provide accurate/realistic information of their
building attributes' perceptions and preferences, make such knowledge
inaccurate to serve as basis for building improvements and designs. This paper
seeks to provide a scientific means for obtaining more accurate knowledge, which
when obtained normally can be misleading and non representational of reality.
The method adopted for this study is fuzzy-neural-network computation, a branch
of computational intelligence, to develop an all-encompassing knowledge based
building performance assessment model.
Figure 1
Equation 1 represents the cumulative end point Performance
value, these are obtained from the nodal transfers us- Assessment Neural
ing the transfer functions at each nodes. Tree Model (Figure
The transfer function Oj (equation 2) is applied 1 – Neural Tree
at each nodes sequentially. structure)
Where j is the layer number; i denote the i-th in-
put to the node; wi is the degree of membership at
the output of the terminal node; wij is the weight
associated with the i-th terminal node and the non-
terminal node j. The width of the basis function σ is Figure 2
used to measure the uncertainty associated with the Fuzzy Neural Tree
node inputs designated as external input X. The out- (Performance
put of i-th terminal node wi is related to X by the re- assessment model)
lation , where wij is the weight connecting terminal – Close-up 1
node i to terminal node j. It connects the output of a
basis function to a node in the form of an external in-
put. The centres of the radial basis functions are the
same as the input weights of that node, wij . (Cift-
cioglu, Bittermann, et al., 2007)
The rated values obtained from the question- Figure 3
naires, were clustered and then used as weights wi Fuzzy Neural Tree
in data analysis and computation.The algorithm used (Performance
in the computation takes the form of figures 1-4. assessment model)
– Close-up 2
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Table 3 shows part of the computation in excels work-
sheet. All the variables are combined relationally and
hierarchically using the fuzzy neural network compu-
tation algorithm. The fuzziness in the variable input Figure 4
data become stabilised and from the computation Fuzzy Neural Tree
the outcome for a typical building type - a psychiatric (Performance
hospital is presented in a final report sheet, in certifi- assessment model)
cation format. – Close-up 3
The features of the certification report are that:
REFERENCES
Ciftcioglu et' al, O 2006 'Studies on visual perception for
perceptual robotics', Proceedings of the Third Interna-
tional Conference on Informatics in Control, Automa-
tion and Robotics: ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION2006.
352-359., pp. 352-359
Ciftcioglu, O, Bittermann, MS and Sariyildiz, IS 2007 'A
neural fuzzy system for soft computing', 2007 An-
nual Meeting of the North American Fuzzy Informa-
tion Processing Society, ed. M. Reformat and M.R.
Berthold2007, pp. 489-495
Ciftcioglu, O, Sariyildiz, IS and Bittermann, MS 2007
'Building performance analysis supported by GA',
Evolutionary Computation, 2007. CEC 2007. IEEE
Congress
Goldsmith, S 1997, Designing for the Disabled The New
Paradigm, Architectural Press, Oxford, London
Gursel, I, Sariyildiz, IS, Akin, O and Stouffs, R 2009, 'Mod-
elling and visualisation of lifecycle building perfor-
mance assessment', Advanced Engineering Informat-
ics, 23(4), pp. 396-417
Lutzkendorf, T and Lorenz, DP 2006, 'Using an inte-
grated performance approach in building assess-
ment tools', Building Research & Information, 34(4),
pp. 334-356
Michail, GL 1997, Neural Networks and Optimization Prob-
lems - A Case Study: The Minimum Cost Spare Alloca-
tion Problem, Citeseerx
Schofield, H, Bloch, S and Victorian, F 1998, Health Pro-
motion, Family caregivers : disability, illness, and age-
ing, Victorian Health Promotion Foundation
Solar, O and Irwin, A 2007 'A Conceptual Framework for
Action on the Social Determinants of Health', WHO
Discussion Paper, pp. 1-77
The virtual teams are largely encouraged by the recent technological devices
supporting different-place collaboration and suggest today new forms of
organization. This one is geographically dispersed and regroups all the
competencies required for the work to be done. In such a context, trust is
essential to guarantee the performance of team. It is indeed a necessary
component for initiating the work relationship and to overcome the inherent risk.
The capacity of the groups to communicate about the objectives and strategies as
well as to readjust them according to the context (i.e. reflexivity) is another
element important for the group's performance. This article suggests analyzing
these notions of trust and reflexivity within virtual teams in the context of an
academic experiment where students are geographically dispersed and have to
produce an architectural project.
Survey questionnaire and data collection The questionnaire was available on line. A collection
The data collection has been carried out during the interface has been developed thanks to the software
academic year 2012-2013 in the framework of the LIMESURVEY. This software is hosted on the secured
"Cooperative Digital Studio". The students were in- servers of the CRP Henri Tudor. This configuration as-
vited to answer to a questionnaire during the exper- sures data security.
iment. This questionnaire is structured in two parts: In total 27 students divided in 6 groups have con-
tributed to this survey.
• "Trust analysis": this part relies on a survey
questionnaire including 15 questions based RESULTS
on (Mayer et al., 1995, Robert et al., 2009) en-
Analysis of trust
abling to measure trust between team's mem-
During the academic year 2011-2012, we had already
bers. This questionnaire has been submitted
deployed the questionnaire of trust assessment. We
5 times to the students at steps S1, S2, S3, S4,
had highlighted the relationship between trust and
S5.
group's performance.
The results of the academic year 2012-2013 con-
• "Reflexivity analysis": this second part aims firms this relationship. As seen in the figure 3, the
at measuring the task and social reflexivity groups with lower trust are associated to the lowest
based the Carter and West scale (Carter and appreciation, and reciprocally groups characterized
West, 1998) in this French version (Facchin, by a highest level of trust are associated to the best
2008, Facchin et al., 2006). This scale con- appreciations.
sisted of 16 items (8 for task reflexivity and 8 The analysis of graphs of trust all along the col-
for social reflexivity) that examine the extent laborative process (see figure 4) allows us to highlight
to which a team refines its objectives, strate- that when trust level is high and relatively stable (See
gies and team processes (Carter et al., 1998). Team 1 and 4) or progressively increasing until step 5
This questionnaire has been submitted four (See Team 3), the performance is high. Moreover, we
times to the students during the project, at can identify that in these groups the reciprocal opin-
the steps S2, S3, S4 and S5.
Figure 4
Analysis of trust:
detailed view by
team
Figure 5
Analysis of
reflexivity
INTRODUCTION tects. This paper also shows criteria for evaluating the
Computer-aided sketch tools can be used to sup- tools. We believe the comparison could be of use to
port collaborative architectural designing (Tang, Lee, improve remote as well as co-located collaborative
Gero, 2010) and architectural communication by designing by sketch in architectural designing.
sketch. In this paper we would like to present an
overview of few possible applications and mention PREVIOUS RESEARCH
the tested supported platforms. We explore the Architectural designing is a very sensitive topic when
tools, which might be of a significant importance and it comes to sketching. Previous research (Gold-
compare it with our newly developed application schmitt, Ullmann) showed that sketching plays an
called ColLab sketch. With this application we hope important role in the early stage of designing. It is
in increasing speed and ease of graphic communica- also inevitable by architects cooperation and teach-
tion. We also want to show the tool can be modified ing (Cheng and Lane-Cumming, 2004) and last but
according to the constantly changing needs of archi- not least it significantly supports communication.
3. Flockdraw[3]
4. Flatland
FLATLAND
Discussion about Flatland was found in an article on
comparison of Computer aided tools for architectural
design by N.M.Segers at al. 2000. The application
was published in 1999 by E. Mynatt at al. and repre-
sents a type of collaborative tool that supports quick
Figure 3 sketching. A big whiteboard can be edited by a spe-
Example of test of cial pen, but apart of a few specialities like scaling or
sketch behavior, double line no interactivity is provided. We mention
drawn on Mac Book this already older tool in the context of dimensions
Pro with Bamboo of the device, which is in the size of a blackboard and
stylus: Flockdraw thus can be viewed by a collocated group of people.
Also the fast development of collaborative tools can
be tracked here. Flatland worked independently of
internet and thus no remote collaboration was en-
abled. Finally, Flatland gave us a proof of importance
of speed as a main criteria. It also emphasizes the size
of the drawing.
REFERENCES
Cheng, NY and Lane-Cumming, S 2004 'Teaching digital
sketches', Design Communication Association’s 11th
Biannual conference in California
Elisabeth, MD, Igarashi, T, Edwards, WK and LaMarca,
A 1999 'Flatland: New Dimensions in Office White-
boards', CiteSeer
Goldschmitt, G 1994 'On visual thinking: the vis kids of
architecture', Elsevier
Nováková, K, Achten, HH, Treyer, L and Schmitt, G
2012 'Value Lab: Innovation in Teaching Visual De-
sign: There is Nothing to Wait for', Proceedings of
16th International Conference Information Visualisa-
tion, Montpellier
Segers, NM, Achten, HH and de Vries, B 2000 'A Compar-
ison of Computer-Aided Tools for Architectural De-
sign', Proceedings of the 5th Conference on Design and
Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban
Planning
Tang, HH, Lee, YY and Gero, JS 2010 'Comparing collab-
orative collocated and distributed design processes
in digital and traditional sketching environments: A
protocol study using function-behaviour – structure
coding scheme', Elsevier
Ullmann, DG, Craig, D and Wood, S 1990 'The importance
of drawing in the mechanical design process', Com-
puter & Graphics
[1] http://draw.to
[2] http://www.queeky.com
[3] http://flockdraw.com
[4] http://www.adobe.com/cz/products/adobeconnect.html
[5] http://www.citrix.com/products/talkboard/overview.html
[6] http://collab.bitwise.cz
Matthias Kulcke
Hamburg University of Technology/
HafenCity University Hamburg
http://www.designfunding.com
matthias.kulcke@tu-harburg.de
CONCLUSION
Especially designproducts for production in small
numbers by regionally active craftsmen and man-
ufacturers are suited for the described market ap-
proach and the parametric-design process sup-
ported by designfunding (figure 5), since cost-
intensive prototype production can be minimized
and focused on the most promising preconfigured
constellations in the case of a successful funding. Al-
though the recently released Indiegogo Hardware
Handbook advises campaigners to build works-like
and looks-like prototypes, it is, according to the con-
tributors, not vital for a campaign to build design-for-
manufacturing (DFM) prototypes [3]. This of course
Figure 5
Pinch and barrel
distortion.
LEVEL OF ABSTRACTION
Architects are trained in reading 3D volumes from
lines only. Walking inside a 3D drawing, a model
without surface detail proved to be sufficient for gen-
eral observations and the flat coloured white surfaces
with hidden line shading worked really well with the
low resolution display screen. Several students were
inclined to clean up their models to remove unnec- "It enables a really good understanding of distances,
essary and disturbing lines from the surfaces. heights and depth and with improvements in future
Shadows would definitely have been helpful in versions we will probably be able to sense emotions
defining volumes and voids, but they were not stable and expressions in the model as well."
in motion producing heavy flickering and were there-
fore dismissed. Texture or colour on selected sur- NAVIGATION
faces provided better means of understanding com- Navigating in VR with a head mounted display oc-
plicated spaces, see figures 7 & 8. cluding the real world proved to be quite difficult;
16 respondents answered questions about ab- only experienced gamers felt comfortable with key-
straction in VR. 6 respondents (37.5%) applied colour board and mouse navigation blindfolded, figure 9.
or textures on selected surfaces of their model and 5 Other means of interacting with the VR envi-
of these claimed that texture or colour on selected ronment like game controllers, joy-sticks or body in-
surfaces provided better means of understanding teraction with Kinect were initially dismissed, since
complicated spaces. Only one respondent didn't ex- our setup was planned to be as simple as possi-
perience any difference in level of abstraction with or ble. As described earlier we started out using the
without textures. equipment sitting at a table. This was reconsid-
REFERENCES
Bohn, C and Kreutzberg, A 2014, 'The virtual promenade,
didactic experiments on the potentials of combin-
ing conventional and digital modelling of the city
experienced in movement.', Architecturae et Artibus,
6(1), pp. 34-37
Cutting, J 1997, 'How the eye measures reality and vir-
tual reality', Behavior Research Methods, Instruments,
& Computers, 29(1), pp. 27-36
Cutting, JE and Vishton, PM 1995, 'Perceiving layout
Figure 2
The viewer plug-in
interface in Revit
task of navigating in a 3D-model using the keyboard modification of simple geometry. In contrast, our
and a mouse (i.e. mouse-look and WASD). examples are much more involved, as they include
operations on fairly complex objects that also affect
Design iterations other objects. For instance, when changing windows
The benefit of having the visualization environment to a type that is geometrically smaller or larger, the
closely connected to the BIM authoring environment geometry for the host object, the wall, needs to be
becomes especially clear when considering rapid de- recomputed in order for the opening size to match
sign iterations. To illustrate this we will provide two the corresponding window size. Although such func-
concrete examples applied to our test-model: one is tionality would have been technically possible to
the change of window types on one of the facades implement in our viewer, we have instead focused
and the other is the removal of two conference rooms on making the "conversion" from design-model to
on the third floor in order to extend the office land- visualization-model as fast as possible. In the case of
scape area. our test model, this process takes approximately 20
Although solutions have been proposed where seconds. That is, regardless of modification, the only
it is possible to modify architectural models directly time needed to produce a new version of the immer-
in an immersive environment (Schulze et al., 2014), sive visualization will be the time required to make
these systems typically only support insertion and the actual modifications in Revit, plus 20 seconds. For
repositioning of pre-made objects or creation and the examples described above this time corresponds
to 3 minutes and 2.5 minutes, respectively. In Figure sign environment this rendering engine has been im-
7, these two modifications are illustrated with "before plemented as a viewer plug-in in Autodesk Revit. Be-
and after" screenshots. cause of this, immersive design review sessions can
be performed directly in the BIM authoring software
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK without the need to export any data or create a sep-
We have presented a system that allows immersive vi- arate visualization model.
sualization to become a natural and integrated part In addition, we have presented an initial evalu-
of the building design process. By using the Ocu- ation of the proposed system with a BIM received
lus Rift HMD we are able to provide an immersive vi- from a real-world project. Regarding rendering per-
sualization environment without the need of a ded- formance, navigation interface and the ability to sup-
icated facility to host a PowerWall or CAVE installa- port fast design iterations, we have shown that it has
tion. In addition to greatly reduce investment costs, all the needed properties in order to function well in
this feature also makes the use of VR within a project practice.
become physically more accessible. As the technol- For future work we are considering several dif-
ogy is portable, clients and design team members ferent directions, including studies related to spatial
can take advantage of immersive visualization ses- understanding with HMDs, enhancement of the in-
sions without the need to travel to a specific location. teraction interface, investigation of benefits with our
To further address accessibility, we have devel- system in different contexts (i.e. design review, plan-
oped a rendering engine capable of managing large ning, on-site information extraction, etc.) as well as
and complex 3D datasets in real-time. As a result further research to improve rendering performance.
we can directly visualize large and complex BIMs, in
stereo, without the need to manually optimize or pre-
pare the input dataset. To support an integrated de-
Miguel Sales Dias1 , Sara Eloy2 , Miguel Carreiro3 , Elisângela Vilar4 , Sibila Marques5 ,
Ana Moural6 , Pedro Proênça7 , Joana Cruz8 , Jorge d'Alpuim9 , Nelson Carvalho10 ,
António Sérgio Azevedo11 , Tiago Pedro12
1,10,11
Microsoft Language Development Center, Lisbon, Portugal
1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,12
ISCTE Inst. Universitário de Lisboa, ISTAR-IUL, Lisbon, Portugal
5
ISCTE Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, CIS-IUL, Lisbon, Portugal
1,10,11
http://www.microsoft.com/pt-pt/mldc 1,2,3,5,7,9,12 http://www.iscte-iul.pt
1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,12
http://www.istar.iscte-iul.pt
1,10,11
{Miguel.Dias|t-nelc|t-serg}@microsoft.com
2,3,4
{sara.eloy|miguel_carreiro|elisangela.vilar}@iscte-iul.pt
5,6,7
{sibila.marques|ana_margarida_moural|pedro_filipe_proenca}@iscte-iul.pt
9,12
{jorge_alpuim|tiago_miguel_pedro}@iscte-iul.pt 8 joana-crz@hotmail.com
This paper focuses on the objective study of emotions, namely, fear induced by
architectural spaces, by sensing and statistically analysing some physiological
signals of users experiencing Virtual Environments (VE). For this, a virtual
building was designed considering the presence of stairs and ramps as
architectural elements that could affect users´ physiological states and perception
of fear of falling. Thirty-one older persons participated in this study and were
assigned to two experimental conditions (i.e., safe and unsafe conditions). Five
main locations (beginning of the stairs; neutral room; first descending ramp;
ascending ramp; and the middle of ascending ramp) were considered along the
participants' path, and heart rate (HR) was collected in the vicinity of those
locations. Results shown significant differences in HR activation among neutral,
beginning of stairs and middle of ascending ramp. Despite the fact that the effect
of condition was not fully verified for HR, participants reported more fear while
interacting with the unsafe condition, with significant differences between
conditions.
Figure 3
Left image shows a
screenshot from the
ramps for the safe
condition and right
image shows the
same ramp for the
unsafe condition.
Figure 4
Left image shows a
screenshot from the
horizontal plane
with the ascending
ramp for the safe
condition and right
image shows the
same horizontal
plane with the
ascending ramp for
the unsafe
condition.
the VE developed for this purpose. During the train- ducted using the significance level set at .05.
ing, some explanations about the experiment and The participants' declared Perception of Fear of
the equipment involved were given. The main objec- Falling was assessed through a 2x4 mixed ANOVA
tives of the training session were: 1) familiarize par- with condition (i.e., safe and unsafe) as the between-
ticipants with the simulation setup; 2) allow them to subjects variable and, architecture elements (i.e,
practice the use of navigation and visualization de- stairs, ramp descending, ramp ascending and mid-
vices; and 3) homogenize differences in the partici- dle of ramp ascending, neutral space), as the within-
pant's performance using a joystick. subjects variable. The results showed significant dif-
For the virtual building experience, participants ferences in fear of falling between the two conditions
were randomly signed to one of the two experi- "safe" (M = 1.77; SD = 1.24) and "unsafe" (M=3.27;
mental conditions (i.e., safe and unsafe), in a bal- SD = 2.46). Thus, the ANOVA revealed a signifi-
anced way. Participants were instructed to navigate cant main effect of condition (F1,19) = 13.062; p =
through the building until reaching the end (as it 0.002; η 2 =0.41), with participants declaring less fear
was a controlled navigation, all participants followed in architecture spaces with handrails (safe condition).
the same path with the same field of view), and This result may indicate that when controlled process
that the simulation would automatically stop when of information (Schneider & Shiffrin, 1977) are active,
it ended. The virtual experience ended when partici- participants rationalize the information and are able
pant reached the third neutral room. to distinguish between secure and unsecure situa-
After finishing the VR experience, the partici- tions considering the presence of a safety element
pants were taken to a room in which s/he should an- (handrails or railings). In this way, the presence of a
swer to a post-hoc questionnaire. First, a retrospec- handrail overlap any difference in the perception of
tive experience was made showing screenshots of fear that could exist among the studied architectural
the VE and questioning about their feelings of fear. spaces. In fact, results show that users recognize and
After this, the presence questionnaire was applied. point out stairs and ramps without handrails as being
insecure places to be.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Regarding the objective assessment, HR (Heart
The main dependent variables were the participants' Rate) was derived from the ECG, through automatic
Heart Rate and participant´s declared Perception of detection of the heart R peaks and RR (peak to peak)
Fear of Falling considering the architecture spaces. intervals, followed by a manual inspection of the re-
Only participants with valid data (n = 21) were con- sulting HR signal. The HR was then analysed between
sidered for analysis. All statistical analyses were con- conditions (i.e. safe and unsafe) and between several
Figure 1
The study case: the
area of Patissia,
central Athens (left).
Location and form
of urban voids
(middle, in gray).
The urban voids are
defined as
continuous open
spaces within the
blocks (right, in
red).
Figure 10
Cluster distribution
and comparison of
results deriving
from the three
mapping methods.
Number of clusters
and population of
each cluster for
each method (left).
Correspondence of
clusters across
methods (right).
COMPARISON OF METHODS
The classification results deriving from the differ-
ent mapping methods appear to converge, with the
same combinations of spaces persistently forming
clusters. Most diversions from this pattern seem
to occur due to different cluster scales across dif-
ferent methods: larger groups from one method
correspond to merged smaller groups from another
method and most unclassified points correspond to
the same voids in all methods (figure 10, 11).
Tasos Varoudis
Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London, UK
http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk
t.varoudis@ucl.ac.uk
BACKGROUND
Visibility graph analysis (VGA) was developed by
Turner et. al (2001) based on space syntax theory
(Hillier and Hanson, 1984) and early foundation work,
Benedikt starts by considering the volume visible
such as that carried out by Thiel (1961), who at-
from a location and then simplifies this representa-
tempted to record the details of the visual experi-
tion by taking a horizontal slice (two dimensional)
ence through buildings or urban environments by
through the 'isovist polyhedron'. The resulting 'iso-
analysing the properties of spatial paths.
vist' is a single polygon without holes, as shown in
Figure 3
Example of grip
(left) and selected
locations for
analysis (right) in
depthmapX.
Figure 5
Examples of
complex
visuo-spatial
relationships.
('accessible' = O,
'augmented' = X)
al. VGA, though the environment's affordances are An important difference between the original
more complex in this occasion. While in the left part visibility graph analysis and AVGA is that habitable
we see the un-directed origin-destination relations or accessible space can act as an origin and destina-
which form the foundation of a graph analysis, the tion of a visibility relation, while the augmented and
next two illustrations demonstrate the multi-layered multi-dimensional location can only be a destination
information that is omitted in traditional analyses. of visibility links. In AVGA we divide space into 'ac-
Multi-dimensional overlaps (grey regions) are gener- cessible' and 'augmented' locations (or nodes of the
ated when movement is obstructed (or not possible) analysis). The relation always originates from some
but a direct visible link is possible. In this case the 'accessible' location. Locations in the 'augmented'
two windows generate an overlapping space for each space, marked with 'X', are not allowed to form out-
of the location. The half-height partition also gener- going connections (become origins) with any other
ates a 'direct-inaccessibility' but gives a direct visual node in the systems. Some simpler examples are de-
hint about the destination. The same situation can picted in figure 5 where detours are required to reach
be described for the open space beyond the build- the destination but a direct visual hint is given. These
ing (through the windows) but its omitted here be- relations generate the need for directional link repre-
cause of the increased complexity. Other examples sentations in visibility graph analysis. When a visibil-
can include virtual spaces, CCTV cameras, ambient ity ray passes through or over certain elements the
interfaces that produce visual depth, and other phys- field of view is transformed to an added 'augmented'
ical of hybrid layouts that produce augmented visi- layer of information. The bases of AVGA is a multi-
bilities. A new 'augmented isovist' definition should dimensional definition of space with asymmetrical
include complex visual setting like the in the figures. relations. As illustrated in figures 4 and 5, a location
Figure 6
First scenario -
Visual link, hybrid
configuration and
spatial overlaps
Figure 8
Second test
scenario - Visual
link, hybrid
configuration and
spatial overlaps
Figure 9
Second scenario -
AVGA measures,
Visual Closeness
Centrality,
Connectivity and
Hybrid
Connectivity.
For the daylight analysis, a 3D model is gener- takes between 5 and 15 minutes. Afterwards some
ated based on the thickened walls. Windows and additional metadata can be added manually (such
doors are substracted from the wall model using as year of construction, architect, geo-position, func-
Boolean difference functions. The idealized window tions of rooms).
layouts (IWL30 and IWL 90) are created by subtracting The major limitation of our current model is that
boxes, which are generated on basis of the exterior it currently only facilitates single-storey apartments.
wall lines. Based on these 3D models, the daylight On the one hand, this restrict the sample size of floor
analysis is undertaken using the radiance-based sim- plans that can be examined but on the other allows
ulation plugin DIVA . us to use a simple and efficient user interface that
For the energy analysis we generate a 3D zone does not require any complex modelling skills on the
model by extruding the room polygons and adding part of the user. Nevertheless the underlying gen-
the floor and ceiling surface to obtain a closed Brep erative and analytical model can be adapted in such
for every room. For the analysis we use the Energy- a way that it could be transformed to analyse multi-
Plus -based energy calculation plugin ArchSim . storey apartments.
Finally we implemented a means of data export
from Grasshopper to the database. The input geome- PRELIMARY TESTPHASE
try and the analysis results on the scale of the analysis The FPAT has currently been tested in a seminar with
grid, convex space and apartment are written into a 39 architecture students. In this preliminary test
CSV file. This is afterwards imported to the database. phase we collected 78 floor plans. Each student had
Nearly all the values and measures are generated au- to analyze two floor plans: one was the apartment
tomatically. Only the circulation diagram currently he or she lived in and the other an apartment taken
needs additional manual input. Depending on the from a well-known floor plan manual (Schneider &
size and complexity of a floor plan the whole process
Heckmann 2011). Figure 5 shows the analysis dia- CONCLUSION & OUTLOOK
grams for 8 different floor plans. The data was stored In this paper we presented a tool (FPAT) for enhanc-
in the database via a web interface, making it possi- ing the process of data collection for morphological
ble to read the CSV-file from the FPAT. Various items studies on apartment floor plans. The FPAT makes
of metadata were added manually via a web form. In it possible to calculate a multitude of directly calcu-
the context of the seminar the data was used to ex- lable performance criteria from a simple floor plan
plore the basic principles of knowledge discovery us- sketch. In future we intend to extend the FPAT to eas-
ing databases. The collected data was accessed via ily input empirical data for space use (such as loca-
MySQL queries and analyzed using simple statistical tion of different items of furniture, most liked places,
analysis (regression analysis). Students were able to time spent in certain locations, movement patterns).
investigate the influence of glazing area on daylight This data is crucial for Environment-Behavior-Studies
performance, the relationships between isovist prop- aimed at discovering relationships between directly
erties and apartment size and between accessibility calculable performance criteria and human behav-
and visibility. The results of this seminar will be part ior. To obtain a large amount of data on user expe-
of a further publication. riences, a crowdsourcing approach could be promis-
ing. In terms of its technical implementation, a free-
hand sketching approach combined with standard-
ized building information models offers huge poten-
Fractal Geometry
Fractal geometry arises from scientific research car-
ried out by the mathematician Mandelbrot in the
late 70´s. Mandelbrot found inspiration in the ge-
ometry of natural shapes, as stated in his famous
words: "clouds are not spheres, mountains are not
cones, coastlines are not circles, nor does lightning
travel in a straight line" (Mandelbrot 1983). Disposing
of fast computers with powerful graphic resources,
Mandelbrot started to simulate those objects digi-
tally.
A fractal is a mathematical object generated with
geometric rules and it can be linear or non-linear. One of the contributions of fractal theory to ar-
Fractal shapes can be generated by a system of sim- chitecture is to create geometric patterns with gen-
Figure 12
Detail of 24 panels
with a single fractal
varying for the
entire façade
CNC machine tools. cade from the upper left corner to the bottom right
So we analyzed the execution of the panels. Fig- corner. In the lower left corner of the façade there
ure 11 is the design that varies randomly in each of is less solar incidence, so in this area we could con-
the twenty-four panels; Figure 12 is the design of a centrate more hollow panels. The team decided to
single fractal for the entire façade. One issue that selecte the option B that appears in red. With the fi-
could hinder the implementation were the parts that nal design set, we then started the adjustment of the
come loose due to the crossing of the figures (larger cuts. The models were produced at different scales
white areas in figure 11 and 12), and the lack of rigid- to study the relations of the project; with paper in a
ity of the plate caused by this geometry. This was no- laser cutting machine and aluminum on a CNC 3-axis
ticed during the process, but became more evident router (Figures 16 and 17).
when we produced a physical scale model made of The final proposal was designed, modeled and
laser-cut cardboard. In Figure 13 it is observed that tested again (Figures 15 and 16). Each of the 24
the red part would be lost and the orange corners macro panels were divided into 5 smaller panels, po-
would become brittle. This problem was solved with sitioned vertically, totaling 120 pieces. A detail of one
the implementation of a detail that eliminates cross- of the panels can be seen in Figure 17.
ings through the creation of an edge. Renderings (Figures 18 and 19) of one of the
rooms in the building at different times of the year
Figure 13
were produced, to check the visual effect inside the
Detail of the
building and also the expected reduction of solar in-
generated design
cidence without reducing lighting. Later, with the
problem and
definition of the type of windows, this model can be
solution
further tested and changed if necessary.
Figure 15
Detail of the final
proposal
Figure 16
Physical model with
the final proposal in
laser cut paper
Figure 18
Detail of the
projection of the
light inside in
summer.
Figure 19
Detail of the
projection of light
DISCUSSION inside in winter.
In this study, algorithms were used at different stages
of the design process, in an integrated process that
involved the definition of the overall form and the
resolution of fabrication issues, back and forward.
The parametric environment allows the generation
of various alternatives from the same algorithm by ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
small changes in the data. In this way it was possi- We thank CAPES for Maycon Sedrez's PhD scholar-
ble to carry out a process of design with the contem- ship and FAPESP (Sao Paulo Research Foundation) for
porary approach described by Tidafi and Iordanova supporting the Laboratory for Automation and Pro-
(2006) that suggest that in addition to exploring dif- totyping for Architecture and Construction and this
ferent formal solutions, it is important communicate research (Process 2012/10498-3).
throughout the design process.
It is noteworthy that many necessary adjust-
ments in the project were perceived only with the
REFERENCES
Burry, J and Burry, M 2010, The new mathematics of archi-
production of the models, such as changes in general tecture, Thames and Hudson, New York
measures, proper drilling spacing and the creation of Emmitt, S, Olie, J and Schmid, P 2004, Principles of archi-
a security edge around the cuts. The continuation of tectural detailing, Willey-Blackwell, Oxford
this process would lead to the creation of production- Ford, E 2003, The details of modern architecture, The MIT
ready files (file-to-factory) with CNC tooling and fur- Press, Cambridge
ther tests using Ecotect. The size of the holes in the Gleiter, JH 2009, 'Ornament: the battleground theory',
Abitare, 494, pp. 1-6
plates can be variable through implementation of a
control parameter. The production of a few proto-
This work explores the possible use of the shape grammar formalism in
generating small/medium sized dwellings or shelters as a possible and effective
solution for shelter shortages that usually follows in the wake of a natural
disaster. The shelters are generated using a set of pre-fabricated elements that
add up to form a coherent and functional dwelling. The grammar exemplified
here, being a shape grammar, deals specially with generating the underlying
functional diagram and the floor plan of one possible solution based on a set of
typologies design a priori.
in the number of functions it can assume. However, is the generation of designs, extensively used in ar-
it is still flexible enough to be used for bathrooms, chitecture to describe forms and the interactions be-
kitchens, storage compartments, corridors, porches tween them in different algebras (Stiny 1989). We
or simply as extensions to existing areas. can also enhance these devices by attributing
In order to introduce versatility into the sys-
Figure 3
tem, several simulations were conducted, each one
The basic T0
testing different layout configurations that could be
typology
generated from the basic T0 typology and grew in
complexity, size and destined number of occupants.
From these tests the first set of rules that generate the
functional structure, deal with adjacency/connectiv-
ity rules, number of cells for each functional zone and
location of the components, were extracted.
THE GRAMMAR
The formalism of shape grammars is specified in
greater detail in Stiny (1980) but briefly explained it is
a way of describing a computational procedure, start-
ing with an initial shape, possibly labelled, to each
rules are recursively applied to transform one shape
into another. This 4-tuple - set of shapes, labels, rules
and initial shape, forms the basic structure of a shape
grammar. One useful application of such formalism
6. roof
7. termination
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work started being developed for the Shape
Grammar course lectured at the Faculty of Architec-
ture of the University of Lisbon. The author would
thus like to acknowledge and thank the guidance
and comments of professors José Pinto Duarte and
Luís Romão that much contributed and motivated
the work here presented.
REFERENCES
Duarte, J. P. 2005, 'A discursive grammar for customiz-
ing mass housing: the case of Siza’s houses at
Malagueira', Automation in Construction, 14, p. 265–
275
Guha-Sapir, D. and Hoyois, Ph. 2013, Annual Disaster Sta-
tistical Review 2012: The numbers and trends, CRED,
Brussels
Mohamed S. Ibrahim
Alexandria University, Egypt
mohsobhy77@gmail.com
Development of competence has been one of the major issues and goals of
modern academic design and engineering education. The research assumes that
a rule based reasoning approach could aid in the development of the design
competences within the design studio. Support by its application in design and
computational courses, the implemented tool is loosely based on the concept of
grammatical design and shape grammars. The potential of implementing such
methodology is explored by investigating its pedagogical applications as well as
evaluating the possibilities of applying such methodology in the studio structure.
The argument is supported by examples from the author's work with beginning
and advanced design students from different design schools.
Figure 1
a- Holistic view on
interacting
capacities of design
competence
(Horváth, 2006), b-
the modified
holistic view
For grammars, what is more promising is that devel- motivation, people tend to work harder on the task
oping capabilities could be achieved via design exer- at hand and therefore tend to be more successful in
cises that focus on a part of the entire design process. performing the task(Atkinson, 1999).
To some extent, shape grammars' scenarios cap- One of the key conditions of motivation is to es-
ture the layout of the design process and adjust stu- tablish a balance between challenges (perceived ac-
dents to it. According to Kalay (2004) and Law- tion opportunities) and skills (perceived action ca-
son (2006), there are three major components of the pacities).(Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi, 2002). Ac-
heuristic architectural design process that was for- cepting and encouraging the use of intuitive deci-
mulated in the 1960s. In this cyclic non -linear net- sions and abilities is helpful in integrating more com-
work process , Kalay (2004) (figure 2a) proposed an- plex yet adequate design challenges. This is why in-
other parallel phase of "communication" that tops stead of dictating the design subjects, many gram-
the three intertwined phases of "Analysis", " Syn- matical studios (including ours) adopt a different ap-
thesis" and "Evaluation". The operations of cogni- proach to achieve such balance, allowing students to
tion, production and evaluation are embedded in the select their grammar projects subject upon their own
shape grammars scenarios (figure 2b) especially the choice, supported only by a preliminary research.
synthetic process in a way that enables students to Once selected then finalized, their choices re-
develop a good understanding of and control over flected their own interests, personalities and most of
their own design capabilities. all revealed an essence of enjoyment and motivation
within the teamwork (figures 3 and 4).
Designerly Attitude development Communication. "Architects don't explain their ser-
Motivation. "when in flow, the individual operates at vices well.. In general architects are not good at putting
full capacity" (Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi, 2002) over what they do.. They've (Architects) got a vision in
Research has shown that performance and mo- their head which we can't see, it might be a fantastic vi-
tivation can mutually affect each other. With high
Knowledge development
The knowledge repository (Procedural). As syn-
thetic grammar depends on the selection of vocab-
Figure 8 ularies and rules that promise to solve certain design
Seeing Shapes problems, the selection lays on the designer's expe-
Workshop rience, his knowledge repository and more on the
(Alexandria level of "expertise" accumulatively acquired and de-
University) veloped during the solution of similar problems in
education and practice. Developing this kind of ex-
pertise is one of the main aims of the architectural
studio, especially on the undergraduate level; this de-
velopment is normally planned to occur over a com-
parably extended period of time (figure 9). It is easier
for advanced students to begin experimenting with
grammatical designs at the final year, and is thus too
early for the beginners to build their synthetic gram-
Figure 9 mar implementations upon their limited and insuffi-
Elementary School cient level of expertise.
(Students: Omar
Ashraf, Omar Design Skills development
Shafeek, Heba el The analytical skills. To develop analytic grammars
Kady, Nouran Bahaa means to be able to extract common features of a
&Noha Fawzy, Cairo wide range of designs, a very critical and systematic
University) process of comparison and analysis that should at the
end reveal the hidden variety of common vocabular-
ies , details of conditioned or non-conditioned rules,
as well as their sequence of application (figure 10).
Such analytical skill is thought to be less developed in
novices than in graduates or post graduate students.
CONCLUSION
The goal of this paper is to gain insight into the possi-
bilities of using shape grammars to support the stu-
Figure 4
Nine individuals
taken from a
sequence of
generations (top
left to bottom
right). The goal was
to find individuals
based on a 5 by 3
grid with eight
rectangular spaces,
one complex space
and a portico.
Figure 2
A. The primary
geometry defining
the overall space
form. B. The
secondary
geometry defining
the folding
structure allowing
differentiated
angling of the
panels as a variable
to alter sound rays
and to create
structural integrity.
C. Surfaces that
digitally can change
through three
absorption
coefficient states.
The state of the
surface
subsequently
informs the milling
pattern density of
the sandwich
element.
the developed computational models were the pavil- ture. This structural pattern is continuous, but with
ion constructed in 1:1 in order to allow for quali- variation created by both designer and by the com-
tative analysis by the performing musicians. Based putational method allowing a dual authorship of
on post-play qualitative questioning, the musicians the final articulation. The material-spatial-occupier
found that the structure enhanced the reverberation (structure-sound environment-human) complex is
time and thus extended the instrumental capacities thus achieved through a visual articulated continu-
of the non-amplified instruments. Positioned in the ity with variations, offering tactile, audible and vi-
low reverberation end of the space, a musician noted sual aesthetics perceivable by positioning and re-
that the sound was clear, but without enough re- positioning through the space.
verberation time. This can be interpreted as nega-
tive, even though in this particular case it is actually DISCUSSION
positive, in the sense that the musicians were, with- As setup of the research project a small architec-
out knowing, placed in the low reverberation end tural space was preferred due to the possibilities of
of the space.From an aesthetic design perspective, creating a 1:1 demonstrator with subsequent per-
the 2-level (primary, secondary) parametric model formance by musicians and audience. A first issue
opens for design intent influence, such as modifi- arises in the capacity of creating long reverberation
cation of element proportions, size, and change of times in very small spaces as the sound will need to
general form. Such factors can be both computably bounce several times to extend the audible period
and manually modified and thus the method moves to a desired level for classical music. Due to fab-
beyond a singular aim of engineering optimisation rication issues (fabrication accessibility and on-site
towards a more holistic model of architecture and modifications to a zero-tolerance geometry) wood
engineering as collaborative effort. Another aspect was chosen as the outer sandwich element structure
of architectural aesthetics is related to the repeti- and therefore reflective surface. Other materials with
tive organisation of triangles that forms the struc-
smaller absorption coefficients would be an initial the Acoustic Pavilion 2012. Also, we would like to
potential for improving the material capacity within thank the Institute for Architecture and Media Tech-
the study. This would allow greater abilities to differ- nology, Aalborg University and Realdania for finan-
entiate between low and high reverberation times for cial support that made realisation of the project pos-
different positions. The acoustic analysis takes into sible. The project was developed as a collaboration
account an audience filled space. This aspect could between AREA, BRATH and Aalborg University
be developed to allow for an empty, partial occupied
or filled space, which would directly affect the ab- REFERENCES
sorption of the rays bouncing of the floor area. How- Derix, C 2010 'Mediating Spatial Phenomena through
ever, the space was filled during the performances Computational Heuristics', ACADIA Proceedings 2010
and therefore little difference between the studies Derix, C 2012 'Implicit Space', eCAADe Conference Pro-
and the realised space was minimal. Nevertheless, ceedings 2012
one musician noted, somewhat humorously, that the Foged, IW, Pasold, A, Jensen, MB and Skoubou, EB 2012
'Applying Evolutionary Computation for Sound
reverberation time would be further prolonged and
Based Morphogenesis', eCAADe Conference Proceed-
improved if no audience were present allowing the ings 2012
sound to bounce of the concrete floor area. Frazer, J 1995, An Evolutionary Architecture, AA Press
Goldberg, D 1988, 'Genetic Algorithms and Machine
Learning', Machine Learning, 3, pp. 95-99
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Hemberg, M 2001, Genr(8), Master's Thesis, MIT
The authors would like to give a special thanks Holland, J 1992a, 'Genetic Algorithms - Computer Pro-
to Chris Strunck and Andreas Larsen and thanks grams that evolve in ways that resemble natural se-
to Rumle Petersen, Mathis Vittrup, Simon Rhode lection can solve problems even their creators do
Malm, Audun Wold Andresen for a tremendous ef- not fully understand', Scientific American, July, pp.
fort in helping with manufacturing and assembling 66-72
B) Comparison of Data
The presence of information is verified against a set
of data, i.e. through Boolean operations for Quality
Control of BIM, Model Revision Comparison or clash
detection (Fig.3). Tools validate the structure of the
Figure 5
model and the correct assignment of properties to 3d
Ecotect Analysis of
objects.
energy
C) Interpretation of Data Through Rule consumption based
Based Inquiry on Revit export in
The relation of data to each other is evaluated based gbxml format [4].
on rule sets (Fig.4) that can be imported from exter-
nal sources or created for project specific purposes.
E.g. the physical safety of building designs can be as-
sessed through measurements between object coor-
dinates. Algorithms check whether all components
are contained by a floor or columns are positioned on
load bearing structures.
cost estimation, Life Cycle Costing, Life Cycle Analy- Area. Here countries have to implement the building
sis, Indoor climate analysis and Energy performance energy directive, the exact way how to do this differs
analysis, requires non-domain specific information. between the member countries [8].
Energy performance analysis can be used to ex- In order to tackle this problem the Ifc consortium
emplify the challenges that versatile standards pose developed the concept of Information delivery man-
n relation to the validation of models. For a energy ual (IDM) [9]. For each implementation of the energy
performance simulation, certain information has to directive a (slightly) different IDM should not only be
be present in the BIM (thermal values for each of the developed, but also agreed upon and supported by
building components composing the exterior layer the widely used software applications and special-
and also a quite large set of other set of data). In ad- ized applications for energy analysis. IDMs have been
dition it is important for the localisation of this data developed, but as far as these authors know none of
through algorithms, that the information is stored in them are broadly adopted by BIM software. If a set of
the BIM in a pre-agreed or even standardised way. IDMs were agreed upon it would then be possible to
This is hard to achieve in the fragmentised building identify whether and to which of the IDMs an open
industry in the of for instance the European Economic BIM was compliant with.
This paper is a report on authors' ongoing effort in creating a universal model for
architectural programming. Authors analyse three well-known formats for
architectural programming and devise a UML model representing each format.
The UML models are further analysed and compared to form a super UML model
that can bring together all the three formats under one roof and act as a universal
format for architectural programming (UFPOR). The results improve the
integration of architectural programming and BIM data models and are of value
to the software development field and architectural programing.
• Activities connect objectives to the built envi- From these bullet points we can identify four
ronment. major components (classes) in Sanoff's model Ob-
• Activities describe how people would utilize jectives, Activities, Needs, Requirements, and Perfor-
spaces mance Criteria (Figure 1).
1. Goals: What does the client want to achieve 4. Time has three classification-past, present and
and Why? future-which deals with the influences of his-
tory, the inevitability of changes from the
2. Facts: What do we know, What is given? present and projections into the future, Key
words are: Past, Present, Future.
3. Concepts: How does the client want to
achieve the goals? Summery Pena and Parshall model (A narrative
description for UML model). A closer look at Pena's
model reveals three main classes: People, Activities,
4. Needs: How much money and space? What
and Environment. Rows and column of Pena's table
level of quality?
are more appropriate to be considered as the proper-
ties of the classes than being the classes themselves.
5. Problem: What are the significant conditions Relationship, as the name describes is to explain how
affecting the design of the building? What classes relate to each other and cannot be taken as an
are the general directions the designer should independent class. Site is a special instance of envi-
take? ronment and Quality can be represented through the
attributes. All sub-categories of the Economy deter-
Pena believes only practical goals that can be minant are different aspects of "Cost" which can be
achieved through concepts should be part of the pro- applied as an attribute to all the base classes. Time
gram. Facts should be related to goals otherwise they has a similar story as it can be applied to the base
bring no value to the program. classes as an attribute.
Pena breaks down each of the determinants into
smaller parts. It is important for us to study all the Introducing the main three base classes
parts of the determinants since they will be essential Environment. Environment class represents any
parts of our data model. form of a built or natural environment that the
CONCLUSION
Figure 5 is the UML model representing all the main
base classes and their relationships. To simplify the
model, class methods are not added to the diagram
and only major attributes are shown. This data model
can be used as the base to create comprehensive
data models supporting a wide range of POR struc-
tures.
REFERENCES
American Institute of Architects and Palmer, M.A. 1981,
The architect's guide to facility programming, Archi-
tectural Record Books, Washington, D.C.
Björk, B and Laakso, M 2010, 'CAD standardisation in the
construction industry — A process view', Automa-
tion in Construction, 19(4), pp. 398-406
Bruegge, B 2004, Object-Oriented Software Engineering
Using UML, Patterns and Java, Prentice Hall
Cherry, E 1999, Programming for design : from theory to
practice, John Wiley, New York
Duerk, D.P. 1993, Architectural programming : informa-
tion management for design, Van Nostrand Reinhold,
New York
Table 1
Number of times
shown on
documents of
cables and
components
Table 2
Description of
errors and
omissions
for this drawing. In total, 103 RFIs are required to ad- takes one day to identify the problem, the drawing
dress the problems identified in the 42 documents. and mark it up, then another day to revise and review
Similarly, a total 618 man-hours was required to raise the drawings and a further two days to go through
the 103 RFIs at a cost of $92700. The total contract the document control process. Noteworthy, in some
value for the E&I system design and documentation is instances the contractor had experienced RFIs taking
$20.76 million. The documents in this study account as many as 20 days to obtain a response and the doc-
for 5% of all the documents of the electrical related uments to be modified. Thus, the delay in respond-
contract. Assuming the documents are of the simi- ing to an RFI, particularly in E&I contracts, may cause a
lar quality, then the cost for raising RFIs accounts for delay and adversely impact productivity and project
8.93% of the cost of the electrical related contract. costs.
Noteworthy, this is an indirect cost that is borne by
the E&I contractor. The non-productive time associ- SYSTEMS INFORMATION MODEL
ated with raising the RFI is not reimbursable. More- The information contained within the documenta-
over, the cost associated with raising an RFI repre- tion produced by CAD is presented using a 1:n re-
sents a small proportion of the total indirect costs of lationship. This resulted in a considerable amount
RFIs. In practice, once a RFI is raised, the engineers of information redundancy being created and con-
on site may not be able continue their work until the tained in the documentation. The production of such
correct information has been issued. Additionally the redundant information comes at a cost. Such cost
response time is lengthy as the resources may not manifests as additional time for the EPCM engineers
be available to deal with the work required. Inter- to produce and check the documentation and then
views with the contractor indicated that it typically
Figure 4
Example of a
connection
Figure 5
Kernel revision
process
The digital era has brought many changes in the architectural research and
practice. Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools are offering now a wide
range of benefits in the AECO industry. This paper aims is not to do an
evaluation on efficiency gains or the advantages of adopting BIM, but to suggest
a design methodology using BIM software tools, throughout all phases of the
architectural design process. With the constant advances in technology and with
new conceptual design tools, became urgent the exploration of the potentialities
of an intuitive design within BIM technology. This paper addresses the above
question by suggesting an experimental methodology to implement an intuitive
modeling in BIM's parametric design.
Figure 2
Window
In this paper we investigate the current state of BIM usage in Czech Republic and
aim to find strategies how to improve BIM education based on findings from
practice. We give an outline of the current state, identify problems that provide
hurdles for BIM adoption, and show how we implement a new pedagogical
approach to BIM education in our faculty.
• Exit skills and expectations of students. Because of this, we turn to practice for two reasons -
one, to get a realistic impression what recently gradu-
• Enquiry of practitioners. ated students will actually do in practice; and two, to
educate practice in order to advance the application
In this paper we focus in particular on the last aspect of contemporary (and near future) CAAD technology.
(enquiry of practitioners). Building Information Mod- On the basis of these findings we hope to establish
elling (BIM) is widely conceived both in academia and a pedagogical approach that is both grounded on
practice as a very promising set of technologies, pro- practice and offers students best potential on the
cesses, and methods for CAAD. In our country, BIM market after finishing school.
adaptation is at a very low rate and in fact there are
only a few firms actively investing in this despite a BIM - OBSERVATION STRATEGY
general wide awareness of BIM's existence. For an ed- To obtain a clear overview of the current state of BIM
ucational situation this creates a situation in which application in practice we went about in the follow-
we have to balance a number of seemingly contra- ing way. First, we set up a workshop for practitioners
dictory requirements: about BIM. Through this workshop we got in touch
Figure 1
Number of students
taking introductory
BIM course versus
1st year Master
students at the
Faculty of
Architecture, RWTH
Aachen University
Figure 2
Percentage of
automated checks
by category and
phase
Figure 3
Screenshot of the
grading
spreadsheet for
phase 1
Figure 4
Example of a
Dynamo-based
model check
(examining roofs).
Custom nodes can
be identified by a
dashed shadow
outline.
Figure 5
Screenshot of the
Dynamo graph
checking the final
project submission
• Where necessary, write some individual feed- • The estimates of saved time were more or less
back for the student for issues not covered in correct, depending on the submission phase.
the model checks (only phases 1 through 3) Some submission phases have a higher au-
tomation rate than others (see fig. 2), there-
• Send the individual feedback to the students fore the time savings vary. Across the en-
(only phases 1 through 3). This process can tire semester, the average rate of time sav-
easily be automated using the Mail Merge ings amounts to roughly 50%. Thus, the goal
Wizard available in most office suites. To that of speeding up the model review process has
Figure 6
Deviation of
average model
check results from
the mean by
teaching assistant
(anonymized)
Magdy M. Ibrahim
Abu Dhabi University
www.adu.ac.ae
magdy.ibrahim@adu.ac.ae
THE EXPERIMENT: FROM SKETCHUP TO to model a panelled door. The assignment was to
REVIT model each part of the door, vertical stiles, horizon-
This paper is to document a rare opportunity that tal boards, panels, door frame, and the wood connec-
was available to the researcher. On the course of tions and assemble each part to the next. They were
four years, a group of students were monitored while asked to present their model as an exploded axono-
building their digital skills until they were able to suc- metric, see Figure 2. Out of 21 students, only 15 com-
cessfully and effectively use a BIM platform. pleted the model properly.
The researcher has been intentionally tailoring In their final exam, the whole group of students
the instructions to follow a particular method. Also, were faced with a question to measure how well they
tests and exams were used to verify the success of the understood the connection and to measure the value
followed method. of the modelling exercise. The question asked the
It is important to note that it is difficult to follow students to locate a particular given connection in a
a big group of students in architecture for four years, door.
this is why the number started with 21 students but Out of the 15 students, 11 were able to get 75%
ended with 9. There was also the factor of luck that of the mark of that question, a percentage of 73%
one instructor would get the same students for that where only 33% of the other group were able to
time. achieve 75% of the marks of that question see Figure
3. Making a correlation between successfully com-
Building technology objects pleting the assignment and proper answering of the
In their second year, students were first faced with exam question resulted in a correlation factor = 0.597
a serious modeling task when they were asked to with p value = 0.009
model a door assembly in their second course of The results show the value of the model exer-
Building Technology. The assignment followed a se- cise in the overall understanding of the two dimen-
ries of lectures on the types and composition of sev- sional drawings, which clearly indicated a better per-
eral door types and a series of drafting assignments formance due to the assignment of modeling the
to technically draft the different types in plans, sec- parts. No BIM tools were introduced, but thinking
tions and elevations as well as details of wooden con- about the parts to create the whole was emphasized.
nections in isometric projection. Thinking in terms of objects rather than just lines fa-
The students were then asked to use SketchUp cilitated the understanding of the complex relation-
ships.
Design studio modeling of building ele- tion drawings, for projecting plans, cut sections and
ments elevation from the model. This is a useful approach
Later in their studies, the students registered for a but misses the point of dealing with objects. Accord-
studio class. The same approach to modelling was ingly, they might sacrifice certain aspects to achieve
used. Instead of using the digital 3D model to de- the desired visual appeal.
sign, the usual hand drawn sketching and physical In this projects, the students were required to
models were used as preliminary design study tools. model the glass panels, the window frames, and the
The students were asked to start modeling what they shading device. One of the compelling reasons was
achieved on SketchUp in an object oriented way. the solar studies and shading device suitability to the
Walls were expected to be three dimensional boxes location.
with proper dimensions. Floor slabs were extruded
faces and columns and structural elements were also The jump to a real BIM tool
modelled the same way, see Figure 4. The next step was a formal introduction to BIM. By
Although this seems like a straight forward ap- their fourth year of the five years program in architec-
proach, it has been observed that in many cases, stu- ture, students are very well familiar with digital mod-
dents will focus in their digital model on achieving an elling tools, as well as a strong background of techni-
outer shell of what they designed, ignoring the phys- cal building technology knowledge. They were also
ical dimensions of the components. A wall can be introduced to working drawings and produced two
just a face with a proper material or color and floor dimensional CAD set of construction documents of
slabs or structural elements might be completely ig- a small building that made them very familiar with
nored if they do not show on the exterior. Few will proper drafting techniques, line types, pen assign-
model all the components but with a different in- ments, annotations and dimensions.
tent. Their goal is usually the creation of presenta- The course was carefully structured to benefit
Figure 5
The same building
modeled on Revit
Figure 6
Another example
showing a
sophisticated
design created in
Revit
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To my wonderful students for their hard work.
REFERENCES
Ambrose, M. A. 2007 'BIM and Integrated Practice
as Provocateurs of Design Education', Proceedings
of the 12th International Conference on Computer
Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia, Nanjing
(China), p. 19–21
Ambrose, M. A. 2009 'BIM and Comprehensive Design
Studio Education', Proceedings of the 14th Interna-
tional Conference on Computer Aided Architectural
Design Research in Asia, Yunlin (Taiwan) , pp. 22-25
Eastman, C. M. 2011, BIM Handbook a Guide to Building In-
formation Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers,
Engineers and Contractors, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ
Floyd, L.D. and Seidler, D. 2010 'The Role of Building In-
formation Modeling (BIM) in Education and Practice',
IDEC Proceedings, 2010 Annual Conference
Gerber, B., Gerber, B. D. and Ku, K. 2011, 'The Pace of
Technological Innovation in Architecture, Engineer-
ing, and Construction Education: Integrating Re-
cent Trends into the Curricula', Journal of Information
Technology in Construction, 16 , pp. 411-432
Krygiel, E. and Nies, B. 2008, Green BIM: Successful Sus-
tainable Design with Building Information Modeling,
Wiley
Russell, P. and Dietrich, E. 2008 'The Meaning of BIM', 26th
eCAADe Conference Proceedings, Antwerpen (Bel-
gium), , pp. 17-20
Sabongi, F. J. 2009 'The Integration of BIM in the Under-
graduate Curriculum: An Analysis of Undergraduate
Courses', Proceedings of the 45th Annual Conference
of ASC
Sah, V. and Clark, C. 2008 'Building Information Mod-
eling: An Academic Perspective', Proceedings of
IAJC–IJME International Conference
Yan, W. 2010 'Teaching Building Information Modeling at
Undergraduate and Graduate Levels', Proceedings of
the 28th Conference on Education in Computer Aided
The merits and potential of Building Information Modelling (BIM) have been
promoted for several years; however, its widespread adoption and development
may potentially stagnate on account of a technical skills shortage, with
insufficient personnel having the capabilities to successfully deliver projects. This
shortfall covers all aspects of BIM, and building performance and life cycle
analysis in particular. Programmes such as Ecotect, Revit, Green Building
Studio, and Project Vasari, have transformed data capture and analysis, enabling
architects and systems engineers to visualise site analyses and to test preliminary
designs. As BIM is a relatively new process which continues to develop rapidly,
Higher Education Institutions need to respond to currency and change while
striving to provide graduates with the advanced skills to satisfy the needs of the
building industry. This work presents a case study of the application of
Autodesk's Building Performance Analysis Certificate (BPAC) as a driver for
learning in support of the integration of BIM into the architectural curriculum.
CURRENT INITIATIVES TO PROMOTE BIM Academic Forum has concurrently been developing
ADOPTION the BIM Academic Framework, with a view towards
The recognition of skills shortages in the construction a long-term vision of incorporating BIM learning at
industry workforce has led to multiple approaches, appropriate levels within 'discipline-specific' under-
policies, and initiatives to increase BIM adoption. Pro- graduate and postgraduate courses, thereby facili-
fessional bodies have created BIM academic forums, tating the development of relevantly-skilled profes-
in response to policy drivers, leading to initiatives at sionals capable of delivering BIM driven construction
a variety of levels: projects.
International Regional
Collaborative ventures, such as BIM live events, have The creation of 11 regional BIM hubs in autumn 2012
sought to demonstrate the international potential of sought to raise awareness of the principles and ben-
BIM technologies. In particular, international design efits of the new programmes, thereby promoting the
competitions have been held to design and construct early and widespread adoption of BIM processes and
projects in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia working methods throughout the UK's construction
and Qatar (BIM Academy [2]). Entries have been sub- industry
mitted by collaborative teams of consultants and stu-
dents from multiple countries. PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATIONS AND
THE INTEGRATION OF BIM
National From a UK perspective, a number of key profes-
The UK BIM task group [1] has been tasked with the sional bodies represent the key stakeholders within
development of standards such as PAS1192 , which the British construction industry. These include the
has been promoted as the UK specification for Build- Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), the Chartered
ing Information Management exchanges. Profes- Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), and
sional bodies, such as the Royal Institute of Chartered the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists
Surveyors (RICS), have also commenced the delivery (CIAT) and as well as the Royal Institute of British Ar-
of specialist distance learning programmes. The BIM chitects (RIBA) and the Royal Institution of Chartered
was to evaluate the learning in terms of the student module itself, as well as aligned to the development
experience and engagement, as well as the quality and iteration of the central design project. As part
of the application to student design projects. This of the module evaluation process, participants were
was undertaken with a view to informing future di- asked a series of questions regarding their experi-
rection and educational strategies towards wider dis- ences, including consideration of how the overall
ciplinary BIM adoption within the Faculty of Engi- programme could be developed and improved. An
neering and Environment. Self-directed learning was anonymous online questionnaire was designed, util-
encouraged, given the masters level curriculum of ising a five point Likert scale (from strong agreement
this award, and certification after the successful com- to strong disagreement). The cohorts' qualitative
pletion of the BPAC programme provided an addi- views were also complied for thematic analysis.
tional incentive with respect to esteem and employ-
ability. It is a consideration that this individual mod- Preliminary Results
ule could form a stepping stone towards programme This section analyses the outcomes of the module
wide implementation of BIM technologies across the evaluation with respect to student opinions of both
Construction and Architectural related programmes the BPAC online tool, and the associated certification
within the faculty. Figure 2 describes this proposed of their applied learning and skills. As part of the sur-
dual benefit of the taught and certified approach vey, comments were invited on student perceptions
which could perhaps be similarly applied to pack- regarding the future roles of BIM and Building Perfor-
ages such as Revit, Green Buildings Studio (GBS) and mance Modelling.
Project Vasari.
To some degree, it can be argued that the use of Quantitative Analysis
a central architectural design project in this project- The results demonstrate strong correlations in terms
based curriculum model echoes the assertions of of the cohort's expectations of BIM's importance in
Biggs and Tan that active learning is predicated on benefiting their future professional and career devel-
the basis of relevance and need (Biggs & Tang, 2011). opments. With respect to building performance anal-
As espoused by the same authors, it can also be con- ysis, there was overwhelming agreement that this is
sidered that the teaching, assessment and outcomes a critical element of architectural design that needs
of the module are constructively aligned within the to be addressed more comprehensively at curriculum
level. In addition, the format of the module greatly employers who require employees with BIM knowl-
helped in the delivery of 'dry' topics such as heat loss, edge".
orientation, and daylight factors, which are often per- In terms of practical learning, the alignment to
ceived as dull subjects, and difficult to teach in iso- the central design project was seen as essential to
lation from the application of this knowledge. The student engagement with some of the subject mat-
quantitative results assert that the overall benefits of ter; "I think a more interactive approach might make
this method are significant, in communicating such for increased engagement with the subject matter. It
topics through active learning and application of this did become very dry in several places".
knowledge. However, a note of caution was sounded regard-
ing the potentially prescriptive application of the
Qualitative Analysis new technologies; "It feels like BIM may restrict ar-
A number of key themes emerged from the student chitectural design...however, if it means being able
responses to the module evaluation. Primarily, a low- to use BIM will make architecture students more em-
stakes opportunity to engage with the new technolo- ployable, then it is something that should be encour-
gies was appreciated, with the module being per- aged in architectural education"
ceived as a '... good way to start understanding BIM The qualitative feedback also address important
and its uses"; "It was a strong introduction to a very issues in terms of environmental issues being foun-
broad topic, it covers the basics very well". dational to the design process, and central to the
The certification aspect of the BPAC offer was successful development of design concepts. The im-
also applauded; "completion of the course provides pact of this initiative was far reaching, allowing the
a good addition to your C.V. which will be valuable to cohort to apply the principles learned to the design
REFERENCES
Aranda-Mena, G., Crawford, J, Chevez, A and Froese, T
2009, 'Building information modelling demystified:
does it make business sense to adopt BIM?', Interna-
tional Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 2(3),
pp. 419-434
Barlish, K and Sullivan, K 2012, 'How to measure the ben-
efits of BIM — A case study approach', Automation in
Construction, 24, pp. 149-159
Biggs, JB and Tang, CS 2011, Teaching for quality learning
at university -4th ed, Open University Press, Maiden-
head
Forysthe, P, Jupp, J and Sawhney, A 2013, 'Building In-
formation Modelling in Tertiary Construction Project
Management Education: A Programme- wide Im-
plementation Strategy', Journal for Education in the
Built Environment, 8(1), pp. 16-34
Krygiel, E and Nies, B 2008, Green BIM: successful sus-
tainable design with building information modelling,
Sybex
[1] BIM Task Group (2014),
available at http://www.bimtaskgroup.org/
[2] BIM Academy (2013) Build Sydney live,
available at http://collab.northumbria.ac.uk/
Real estate development may benefit from a decision-support software system that
is implemented with Building Information Modelling to perform Quadruple Net
Value Analysis. Schemes may be created rapidly using BIM and parametric
modeling. They may be assessed for economic, social, and environmental factors
using spreadsheets and simulation software. They may be assessed for sensory
value by using an immersive visualization system. The idea has been tested as a
proof of concept in undergraduate and graduate design studios. It appears to be
easy to use for students and effective in directing attention to the four factors and
obtaining objective measurements.
IMPROVING THE DESIGN OF REAL ESTATE pothesis is that, through the adaptation of Building
DEVELOPMENTS Information Modelling (BIM) and immersive visual-
The fusion of design support software and Quadru- ization tools to include the metrics of quadruple net
ple Net Value Analysis enables real estate developers value analysis, it is possible to both thoroughly and
and designers to assess alternative proposals for en- expeditiously elucidate the enduring value of pro-
during value and address not only the triple bottom posed real estate development assets.
line, but also the emotional appeal of the develop- The hallmarks of modern city development have
ment. The framework of Quadruple Net Value Anal- been suburban tract housing estates, strip malls,
ysis combines the triple bottom line of sustainable and cost-effective building solutions largely lack-
development (economic, socio-cultural, and environ- ing in architectural and aesthetic value. The pri-
mental assessment) with an additional factor of sen- mary drivers of these land and property develop-
sory value (Jerke, Porter, and Lasser 2008). This com- ment projects have been their financial return on in-
prehensive assessment offers the potential to signif- vestment. Proven development solutions and lend-
icantly reduce risk, maximize return on investment, ing practices that seek to mitigate risk have worked
and improve quality of real estate development by against improved alignment of real estate develop-
better accounting for all significant factors. Our hy- ment design and execution to the broader needs of
Immersive Visualization
Our intention is to use an immersive visualization set-
The massing objects and architectural objects ting to enable developers to explore a scheme from
are constructed with custom parameters to main- a sensory, emotional, tacit perspective as the fourth
tain information necessary for analysis. Floor areas, point of the quadruple net value analysis. To support
building footprints, lot areas, heights, area of facades the land development process, we must move mod-
and roofs, occupancy type, sidewalk widths, parking els from the BIM environment rapidly into an immer-
space counts, cost factors for materials and assem- sive visualization setting, to enable interactive exper-
blies, compass orientation, location coordinates, and imentation and collaboration. We achieve this us-
other relevant items are all maintained in the BIM.
ing a "BIM CAVE" (Kang, Ganapathi and Nseir 2012). this has not yet been implemented, we plan to ex-
This facility provides twelve high-definition screens plore various methods to combine both quantitative
arranged in a semi-circular array driven by three com- and qualitative assessments. One approach is to use
puters to provide a basic immersive environment for a weighting algorithm. It could be "tuned" to deter-
one to three viewers. The users can navigate through mine weighting factors by assessing existing places.
the setting in real time with a 170 degree field of We anticipate that development teams will want to
vision. A distinctive aspect of the facility is that it tweak the weighting factors based on their own ob-
uses custom software to coordinate projection of the jectives and experience.
images using commercially available Autodesk Nav-
isworks software running under Microsoft Windows USE SCENARIO
operating system. As Navisworks can read Revit files, A use scenario can clarify our vision and help prove
the interoperability between the BIM and the immer- the concept. In the first step, the real estate devel-
sive visualization generally requires only a few min- oper and designer prepare a schematic 3D design
utes. using parametric modelling. Energy modelling and
An "enduring value" scorecard will be used to as- wind analysis are performed using commercial BIM
sess quadruple net value of each scheme. Although analysis tools. Assessment of socio-cultural objec-
Figure 3
Pro forma financial
output.
CASE STUDY
The objectives of the optimization routine for this
case study is to maximize the number of rooms of the
residential unit that satisfy the requirements of the
LEED IEQ Credit 8.1 for Daylighting while minimizing
the expected energy use. The simulation and calcula-
Figure 5
Scatterplot
showing the Pareto
Frontier with model
thumbnails
superimposed on
the plot to illustrate
the association
between the
calculated optimal
solutions and the
building forms.
only partial models were used for the visualisation the connectivity between voxels. The procedure ini-
purpose. tiates the search from the directly connected neigh-
bours at a given voxel, iterates through next con-
Automating Space Construction nected neighbours at a time, and terminates as all
Once the finite set of voxels was generated, the in- valid voxels are exhausted. By iterating through all
herit connectivity of each voxel will then be used 'void' voxels at once, the clustering outcome approx-
to identify space clusters. For each voxel, there are imates the building information models with distinct
in total six directly and twenty indirectly connected spaces. Spatial connectivity can then be reasoned
neighbours. Figure 4 illustrates the central voxel, through examining the boundaries of these spaces.
shown in shaded red, has directly connected voxels The pseudo code for the space construction using
shaded in blue and indirectly connected ones shaded clustering is as follows:
in green. This relationship provides an important cue
for the next spatial topology reasoning. [SPACE_CONSTRUCTOR ]
# VVS: Void Voxel Set for Search # Figure 4
# TVS: Temp Empty Voxel Set #
Voxel connectivity
# Curr_VC: Current Voxel Cluster #
# EVC: Existing Voxel Cluster #
1. FOREACH V in VVS:
2. Add V to Curr_VC
3. GET CV = CONNECTED_Voxels at V
4. FOREACH V1 in CV:
5. IF V1 NOT in EVC:
6. Add V1 to TVS
7. Update VVS ← TVS
8. RETURN Curr_VC , if VVS is Empty
Figure 7
Voxel models with
the binary
occupancy
representation
tial relationships early on the conceptual design ge- dated in a true automatic fashion. In addition, the
ometry. As the project progresses, the spatial net- capability of capturing no-conventional rectangular
work would evolve along with the increasing granu- spaces via voxels also provides designers a better
larity and allow changes to be updated accordingly. computational vehicle to explore different designs.
The advantage of this approach is expected to be As the development is still at its infancy stage,
the flexibility and scalability associated with the spa- more examples would be sought to validate and im-
tial topological network, with which designers are re- prove the voxelisation procedure. In particular, one
lieved from providing precise information at an early of the future applications would aim to investigate a
conceptual design phase. Our intention is that by smooth transition from conceptual design geometry
procedurally building up the information using such to simulation-ready configuration for energy perfor-
a spatial topological network, various needs at dif- mance analyses. This is to tackle long-lasting interop-
ferent design phases could be ultimately accommo- erability issues on conceptual modelling and energy
REFERENCES
Bazjanac, V 2009 'Implementation of Semi-automated
Energy Performance Simulation: Building Geom-
etry', CIB-W78 26th International Conference on In-
formation Technology in Construction, Istanbul, pp.
595-602
Biswas, T, Wang, T-H and Krishnamurti, R 2013, 'From De-
sign to Pre-Certification Using Building Information
Modeling', Journal of Green Building, 8(1), pp. 151-
176
Borrmann, A and Rank, E 2009, 'Topological Analysis of
3d Building Models Using a Spatial Query Language',
Advanced Engineering Informatics, 23, pp. 370-385
Chen, M, Kaufman, A and Yagel, R (eds) 2001, Volume
Graphics, Spring-Verlag, New York
Eastman, C 1999, Building Product Models: Computer En-
vironments, Supporting Design and Construction, CRC
Press, New York
Goldstein, R, Breslav, S and Khan, A 2014 'Towards Voxel-
Based Algorithms for Building Performance Sim-
ulation', eSim 2014 Conference Proceedings: IBPSA-
Canada eSim Conference, Ottawa, p. 1B.1
Hitchcock, R and Wong, J 2011 'Transforming Ifc Archi-
tectural View Bims for Energy Simulation', Proceed-
ings of Building Simulation 2011: 12th Conference of
International Building Performance Simulation Asso-
ciation, Sydney, pp. 1089-1095
Jones, N, McCrone, C, Walter, B, Pratt, K and Greenberg,
D 2013 'Automated Translation and Thermal Zon-
ing of Digital Building Models for Energy Analysis',
Proceedings of 13th International Conference of the In-
Figure 1
Process Diagram for
the Proposed
BIM-based
Assessment
Framework
Figure 2
Structure of
Assessment
Framework
Modules: 1) Rule
Extraction Module,
2) Testing Module,
3) Interpretation
Module, and 4)
Reporting Module
configuration of the desired visualization to be con- erties of the related data element.
structed is defined by means of a visualization de-
scription, which is fed into the framework in addition • condition: Conditions define the scope of
to the BIM data in question (Figure 1). mapping rules. They act as filters, narrowing
The technical details of the visualization frame- the input data to a subset, which the respec-
work are outside of the scope of this contribution. We tive mapping rule has to be applied to. They
are referring to a first discussion in Tauscher & Scherer are specified in terms of the type of the data
2012. In this paper we will give a short introduc- elements the rule applies to and in terms of
tion to a possible domain specific language (DSL) for additional conditions the data objects have to
the visualization description, which also outlines the fulfil.
scope of the framework. We will then define four use
case areas, where visualization specifications might • initial/update: Mapping rules may have two
be useful. For each use case areas we constructed different roles: On the one hand (in the "ini-
an application examples. These In section 3 the DSL tial" role) they define, how to create the visu-
is used to present these application examples and alization elements. On the other hand (in the
demonstrate the functionality of the framework in "update" role) they may define how to change
context. already created objects. Changes may be trig-
gered by events or by the advance of time.
Visualization specification
The DSL we are using here is only one possible way • graph/data: These keywords are used to ac-
to specify the visualizations to be generated by the cess the properties of data and visualization
framework. It contains the following lexical ele- elements inside of the mapping rule. Dur-
ments: ing the mapping rule application, the respec-
tive data and visualization elements are made
• rule: A mapping rule defines the relation be- available under these names.
tween elements of the data and elements of
the visualization. The visualization elements • space/part: The visualization space may be
are specified in terms of their type and the val- subdivided into spatial parts. The "part" key-
ues of their properties. In order to set these word is used to group and relate rules to the
properties the mapping rule can access prop- respective spatial parts.
Figure 5
Experimentation
example
The way we design our buildings and cities has not really changed a lot for
decades. Drawing boards have been exchanged with relatively small 30" inch
monitors, pens and rulers have been exchanged with advanced digital tools
mostly though disturbing, making the creative process of design merely a
frustrating one. So what have we gained from CAD. Certainly a lot, but mostly
the possibility to combine and fuse projects. Simulating future use and behaviour,
revealing design issues and failures before actually built. Still data fusion is a
relatively new challenge albeit quite obvious trying to assemble models coming
from different systems and vendors representing different professional domains.
This paper discusses data exchange and data fusion in general and presents a
new development, which gives the possibility to enhance data as intelligent
objects opening a whole new paradigm for both data exchange and data fusion.
for instance interactivity, the provided system func- tually be essential for monitoring the building and
tions need to be able to take care of that. This could maintaining it. There is nothing more intuitive than
be animated functionality in a model for visualiza- a 3D model of a building representing it and all its
tion purposes, or far more sophisticated behaviour components. Imagine all the movies where 3D mod-
connected to the modelled objects enabling them els have been used to give the non-professional spec-
to act on changes in the built environment. Adding tator an overview of a certain situation. A big or
communicative behaviour to objects turn them into a few big monitors with an interactive 3D model
agents where they can connect to their real counter- is for most people far more intuitive to grasp com-
parts in the physically built environment, or wherever pared to a dashboard with a diagram and hundreds
one wants them to. With the growing amount and of lights and instruments. While one can bring a lap-
complexity of built in technology, increasing the pos- top around the building the dashboard remains in
sibilities of controlling and optimizing a building, not the control room.
only with regards to energy consumption, but also
user related demands to office climate and optimal ENHANCING A MODEL USING GMO
maintenance, objects with advanced behaviour are The way we exchange data today using open stan-
not only a cool feature during design, but could ac- dards is in principle divided into two parts. We cre-
everything with them. Supplementary data or be- for instance simulations developed for buildings will
haviour can be fetched from other places internally be handled the same way. Either by letting sim-
or externally. If one for instance receives data from ulated people using the building, or letting wheel
a vendor of building parts for instance certain win- chairs moving around in the building, testing intel-
dow sections, these data represented by objects, can ligent room lightning or what ever. If the objects are
fetch the latest data update directly from the vendor developed with a general approach, they simply can
referring to a production line or certain glass param- be replicated, and loaded into all kinds of models.
eters. A GMO does not necessarily need a geograph- This might look strange and far away from what
ical extend, which makes it a MO. This way objects seems possible for most people because it seems as
can represent an agent like functionality, and does if programming is involved, but there is not more
not need to be visible at all, but handling functions programming involved than in traditional systems.
in the model. This could for instance be clash detec- Lately Oracle seems to have recognized a similar ap-
tion, a distance rule, or detection on non-geometric proach for their solution for the Internet of Things [4]
rules controlling whether all rules are applied to by since they include among a lot of other parts Java Vir-
the building objects, and the overall design. tual Machine to handle sensors and its data with em-
Just as an example it shall be mentioned, that bedded Java software.
This paper sets the theoretical and technological framework for the development
of a distributed model for a holistic Building Information System. It commences
by summarizing versioning and revision control models in software engineering.
Then it proceeds to establish parallels between the distributed revision control
process and the building design process and argues that the underlying structure
of Building Information Modelling can be exploited for the development of a
similar structure for building design. The fundamental framework of such a
system, called Distributed Building Information System (DBIS), is described and
implementation strategies are discussed, while the potential difficulties are also
addressed.
Figure 3
BIM conceptual The next significant conceptual jump came from
model Linux creator Linus Torvalds [3]. Git introduced the
concept source code manage-ment (SCM) via a dis-
tributed revision control system (DRVS). This elimi-
nated the concept of the central ("true") repo and
allowed the development of many parallel versions
based on an original starting point [4]. Simulta-
neously, it introduced a number of significant per-
formance and safety improvements that resulted in
a much more agile system [5]. The DRVS concept
• conflict resolution
REFERENCES
Angel, E L and Shreiner, D 2011, Interactive Computer
Graphics: A Top-Down Approach with Shader-Based
OpenGL, Pearson Education
Cerovsek, T 2011, 'A review and outlook for a ‘Building
Information Model’ (BIM): A multi-standpoint frame-
work for technological developmen', Advanced Engi-
neering Informatics, 25, pp. 224-244
Chacon, S 2009, Pro Git, Apress
Holzer, D 2011, 'BIM’s seven deadly sins', International
Journal of Architec-tural Computing, 9, pp. 463-480
Katranuschkov, P, Weise, M, Windisch, R and Fuchs, R
2010, 'BIM-based generation of multi-model views',
CIB, W78 , pp. 10-15
Oliver, A 2013, BIM: Change Culture, New Civil Engineer
[1] http://www.nationalbimstandard.org/about.php
[2] http://subversion.apache.org/features.html
[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XpnKHJAok8
[4] https://git.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/
GitSvnComparison
[5] http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/
hh850437.aspx
[6] http://googlecode.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/
announcing-git-support-for-google-code.html
[7] http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-
model/
[8] http://www.json.org/fatfree.html
[9] http://www.open-zfs.org/wiki/Announcement
as a tool (Toth et al, 2012). Shen et al (2010) and Venu- formats, i.e. a neutral file format which can be used
gopal et al (2012) argue that interoperable data alone to exchange data between any software application
is insufficient as it focuses purely on the interchange that has a non-proprietary import and export func-
of data, and while the data may be exchanged freely, tion, and XML-based exchange formats (which will
it does not account for quality or appropriateness for not be considered in this study).
purpose. Therefore there is a need to view techno- The use of non-proprietary data models have
logical interoperability not only from a data perspec- been identified as the most favourable solution to
tive but also from a process perspective. interoperability, allowing successfully mapping be-
tween an applications' internal data structure and a
Data Interoperability universal data structure without the need for rework
Data interoperability, within a BIM enabled project integrating data models (Grillo & Jardim-Goncalves,
environment, focuses on the ability in which build- 2010). The other data exchange methods are re-
ing information models are interpreted, shared and stricted in terms of flexibility and inability to deliver
used between software applications (Grillo & Jardim- 'smart' object data and limited data transfer (Eastman
Goncalves, 2010; Shen et al, 2010). Eastman et al et al, 2011).
(2011) identifies four common methods of exchang- Direct Data Exchanges. The exchange of data
ing data that are depicted in Figure 1: Direct ex- through direct methods is hampered by its inabil-
change of data using proprietary links within soft- ity to integrate fully with software from other ven-
ware, i.e. same vendor data exchange; Use of propri- dors. A possible solution could be the use of a mas-
etary file exchange formats, i.e. simplified data for- ter suite of software, however Ashcraft (2009) and
mats which carry limited data between different ven- Ibrahim, Krawczyk & Schipporeit (2004) argue that
dors; Use of non-proprietary data model exchange
as detailed in the literature review to all other BIM prietary exchanges in addition to other types of ex-
design authoring software packages (bi-directional changes detailed. The vendors own in-built Import/-
exchanges); three other model review and manage- Export functions were used rather than 3rd party ap-
ment software packages (one way data exchanges plications in order to assess the quality of their func-
only). At the time of writing, there are several transac- tionality.
tions yet to be undertaken from the design authoring Whilst performing these exchanges, a 'soft'
platforms to the three selected energy analysis soft- method of analysis was undertaken where the re-
ware platforms (one way data transactions). search team recorded observations where any ob-
By the time the research will have been com- vious 'data leakage' had occurred. These were
pleted, regardless of the actual higher number of recorded using a simple checklist produced followed
data exchange transactions that will have occurred a review of appropriate academic and technical lit-
(unknown at present because of any multiples in- erature (including documentation from Pennsylvania
volved in any non proprietary exchanges), a mini- State University, UK BIM AEC Protocols, AIA and BS
mum of 23 classifications of data exchange will have 1192/BAS 1192.2). Upon completion of these pre-
occurred, (Figure 2 illustrates these exchanges). 6 liminary tests, the checklist will be refined as the re-
exchanges would occur from each design authoring search team aims to make use of a more quantitative
platform to each receiving Energy analysis or Model method of assessing technological interoperability.
review and management software packages (18 ex-
changes), and two way interoperability would be as- INTERIM RESULTS
sessed between the three design authoring software At this stage in the research two of the three rounds
packages (6 exchanges). No model manipulation of classifications of data exchange have been com-
would occur in the receiving platform upon comple- pleted: In Round 1, the bidirectional transactions
tion of the transaction, other than a visual interroga- between Design Authoring Software to Design Au-
tion of the model and review of the data in the receiv- thoring Software (13 transactions) and in Round 2,
ing application in order to assess model fitness for the one way transactions from the Design Authoring
any subsequent tasks. Note that the top row of Figure Software packages to the Model Review & Manage-
2 denotes same-vendor exchanges allowing for pro-
This paper presents a study which has evaluated current research on the topic of
Augmented Reality (AR) and Building Information Modelling (BIM), conducted
semi structured interviews with a panel of industry experts and surveyed a sample
group of 43 within the wider UK construction industry . Industry experts were
interviewed using semi-structured interviews and results were thematically
analysed with the data gathered from the literature review. 5 core themes used to
structure a nine item industry and practitioner questionnaire. Results suggest that
use of AR and BIM within the construction industry will continue to grow with the
advent of emerging technologies. Use of AR and BIM combined with 3D
Scanning, Wireless Sensory Network will also increase and the synergies between
BIM and these emerging technologies will improve overall efficiencies in design,
delivery, maintenance and demolition of projects. The findings of this study
contribute further knowledge to understanding the implications and possibilities
that utilising AR and BIM will have in the construction industry.
The aim of this paper is to investigate the applica- imised through adopting an immersive technology
tions both current and potential, of combining Aug- such as AR. It has also been recognised by Chi et al
mented Reality (AR) and Building Information Mod- (2012) that there will be further development in AR
elling (BIM), whilst also providing an insight into at- and construction, whilst Wang et al (2012) identifies
titudes towards utilising these technologies within that a merging of both AR and BIM technologies will
the construction industry. Coates (2010) reported address shortcomings of current onsite BIM construc-
that there are current limitations of BIM, including a tion which separate physical information from virtual
lack of integrating with contextual information, real information.
world capture and feedback. This could be min- This paper presents a study which has evaluated
Theme 2: Societal and Cultural Ideals of BIM Theme 3: Adoption and advancement of
and AR BIM and AR
The expert panel proposed that the adoption of AR All members of the expert panel viewed BIM adop-
and BIM would be affected by the level to which tion and advancement as continuously increasingly
emerging AR technologies are adopted by society as in the construction industry, all holding the view that
a whole; wider adoption by society and subsequent this is unlikely to change. BIM was recognised by
commercial success was recognised as a key driver to the panel as moving away from a computer aided
refining and developing AR technologies. mass production solution to towards a high quality
Cultural and sub-cultural differences between bespoke design solution, offering new freedoms for
disciplines in the construction industry were also designers to create bespoke solutions with prefabri-
reported as creating further implications towards cated components.
adopting BIM and AR, with the panel recognising the Increased adoption of BIM and AR was recog-
difference in aptitude and attitude amongst differ- nised by all panel members to be dependent upon
ent disciplines within the construction industry. A the efficiencies it offers, with the efficiency of any
broad range of BIM competency was identified with new technology in the industry being measured by
large areas of the construction industry being con- its cost effectiveness. Although it is expected that as
sidered at a lower level of competency when com- accessibility to AR technology increases the cost ben-
pared to large architecture and construction compa- efit of using the technology will follow resulting in in-
nies, for whom the value of adopting BIM has been creased adoption.
increased efficiency and monetary savings. Arayici
(2011) also recognises the implications of the current Theme 4: Emerging Technology Combined
socio-cultural environment for the successful imple- with BIM and AR
mentation of BIM within the construction industry, The panel recognised that the use of Augmented Re-
noting the need for cultural acceptance of BIM as nec- ality within Building Information Modelling will not
essary to fully achieve the potential gains and bene- be the limit to how BIM develops but a potential
fits offered by BIM. strand in its development over coming years. It is
Interestingly two members of the expert panel, likely that BIM will incorporate a number of current
one a digital immigrant (those born before the ad- emerging technologies such as wireless sensor net-
7. The visualisation of services on site via smart ATTITUDES TOWARDS NEW TECHNOLO-
device. GIES
A recurring implication to the adoption and integra-
8. For refurbishment visualisation overlaying ex- tion of new technologies in the construction industry
isting structural and heritage data. is the generational divide in attitudes towards those
new technologies. With the digital immigrants often
acting as a barrier to adoption and integration. This
9. For the visualisation of Big Data from wireless will over the coming years become less of an issue as
sensor networks feeding back a wide variety digital natives move into key management and deci-
of localised information on occupancy, ther- sion making roles in industry.
mal performance and lux levels. Prensky (2009) identified and labelled two dis-
tinctly different groups of technology users. Digital
These results are intended to identify specific areas natives, who are defined as those born "into" technol-
where future BIM and AR research should focus in or- ogy and those that are growing up with technology
der to be relevant to industry application. Thematic as a part of their everyday reality. Digital immigrants,
analysis of expert panel interviews yielded nine areas those that are seeing the emergence of new technol-
of application, the industry and practitioner ques- ogy and interacting with it later in their lives, having
tionnaire has organised these areas of application, to adjust and adapt to the use and capabilities of that
identifying the most valuable applications of BIM and technology.
AR to industry.
Parasitic architecture allows the creation of flexible structures that feed off
existing infrastructure. Additionally, self-organised models that grow in response
to environmental forces and adapt to their context introduce new ways for
intervening in architectural design. This paper investigates the properties of
self-organised parasitic structures that evolve by creating aggregation forms in
the context of simulated structural environments. The growth process of the
parasitic structures is inspired by the fungal colonies and is based on the rules of
diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) extended to support real-time force analysis
and aggregation of space-filling geometry. The results of the simulations
demonstrate that the developed diffusion-limited aggregation of truncated
octahedrons is capable of providing self-sustained structures able to adapt in
environments with different spatial limitations.
REFERENCES
Allen, J., Ibelings, H., Koekebakker, O., Nio, I. and van Oe-
nen, G. 2003, Parasite Paradise A Manifesto for Tem-
porary Architecture and Flexible Urbanism, NAi Pub-
lishers, Rotterdam, Netherland
Ball, P. 1999, The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in
Nature, Oxford University Press, New York, USA
Bush, A.O., Fernández, J.C., Esch, G.W. and Seed, R.J. 2001,
Parasitism: The Diversity and Ecology of Animal Para-
sites, Cambridge University Press,, Cambridge, UK
Patrick Janssen
National University of Singapore
www.patrick.janssen.name
patrick@janssen.name
INTRODUCTION fied: too many links, too many nodes, and confusing
Visual programming languages enable users to cre- iteration. In general, it would seem that it should be
ate computer programs by manipulating graphical possible to create typical parametric models using far
elements rather than by entering text. In the design fewer nodes linked together in more linear ways us-
domain, visual programming can be used as a para- ing iteration that is easier to understand. In order to
metric modelling approach that we refer to as Visual address these issues, a new more scalable VDM envi-
Dataflow Modelling (VDM) (Janssen and Chen 2011). ronment is being developed, called Vidamo, support-
The appeal of VDM environments lies in the fact that ing a hybrid style of visual programming that allows
complex form generating procedures can be created larger and more complex types of parametric mod-
without having to learn programming. However, a els to be created. At this stage, this environment is
well known problem with these environments is that in the early stages of conceptualization. This paper
the complexity of the dataflow graphs can quickly discusses some of the early design decisions.
become unmanageable. The paper first gives an overview of four com-
Analysing dataflow graphs created using exist- monly used existing VDM environments. The pro-
ing VDM environments, three key issues are identi- posed VDM environment is then described, high-
gle geometry collection. break the task into 8 nodes, with each node contain-
The hybrid visual programming approach com- ing a short procedure consisting of just a few instruc-
bines two styles : the dataflow nodes-based style and tions. In the example given in Figure 1, the task is
the procedural tile-based style. The dataflow style broken into 4 nodes. The 'Centreline Coord Sys' node
is used to define an overall sequence of modelling creates the centreline curve and uses it to create a set
procedures, while the procedural style is used to de- of correctly orientated coordinate system. The 'Hoop
fine each individual procedure. (Note that this ap- Sections' node creates a hoop section on each coor-
proach combines dataflow and procedural styles of dinate system and scales each section by the appro-
programming without needing to invent a new pro- priate amount. The 'Roof Surface' node lofts the sec-
gramming language, as proposed by Aish (2013)). tion curves to create a roof surface and then converts
The dataflow style can be traced back to the existing this into a polygon surface. The 'Roof Modules' node
VDM environments described above, while the pro- replaces each polygon on the roof surface with a di-
cedural style can be traced back to tile-based visual agonal pair of pipes. The 'Hoop Sections' and 'Roof
programming environments such as Scratch (Resnick Surface' nodes are described in more detail below.
et al. 2009). The way that these various ingredients Vidamo is being developed as a web-application
are combined is novel and supports a more powerful that will run entirely in the browser. Figure 1 shows a
style of VDM that is capable of handling greater com- sketch of the proposed user-interface, showing three
plexity. types of views: the graph view, the geometry view,
The approach allows users to decide on the gran- and node view. The graph view displays the dataflow
ularity of the dataflow graph. For the Kilian roof graph. The geometry has two modes: a 3D mode that
modelling task, the user could decide to perform the shows the model or a spreadsheet mode, called the
whole task using just a single node containing a pro- 'Data Grid'. The latter allows geometry to be viewed
cedure with 16 instructions, or they could decide to as data, with every row in the spreadsheet represent-
Fewer nodes
In order to reduce the number of nodes, Vidamo uses
nodes capable of executing a procedure consisting
of more than one operation. For all geometric oper-
ations, there is only one type of node, which acts as a
generic container for a geometric procedure.
The generic geometry node can have an arbi-
trary number of inputs and outputs. Nodes may have
no inputs, in which case the procedure will generate
geometry from scratch. Nodes with no outputs are
possible, but are only used for specific purposes such
as writing files. Node input and output data may con-
sist of either geometric data or non-geometric data.
For geometric data, the data is represented using a Figure 2 shows the 'Roof Surface' node with a proce-
topological data structure (see section "Fewer Links"). dure consisting of four instructions: a data instruc-
For non-geometric data, the data can be structured tion, two action instructions, and another data in-
as either flat or nested lists. structions. Each instruction is defined by a number
When a user adds a generic geometry node to of settings that can be collapsed or expanded. Fig-
the graph, they need to define the procedure for ure 2 (a) shows the collapsed settings, while Figure
2 (b) shows the expanded settings. In order to spec-
REFERENCES
Aish, R 2013 'DesignScript: Scalable Tools for Design
Computation', Proceedings of the 31st eCAADe Con-
Martin Tamke1 , Ina Blümel2 , Sebastian Ochmann3 , Richard Vock4 , Raoul Wessel5
1
CITA - Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conser-
vation 2 Technische Informationsbibliothek und Universitäts 3,4,5 University of Bonn
- Institute of Computer Science II - Computer Graphics
1
cita.karch.dk 2 www.tib.uni-hannover.de 3,4,5 cg.cs.uni-bonn.de
1
martin.tamke@kadk.dk 2 ina.bluemel@tib.uni-hannover.de
3,4,5
{ochmann|vock|wesselr}@cs.uni-bonn.de
entities consists of structuring the scene into a dis- sible. This adherence to detected planes is done by
joint set of polyhedra, each one representing one penalizing usage of cell borders which do not belong
room. The challenge here is twofold: On the one to detected planar structures as separating lines be-
hand, room borders must be sufficiently regularized tween differently labeled cells. After the cells have
such that outliers and noise do not cause them to be- been assigned their labels, adjacent cells with the
come jagged. On the other hand, systematic devia- same label are merged such that we obtain labeled,
tions from the broader wall structure should be faith- polygonal regions for each room. These regions are
fully captured even if they are small. This trade-off subsequently exported as an IFC file containing one
can be formalized as an optimization problem. IfcSpace entity for each region. Figure 9 shows an ex-
Our approach to solving this problem is coarsely ample for the resulting IFC.
based on ideas by (Schnabel et al. 2009) who propose
a primitive-driven mesh reconstruction method from RESULT OF APPROACH
point cloud data and (Mura et al. 2013) who generate The final result of the proposed method is a seman-
a two-dimensional cell complex from extracted verti- tically meaningful assignment of all points to the
cal wall planes and subsequently perform a room la- building's rooms as well as a concise description of
beling by means of diffusion maps in an spectral em- room neighborhoods and connections between ad-
bedding of the cell complex. For assigning room la- jacent rooms. In addition to providing a better in-
bels to each of the resulting cells, we use a multi-label sight into even large-scale datasets (e.g. by enabling
optimization algorithm by (Boykov et al. 2001). This hiding or highlighting of certain areas of the building
yields a regularized labeling of the cells while trying for inspection), it also provides concise, higher-level
to adhere to the detected wall surfaces where pos- information about the building's topology. Further
When working on urban planning projects there are usually multiple aspects to
consider. Often these aspects are contradictory and it is not possible to choose
one over the other; instead, they each need to be fulfilled as well as possible.
Planners typically draw on past experience when subjectively prioritising which
aspects to consider with which degree of importance for their planning concepts.
This practice, although understandable, places power and authority in the hands
of people who have varying degrees of expertise, which means that the best
possible solution is not always found, because it is either not sought or the
problem is regarded as being too complex for human capabilities. To improve this
situation, the project presented here shows the potential of multi-criteria
optimisation algorithms using the example of a new housing layout for an urban
block. In addition it is shown, how Self-Organizing-Maps can be used to visualise
multi-dimensional solution spaces in an easy analysable and comprehensible
form.
Figure 3
Software prototype
showing an
example of a
building layout
with corresponding
Isovist analysis. The
coloured grid
represents an
Isovist field for
"area" property and
crosses the entire
planning area.
Figure 4
Optimization
process. The rows
show the content of
the archive with the
best (pareto
optimal) solutions.
The initial layouts
are shown in the
bottom row, the
final ones (after 20
iterations) are
shown at the top
row. The colours
show the area
property of the
Isovist field.
Figure 7
Layouts with open
space. Left:
Arrangement of
layout variants
using the mapping
of a SOM analysis.
Colours show the
Isovist field area
property. Right:
Visualisation of the
PMatrix of the
Databionic ESOM
Software. Variants
(represented as
points) in clusters
with warmer
colours have more
in common with
respect to all
dimensions than
the variants in
clusters with colder
(blue) colours. Design Tool 2 - Volume 2 - eCAADe 32 | 573
tween restrictions and objectives for an optimization Obayashi, S and Sasaki, D 2003 'Visualization and data
system. Which criteria we consider as restriction that mining of Pareto solutions using self-organizing
must be fulfilled by each variant and which is used map', Proceedings of the 2nd international confer-
ence on Evolutionary multi-criterion optimization, p.
as objective for the multi-criteria optimization mech-
796–809
anism is always a trade-off between the computing Schneider, S and Koenig, R 2012 'Exploring the Genera-
time to achieve meaningful results and the possibil- tive Potential of Isovist Fields: The Evolutionary Gen-
ity for the system to create unexpected results. eration of Urban Layouts based on Isovist Field Prop-
The presented system is the first step towards a erties', Proceedings of eCAADe 2012, Prague, pp. 355-
computing systems that learn and interact with an 363
Ultsch, A and Moerchen, F 2005 'ESOM-Maps: tools
urban planner to extend what either humans or ma-
for clustering, visualization, and classification with
chine could do on their own. Such a concept can be Emergent SOM', Dept. of Mathematics and Computer
called cognitive computing. The idea of such a col- Science, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
laborative design system is close to the holy grail of Zitzler, E and Thiele, L 1999, 'Multiobjective evolution-
Computer Science: The user states the problem, the ary algorithms: a comparative case study and the
computer solves it (Freuder1997). strength Pareto approach', IEEE Transactions on Evo-
lutionary Computation, 3(4), p. 257–271
[1] http://www.cplan-group.net/
ACKNOWLEDGMENT [2] http://www.tik.ee.ethz.ch/pisa/
Many thanks goes to Christian Tonn and Sven Schnei- [3] http://www.aforgenet.com/framework/
der for implementing a fast algorithm for calculat-
ing Isovists in parallel by using the graphic proces-
sor unit. The software presented in this article will be
published soon via the website [1].
REFERENCES
Bader, J and Zitzler, E 2011, 'HypE: an algorithm for fast
hypervolume-based many-objective optimization',
Evolutionary computation, 19(1), pp. 45-76
Batty, M 2001, 'Exploring Isovist Fields: Space and Shape
in Architectural and Urban Morphology', Environ-
ment and Planning B Planning and Design, 28(1), p.
123–150
Benedikt, ML 1979, 'To take hold of space: isovists and
isovist fields', Environment and Planning B Planning
and Design, 6(1), p. 47 – 65
Derix, C 2009, 'In-Between Architecture Computation In-
Between Architecture Computation', International
Journal of Architectural Computing (IJAC), 7(4), p.
565–586
Freuder, EC 1997 'Constraints', Pursuit of the Holy Grail,
Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 57-61
Koenig, R and Schneider, S 2012, 'Hierarchical structur-
ing of layout problems in an interactive evolutionary
layout system', AIEDAM: Artificial Intelligence for Engi-
neering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, 26(2), p.
129–142
Omar Al Faleh
Topological Media Lab, Concordia University
http://www.omarfaleh.com
omar@morscad.com
REFERENCES
Baudrillard, J and Nouvel, J 2002, The singular objects
of architecture, University of Minnesota Press, Min-
neapolis, MN
Casey, E.S 2000, Remembering: A Phenomenological
Study, Indiana University Press
Gins, M and Arakawa, S 2002, Architectural Body, Univer-
sity of Alabama Press
Lefebvre, H 1991, The Production of Space, Blackwell pub-
lishing
Lenay, C and Steiner, P 2010, 'Beyond the internalism/ex-
ternalism debate: the constitution of the space of
perception', Consciousness and cognition, 19.4, pp.
938-952
Merleau-Ponty, M 2012, Phenomenology of Perception,
Routledge
Petitmengin, C 2007, 'Towards the source of thoughts:
The gestural and transmodal dimension of lived ex-
perience.', Journal of Consciousness Studies, 14.3, p.
54–82
Sha, XW, Fortin, M, Navab, N and Sutton, T 2010 'Ozone:
continuous state-based media choreography sys-
tem for live performance', Proceedings of the interna-
tional conference on Multimedia. ACM, Firenze
Tschumi, B 1996, Architecture and disjunction, MIT Press
Voegelin, S 2011, Listening to noise and silence: Towards a
philosophy of sound art, Continuum
This paper is part of the research on Generative Design and is inspired by the
ideas spread by the following paradigms: the Internet of Things (Auto-ID Center,
1999) and the Pervasive/Ubiquitous Computing (Weiser, 1993). Particularly, the
research describes a number of case studies and, in detail, the experimental
prototype of an interactive-design object: "Grow-1". The general assumptions of
the study are as follows: a) Developing the experimental prototype of a
smart-design object in terms of interaction with man, with regard to the specific
conditions of the indoor environment as well as in relation to the internet/web
platforms. b) Setting up a project research based on the principles of Generative
Design. c) Formulating and adopting a methodology where computational design
techniques and interactive prototyping ones converge, in line with the principles
spread by the new paradigms like the Internet of Things.
FROM GENERATIVE DESIGN TO INTERAC- nected with web platforms by the encoding of spe-
TIVE PROTOTYPING cific scripts.The three general objectives converge on
The design process (Figure 2) is based on the prin- the idea of developing a smart object capable of spe-
ciples of Generative Data-Driven Design. The in- cial performances in terms of Pervasive/Ubiquitous
teractive prototyping is based on the current tech- Computing. Specifically, the study focuses on find-
niques of 3D printing and laser-cutting. It is im- ing experimental solutions for designing new objects
plemented, specifically, by using electronic boards which can interact with the external inputs, being
(Spark) equipped with micro-controllers and devices interconnected to the web. The search for formal
which incorporate sensors-actuators and so on. The "non-standard" solutions, which is carried out using
paradigm of the Internet of Things, instead, is imple- the above methods of digital morphogenesis (Kolare-
mented through the use of Wi-Fi boards, inserted in vic, 2000), is linked with the techniques of integra-
the electronic circuit inside the object and intercon- tion of innovative sensing systems in order to con-
Figure 2
The design process:
from generative
design to
interactive
prototyping
trol and optimize the real-time performanceThe idea conditions of the context.
is to reformulate the traditional character of every-
day household objects, adapting them to the new in- THEORETICAL INTRODUCTION
formation and communication technologies.The in- In 1993 Mark Weiser introduced the concept of "calm
vestigation ultimately aims to assign to our everyday technology" describing the occurrence whereby
objects a new "genetic heritage", whose code does technology is hidden behind the visible sphere of
not only correspond to its "canonical" function but to space and things. He embarked the paradigm of
the combination of different features and behaviors "Ubiquitous computing", the information technology
in terms of interactivity.The result is a "hybrid pheno- separates itself from personal computer becoming
type" in which the digital information pass through integrated in objects and devices commonly used.
the matter and where architecture and design are in- After two decades, as Gregory Wessnerm has under-
terwoven with electronics and Information Technol- lined, low cost of hardware solutions and increasing
ogy. In this sense, the digital information is consid- computational skills of software products allow to
ered as a real material (Kuniavsky, 2010) which in- implement digital intelligence of machines. Further-
spires and guides the design experience. This out- more the quality of design becomes an ephemeral
look brings in new questions about their ability to and intangible value based on the computational ca-
assume interactive behaviours towards the specific
Biomimicry and computational design are two growing fields of research and
practice in architecture for their potential in performative and sustainable design,
among many other benefits. Cooling loads are posing serious energy problems in
hot climatic cities as in Cairo and Alexandria. Attempting to solve these
problems, this research turned to botanical inspirations for ideas in order to
improve thermoregulation of the building skin. One of these ideas was chosen and
implemented using computational software in the design of a parametric vertical
shading screen for a typical office room in Cairo. The challenge was to minimize
cooling loads as much as possible without compromising daylight requirements.
An evolutionary solver was used to optimize results and environmental
simulations were performed before and after the proposed screen to assess its
performance and evaluate this biomimetic-computational approach to design.
The first step was to define a surface that would • Biggest opening size
be folded to act as the shading screen. This sur-
face was divided in both the horizontal and vertical The Galapagos solver is used again for these new pa-
directions creating a grid of points. The even hori- rameters, with the fitness function set to minimize
zontal rows of this grid were selected and moved in cooling loads while keeping a minimum illuminance
the horizontal direction to create the fold displace- value of 300 lux at four key nodes. The position of
ment. Then the vertical columns of points were se- these nodes is the centre of four desktops placed the
lected and moved in a direction perpendicular to that office room (Figure 4) with a height of 76 cm from
of the façade surface to create the fold depth. A sur- the floor. Initially sDA simulations were intended to
face is created from the new set of points, forming the be used, however they take a lot of time, especially
folded façade based on the Miura Uri pattern. The de- when used with Galapagos as it could keep on run-
sign parameters (as shown in Figure 5) that we have ning for days using the available computers (Proces-
considered are: sor: Intel core i7, 3.5 GHz, RAM: 32 GB). Illuminance
values were used instead just to give an indication of
• Number of folds in the X axis
the best possible combinations of the new parame-
• Number of fold in the Y axis ters.
In the end, one of the results (Figure 6) achieving
• Fold displacement the least cooling loads was chosen to run a single ac-
curate sDA simulation (Figure 7) on a grid of nodes
• Fold depth with 60 cm spacing in the whole room to be sure
that at least 55% of the analysis nodes receive 300lux
So far we still do not have any openings yet. To deter- or more during half of the occupied hours. The sDA
mine their size, we decided to calculate the insolation alone however would not tell us if parts of the space
on each face, and then the opening size would be a are over-lit, which is particularly important to know
function of that value. There are lot of possible com- in cities that have relatively low cloud coverage and
binations between the parameters stated above. In- almost continuous sunshine throughout the year as
stead of manually trying every possible combination, in Cairo. So a check was also performed when certain
these parameters were set as Genomes in Galapagos, points receive an illumination value above 3000 lux
Table 2
Comparison of
simulation results
before and after the
placement of the
folded screen.
Kinetic systems offers new perspectives and design innovation in research and
practice. These systems have been used by architects as an approach that embeds
computation intelligence to create flexible and adaptable architectural spaces
according to users changing needs and desires as a way to respond to an
increasingly technological society. The presented research attempts to answer to
this question based on the results of a multidisciplinary on-going work developed
at digital fabrication laboratory Vitruvius Fablab-IUL in Lisbon. The main goal
is to explore the transformation of the shape of a construction by mechanisms
which allow adaptation either to environmental conditions or to the needs of the
user. This paper reports the initial development of a kinetic system based on an
origami foldable surface actuated by a user. The user can manipulate a small
scale model of the surface and evaluate at all times if it is achieving the desired
geometry.
#include "Wire.h"
#include "SRF02.h"
produced a direct response in real time and the result ments', Footprint Delft School of Design Journal, 6, pp.
was reasonably close to the geometry in hands. 5-18
This project is part of an ongoing Phd research Fox, M and Kemp, M 2009, Interactive Architecture; Variate
Labs, Series Design/Build, ., Princeton Architectural
that from this experiment intends to test other ma-
Press
terials and crease patterns with different kinetic and Fox, M 2003, 'Kinetic Architectural Systems Design', in
mechanic systems in order to develop surfaces that Kronenburg, R (eds) 2003, Transportable Environ-
can be used for flexible, multifunctional spaces. Also ments 2, Spon Press, London, pp. 163-186
it will try to respond to really important and practical Fox, M and Yeh, B 2000, Managing Interactions in Smart
questions for which we don't have yet the answers, Environments, Springer
Haque, U 2006, 'Architecture, interaction, systems', AU:
like how to make it waterproof to use in an open air
Arquitetura & Urbanismo, 149 - August 2006, pp. 68-
context. Which spans can it cover depending on the 71
used material and/or sub-structure. How should the Kolarevic, B and Malkawi, A 2005, Performative Architec-
crease pattern be defined and which crease patterns ture, Spon Press
work better in which situations. Lang, R 2010, Origami and Geometric Constructions,
Robert Lang
Osório, F, Paio, A and Oliveira, S 2014 'KOS-KINETIC
REFERENCES ORIGAMI SURFACE', Proceedings of CAADRIA 2014,
Demaine, E and O’Rourke, J 2007, Geometric Folding Al- Kyoto, pp. 201-210
gorithms: Linkages, Origami, Polyhedra, Cambridge Pask, PG 1969, 'Architectural Relevance of Cybernetics',
University Press, Cambridge Architectural Design, September, pp. 494-496
Fox, M 2010, 'Catching up with the Past: A small Con- [1] http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/publications/ea/intro.html
tribution to a Long History of Interactive Environ-
EX2 where all three criteria representing the disci- THE PROCEDURAL MODEL
pline domains were applied throughout is "move - Drawing from the work briefly outlined in the preced-
testing" and disseminated in the form of a matrix. ing section, a theoretical framework has been devel-
In both EX1 and EX2 evaluation takes place in the oped for how research traditions can be integrated
form of discussions on the basis of presentation and in trans-disciplinary practice, illustrated in a model
observations of the designed models. However, no for architectural experiments (see Figure 8). Build-
research question, hypothesis or a program can be ing on Carlile's (2004) theory of innovative processes
evaluated. In consequence, most of the knowledge and the work in design research by Koskinen et. al.
developed remains tacit and cannot be generalized. (2011) the model attempts to resolve the question
EX3 can be described in terms of Schön's defini- first formulated of how the knowledge of different
tions as "hypothesis testing", where knowledge was disciplines can be thoroughly integrated into the de-
disseminated and evaluated within the three criteria sign process, create innovative solutions and gener-
and the building was actually constructed for occu- ate new explicit knowledge.
pation and use as a dwelling. However, the hypothe- The model comprises five steps:
ses generated are not limited, as Schön describes
them, in terms of hypothetico-deductive methods, • Step 1 IMAGINE & ASK ('transfer')
but derive from several research traditions and can
thus be evaluated through the qualitative and quan- Knowledge from different disciplines can be included
titative methods preferred by those traditions. The in the early design phase, "the entrance level", where
model of Experiment 3 is therefore strongest in its a common vision meaningful to all parties is created.
combination of creative potential as well as in its This step cuts across knowledge boundaries and its
knowledge generating logic. output is 'the imaginative research question', which
expresses a common commitment to create value
through the experiment.
REFERENCES
Carlile, PR 2004, 'Transferring, translating, and trans-
forming: An integrative framework for managing
knowledge across boundaries.', Organization Sci-
ence, 15(5), pp. 555-568
Dewey, J 1938, The theory of inquiry, Henry Holt Inc, USA
Hansen, EK 2013, ARKITEKTONISKE EKSPERIMENTER de-
sign med viden om lys, et multidimenstionalt design el-
ement, Ph.D. Thesis, Aalborg University
Hansen, EK, Gylling, G and Mullins, MF 2013, 'Home,
smart home, A Danish Energy Positive Home De-
signed with Daylight', Proceedings of the IEEE : Special
Issue: The Smart Home, 101(11), pp. 2436-2449
Hiim, H and Hippe, E 1998, Instructor guidance in the edu-
cation of teachers related to vocational subjects, Oslo
Universitetsforlaget, Oslo
Inglar, T 1999, Lærer og vejleder om pædagogiske ret-
ninger, vejledningsstrategier og vejledningsteknikker,
Narayana Press, Gylling,DK
Kolmos, A, Du, X, Holgaard, JE and Jensen, LP 2008, Facil-
itation in a PBL Environment, Aalborg University, Aal-
borg
Koskinen, I, Zimmerman, J, Binder, T, Redstrom, J and
Henri Achten
Czech Technical University in Prague
http://www.molab.eu
achten@fa.cvut.cz
RESPONSIVE AND INTERACTIVE ARCHI- changes need to be made. Incorporating such po-
TECTURE tential for change requires a different way of think-
Buildings are situated in a changing environment. ing about buildings (Habraken et al. 1986; Leupen et
Usually, buildings are not conceived as highly dy- al. 2005). Today a set of technologies are emerging
namic systems that change a lot, although in truth that allow buildings to become more responsive than
they actually accommodate quite a lot of change. through traditional approaches. There exist already a
Most of the way this accommodation of change is ac- quite large number of technologies that make build-
complished is by offering a more or less static struc- ings more dynamically changing (see Table 1).
ture that allows a various number of uses. Some The application of such technologies mentioned
enduring configurations, acknowledged as building above results in buildings that can adapt to changing
types, are particularly strong in this respect (Rossi conditions. They are known under a variety of names:
1982). However, during the life-time of a build- Building Automation Systems, Smart Homes, Sen-
ing many occasions may occur in which the avail- tient Buildings, Adaptive Buildings, Dynamic Build-
able flexibility reaches its limits and more profound ings, Interactive Buildings, and Portable Buildings, to
name a few. In our work, we want to make a spe-
cial case for Interactive Buildings. We want to reserve are required that determine which type of function
the term 'Interactive' when one or more components has to be fulfilled. These control structures can act
work with each other and which always have some on the system level (thus they act without user in-
kind of relationship with one or more persons. If teraction; the system makes up its own mind) or in
the interaction is only between two or more systems a reaction or dialogue with the user (thus determin-
(therefore, no people involved), then we are talking ing the behaviour as a partly reaction to the user).
on a system level but not about interaction. We re- On the most general level, an interaction can be di-
quire of an interactive system that it has a represen- rect involvement between the system and user or in-
tation of the user. This representation does not have direct. Additionally, the interaction can require the
to be complex; it is sufficient if it can differentiate be- user to be active or passive. A system that aims to-
tween a number of states and desires of the user and wards direct interaction with a passive user can be
react correspondingly. If it does not, then it can only characterised as a "perfect butler"; direct interaction
be a purely reactive system that has a single response with an active user as a "partner." A system that aims
to a user action: thus, it is not considered to be inter- toward indirect interaction with a passive user can be
active (Achten 2011). characterised as "environmental"; and indirect inter-
An interactive system can consist of multiple action with an active user as a "wizard" (Achten 2011).
components. For an interactive system it is not nec- The general characterisations above still leave
essary that every component is interactive. To de- open many options how the system actually inter-
termine the boundaries of an interactive system, we acts with the user. According to interaction design
can simply proceed by a process of elimination; given theory, interactive systems can try to instruct a user,
any system, continue to eliminate components un- have a conversation, manipulate, or explore (Sharpe
til the system as a whole is not interactive anymore. et al. 2007). Additionally, an interactive system can
Components which can be removed without conse- have different kinds of goals: performance, sustain-
quence for the interaction are not a necessary part ability, service, symbolising, and entertaining (Achten
of the interactive system (but they can of course fulfil 2013). The combination of these possibilities leads
any different kind of purpose). to 20 combinations of interaction styles, or in other
Interaction is geared towards one or more pur- words: attitudes of buildings (Table 2).
poses. In particular when dealing with complex sys-
tems, there can be multiple functions present in the
system. In such cases, additional control structures
INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS CONCEIVED AS interactive systems exhibit short loops. For such in-
AGENTS teractive systems we do not need a lot of control
Many contemporary responsive systems are fairly structures to understand their behaviour, neither in
simple in their behaviour: they are geared to a limited the design phase nor in the use phase. There are
set of input aspects, determine behaviour on the ba- systems on the other hand however, which are more
sis of fairly straightforward decision rules, and have a complex: they respond to a large number of inputs,
limited amount of expressions. In other words, such process decisions in complex ways, and offer many
different kinds of feedback to the user. In other
Figure 1 words, such interactive systems exhibit long loops.
Agent architecture. For the understanding and design of interactive
buildings it is useful to conceive such buildings as
agents. An agent is an autonomous entity, situated
in an environment, capable of sensing this environ-
ment and other agents that are in that environment,
able to send out and receive signals from the environ-
ment and other agents, and capable to manipulate
aspects of the outside world (see Figure 1).
The core of an agent has a recorded state, goals
that it wants to achieve, and reasoning structures
that process input and determines output of the
Figure 2 agent. The input comes from the outside world
An agent can be in two types: actions (changes in the world envi-
made up of many ronment of the agent) and messages (from other
different agents. agents). Actions are registered through sensors and
messages are received through channels. The agent
can manipulate the world through actions (chang-
ing the world environment of the agent) by means
of actuators, and it can send out messages through
a channel. Messages can be sent directly to other
agents, or they can be sent to the world.
Agents can be considered in the same way as
complex systems in systems theory. Complex agents
can be realised by combinations of more simple
agents working together (see Figure 2). The bound-
ary is determined by the interactions between the
L O
Lancia, Ruggero 1-313 Ochmann, Sebastian 2-557
Larsen, Andreas Lund 2-117 Oliveira, Sancho 2-605
Laskari, Anna 2-283 Osório, Filipa 2-605
Latifi, Mehrnoush 1-267
Leggieri, Elisabetta 1-593 P
Leitão, António 1-257 Paio, Alexandra 2-405, 2-605
Li, Di 1-623 Pak, Burak 1-89, 1-365
Liang, Hai-Ning 1-63 Pantazis, Evangelos 1-463
Lo, Tian Tian 1-603 Paredes, Miguel 1-333
Lorenz, Wolfgang E. 1-495 Pasold, Anke 2-365
Love, Peter 2-395 Patlakas, Panagiotis 2-505
Pechlivanidou-Liakata,
M ,→Anastasia 1-53
Marques, Sibila 2-271 Pedro, Tiago 2-271
Martens, Bob 1-11 Pedro Sousa, José 1-475
Martins, Pedro Filipe 1-475 Pereira, Vasco Alexandre 2-405
Matejovska, Dana 2-411 Perkov, Thomas 2-49
Matthews, Jane 2-395 Petzold, Frank 1-43
Maver, Tom 1-653 Pinto Duarte, José 1-515, 1-585
Melville, Stephen 1-537 Prado, Marshall 1-423, 2-61
Mendes, Daniel 1-585 Proença, Pedro 2-271
Mendes, Letícia 1-33 Proença, Sara 1-257
Meneghel, Rafael 2-315 Prohasky, Daniel 1-137, 1-165
Menegotto, José Luis 2-195
Menges, Achim 1-423, 2-61 Q
Menter, Adam 2-455 Qian, Zi 1-119
Morton, David 1-343 Quinn, Gregoory 2-29
Mostafavi, Sina 1-445
Moural, Ana 2-271 R
Moya, Rafael 1-137, 1-165 Rahmani Asl, Mohammad 2-455
Mühlhaus, Michael 1-43 Ramsgard Thomsen, Mette 1-381
Mullins, Michael Finbarr 2-613 Remy, Nicolas 1-487
Myrup, Morten 2-375 Rodhe, Einar 2-145
Rossini, Francesco 1-633
N Roupé, Mattias 2-261