Cumincad : CUMINCAD Papers : Search Results

CumInCAD is a Cumulative Index about publications in Computer Aided Architectural Design
supported by the sibling associations ACADIA, CAADRIA, eCAADe, SIGraDi, ASCAAD and CAAD futures

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_id	acadia08_088
id	acadia08_088
authors	Hynes, Hugh
year	2008
title	When The Going Gets Tough, The Pluripotent Get Going: Resilient Developmental Models
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.088
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 88-93
summary	Mechanisms of biological development, such as in embryogenesis, offer promising models for resilient architectural systems well-suited to volatile or unpredictable contextual conditions. The resilience of embryonic development as a process is such that successful development—“success” defined here as that which results in the birth of an organism that can survive—can sustain extreme shifts in a normal developmental process, triggered by mutations, environmental pressures, injury, or experimental intervention. More specifically, biological development combines mechanisms of standardization with mechanisms of customization to create open-ended or what biologists call pluripotent systems—poised (“-potent”) to develop into a wide range (“pluri-”) of potential forms—which we can endeavor to reproduce mimetically. ¶ This paper considers biomimesis less a matter of replicating these developmental mechanisms physically or formally, but rather borrowing aspects of the mechanisms’ operation in order to test project outcomes digitally. The discipline of developmental biology affords a virtually ready-made conceptual framework and terminology to guide an open-ended digital methodology, in the hope of incorporating increasing degrees of resilience into the resulting design work. Searching for a capacity to sustain a similar fluidity of differentiation afforded by organisms in early development, we explore a pluripotent architecture for which differentiation might occur over time, and which might be better able to absorb volatility.
keywords	Adaptation; Differentiation; Morphogenesis; Resilience; Scenario
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

_id	acadia08_174
id	acadia08_174
authors	Jaskiewicz, Tomasz
year	2008
title	‘iPortals’ as a Case Study Pre-Prototype of an Evolving Network of Interactive Spatial Components
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.174
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 174-181
summary	The art and craft of design and creation of buildings is undergoing a radical paradigm shift. This shift is being driven by diverse novel cross-disciplinary technical possibilities, as well as by ongoing cultural transformations. They all, directly or indirectly, originate from omnipresent advancements in information technologies. Instant and ubiquitous availability of information and immediate access to computing power pervasively penetrating our lives is profoundly transforming our culture. This phenomenon has enormous implications for architecture in a multitude of ways1. ¶ Firstly, the speed of changes that occur in modern-day culture and society makes it inconvenient or even entirely impossible to design buildings with fixed and permanent functionalities. As lifestyle patterns, production methods and environmental conditions, to name a few factors only, may now dramatically change from one day to another, architecture has to become flexible. It has to allow dynamic, active, or even pro-active adaptation and customization of spaces on many levels of its functionality2. ¶ Secondly, these profound cultural changes are not only of technical relevance. In its process-driven character, information technology strongly mandates the already widely recognized ontology of becoming, proclaimed by the prominent minds of contemporary philosophy and science. This process-oriented worldview, supported by latest technological possibilities3, has caused a radical change in the common sense of the manner in which architecture has to be understood and dealt with4. As an effect, it requires an in-depth reconsideration of the nature of processes of both creation and participation in spatial environments.
keywords	Environment; Interactive; Open Systems; Prototype; Skin
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:52

_id	46d4
id	46d4
authors	Fischer, Thomas
year	2008
title	Designing (tools (for designing (tools for ...))))
source	RMIT University, Melbourne
summary	Outcomes of innovative designing are frequently described as enabling us in achieving more desirable futures. How can we design and innovate so as to enable future processes of design and innovation? To investigate this question, this thesis probes the conditions, possibilities and limitations of toolmaking for novelty and knowledge generation, or in other words, it examines designing for designing. The focus of this thesis is on the development of digital design tools that support the reconciliation of conflicting criteria centred on architectural geometry. Of particular interest are the roles of methodological approaches and of biological analogies as guides in toolmaking for design, as well as the possibility of generalising design tools beyond the contexts from which they originate. The presented investigation consists of an applied toolmaking study and a subsequent reflective analysis using second- order cybernetics as a theoretical framework. Observations made during the toolmaking study suggest that biological analogies can, in informal ways, inspire designing, including the designing of design tools. Design tools seem to enable the generation of novelty and knowledge beyond the contexts in and for which they are developed only if their users apply them in ways unanticipated by the toolmaker. Abstract The reflective analysis offers theoretical explanations for these observations based on aspects of second-order cybernetics. These aspects include the modelling of designing as a conversation, different relationships between observers (such as designers) and systems (such as designers engaged in their projects), the distinction between coded and uncoded knowledge, as well as processes underlying the production and the restriction of meaning. Initially aimed at the development of generally applicable, prescriptive digital tools for designing, the presented work results in a personal descriptive model of novelty and knowledge generation in science and design. This shift indicates a perspective change from a positivist to a relativist outlook on designing, which was accomplished over the course of the study. Investigating theory and practice of designing and of science, this study establishes an epistemological model of designing that accommodates and extends a number of theoretical concepts others have previously proposed. According to this model, both design and science generate and encode new knowledge through conversational processes, in which open-minded perception appears to be of greater innovative power than efforts to exercise control. The presented work substantiates and exemplifies radical constructivist theory of knowledge and novelty production, establishes correspondences between systems theory and design research theory and implies that mainstream scientific theories and practices are insufficient to account for and to guide innovation.
keywords	Digital design tools, geometry rationalisation, second-order cybernetics, knowledge generation
series	thesis:PhD
type	normal paper
email
more	http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20080424.160537/index.html
last changed	2008/05/10 08:31

_id	ecaade2010_065
id	ecaade2010_065
authors	Hardy, Steve(n); Lundberg, Jonas
year	2010
title	Environmental Catalysts for a Computational Urbanism
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2010.805
source	FUTURE CITIES [28th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 978-0-9541183-9-6] ETH Zurich (Switzerland) 15-18 September 2010, pp.805-814
wos	WOS:000340629400086
summary	It is perhaps no longer relevant to discuss digital tools purely as means in themselves; the growth of abstract systems or computational patterns for their own sake simply strain justification in light of real-world concerns such as climate change and economic crises. While growing concerns over climate change have necessitated an increased interest in sustainable urbanism and design, sustainability has done little to yet alter the morphological and typological consequences of architectural space (Hardy, 2008). In a series of overlapping research projects and design studio briefs, students, research assistants and we worked with the iterative and variable processes of Rhinoscript, McNeel’s Grasshopper and Bentley’s Generative Components to explore the possibilities of changing environmental extremes (specifically flooding) as catalysts for providing new urban morphologies and spatial organizations. Working between the master plan and the individual housing unit, we investigated arrays of terrace homes in the London Thames Valley flood zones while simultaneously exploring the potential for computational generation and parametric optimization.
keywords	Computational urbanism; Formative strategies; Parametric design; Adaptive vs. mitagative; Environmental formations
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:49

_id	ecaade2008_160
id	ecaade2008_160
authors	Aschwanden, Gideon; Halatsch, Jan; Schmitt , Gerhard
year	2008
title	Crowd Simulation for Urban Planning
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2008.493
source	Architecture in Computro [26th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 978-0-9541183-7-2] Antwerpen (Belgium) 17-20 September 2008, pp. 493-500
summary	This paper presents a semi-automatic visualization method for the evaluation of urban environments that is based on artificial intelligence. It proposes the use of agent-based crowd simulation software on a mid-scale urban planning level for design evaluation. The information on agents’ movements is noted in standard raster images. The results are maps that are easy to understand. These maps show movement paths of the agents and density and give further conclusion on bottlenecks in planning contexts. Key measures, like the occupant movement in a given district, until now relied greatly on empirical knowledge or data that could be only gathered after an urban design had become built reality. Our method focuses on the adaptation of common software technology that is originally situated in film and TV productions. A practical workflow shows how our method can be easily integrated in daily design tasks.
keywords	Artificial intelligence, agent-based, crowd simulation, urban planning, design evaluation, occupant movement
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	ecaade2008_087
id	ecaade2008_087
authors	Juvancic, Matevz; Zupancic, Tadeja
year	2008
title	Towards Effective Interfaces for General Architectural Learning
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2008.569
source	Architecture in Computro [26th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 978-0-9541183-7-2] Antwerpen (Belgium) 17-20 September 2008, pp. 569-576
summary	The persistence of difficulties related to communication of the participants in the design process is mainly due to the diversity of interests and the abilities of visual communication. The research presented has been focused especially on the first issue - professional vs. general public relations. It builds on the idea that general public should be approached with both: adaptation to its abilities and with additional teaching to improve these abilities. The initial questions lead to the isolation of (i) elements and (ii) characteristics that could possibly define architectural educational interfaces for general public. The experiment puts the prototypical eco-spatial interface to the test in primary schools and observes the effect the level of interactivity has on learning outcomes. The results show possible ways of enhancing the efficiency of GUI-s and help developers and designers evaluate and fine-tune such tools for the process of general architectural learning.
keywords	architecture, education, sustainable spatial development, educational interfaces, general public
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:52

_id	acadia08_272
id	acadia08_272
authors	Perez, Santiago R.
year	2008
title	Crafting Complexity: Material / Procedure / Form
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.272
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 272-277
summary	What is the role of Craft, in understanding Bio-Computational Forms & Systems? What is the relation between self-organizing systems & material-component assemblages? ¶ This paper will explore the relationship between material craft, procedure and form, in relation to complex, self-organizing assemblies. A comparison will be made, between (hand) crafted assemblies, guided by physical constraints and procedural methodologies, and digitally mediated fabrication, guided by recursion and algorithmic generative methodologies. ¶ An attempt will be made to connect various scales of making, in terms of module or unit of assembly, both at the micro-scale of biological structures, and the macro-scale of man-made systems. The goal of this essay is to question the relation between physically crafted component assemblies, as a means for exploring adaptive, complex, self-organizing systems, and bio-computational paradigms as a source of adaptive strategies for making.
keywords	Adaptation; Complexity; Craft; Material; Play
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 08:00

_id	9609
id	9609
authors	Abdelmohsen, Sherif; Do, Ellen Yi-Luen
year	2008
title	Energy Puppet: An Ambient Awareness Interface for Home Energy Consumption
source	Digital proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Social Intelligence Design (SID 2008), School of Architecture, Universidad de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
summary	The Energy Puppet is an ambient display device that provides peripheral awareness of energy consumption for individual home appliances. The display produces different “pet-like” behavioral reactions according to energy use patterns of the appliances to give homeowners an indication of their energy consumption status. The puppet would raise its “arms” in victory to display normal consumption rate, or its “eyes” would change color to red and “roar” to warn the homeowners when the specific appliance reaches dangerously high consumption rates. The assumption is that the awareness of energy consumption could affect how people consume and control energy use in their households. This paper describes the usage scenarios and the design and implementation of Energy Puppet and discusses future research directions.
keywords	Ambient Intelligence, Peripheral Awareness, Energy Consumption
series	other
type	normal paper
email
last changed	2010/01/30 07:22

_id	sigradi2008_103
id	sigradi2008_103
authors	Baltazar, Ana Paula; Maria Lucia Malard, Silke Kapp, Pedro Schultz
year	2008
title	From physical models to immersive collaborative environments: testing the best way for homeless people to visualise and negotiate spaces
source	SIGraDi 2008 - [Proceedings of the 12th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics] La Habana - Cuba 1-5 December 2008
summary	This paper describes an experiment to investigate the best way for lay people to use representation to visualise and negotiate space. It was motivated by our observations in workshops for digital inclusion in the context of a housing project for a homeless association. Computers were used to make it easier for the community to understand and change the spaces in real time. The first workshops proved that our approach was efficient as an exercise but not certainly effective concerning the understanding of spatial qualities. So we have designed an experiment to compare the usability of different media in participatory design processes. For that we have adapted the ‘Usability’ methodology, which is fully described in the paper. We started with three main questions. The first concerned the effectiveness of different media to represent spatial quality; the second concerned the best way for novices to approach space, whether by refurbishing a pre-existing space or by starting from the scratch; and the third concerned the effectiveness of negotiation by means of discourse and by means of or action. We also had two main hypothesis: one coming from research on digital environments and stereo visualisation, indicating that the more people feel immersed in the represented environment the more they are able to correlate it with physical space; and the other coming from our own observations in the participatory design workshops, in which the collective decision-making was manipulated by those people with more advanced communication skills who use their ability in an authoritative way regardless of the relevance of what they have to say. This paper describes the whole experiment, which was an exercise of spatial negotiation in 5 versions. In the first version we provided fixed digital views of a room in plan and axonometry; for another two versions we provided a physical model of the room in 1:10 scale, with some pieces of the existing furniture in different scales. This was done to check if people were just playing with a puzzle or actually grasping the correspondence between representation and the object or the space represented. One version proposes refurbishment and the other starts from the scratch. And the last two versions repeated the same task made with the physical model, but this time using a 3D interactive digital model. People were required not only to organise the furniture in the space but also to build a full scale cardboard structure and organise the real furniture reproducing their proposed model. Their comments on the spaces they had built confronted with what they had imaged when working with the model has enabled us to compare the different models, as also the different ways of negotiating spaces. This paper describes this experiment in detail concluding that 3D digital interactive models are far more effective than physical models and 2D drawings; when negotiation happens by means of action it provides more creative results than when the discoursive practice prevails; people are more creative when they start something from scratch, though they spend more time. The results of this experiment led us to formulate a new hypothesis leading to the development of an immersive collaborative environment using stereoscopy.
keywords	Visualisation, negotiation, immersive environment, digital interfaces, homeless people
series	SIGRADI
email
last changed	2016/03/10 09:47

_id	ijac20086403
id	ijac20086403
authors	Lim, Sungwoo; Prats, Miquel; Jowers, Iestyn; Chase, Scott; Garner, Steve; McKay, Alison
year	2008
title	Shape Exploration in Design: Formalising and Supporting a Transformational Process
source	International Journal of Architectural Computing vol. 6 - no. 4, 415-433
summary	The process of sketching can support the sort of transformational thinking that is seen as essential for the interpretation and reinterpretation of ideas in innovative design. Such transformational thinking, however, is not yet well supported by computer-aided design systems. In this paper, outcomes of experimental investigations into the mechanics of sketching are described, in particular those employed by practicing architects and industrial designers as they responded to a series of conceptual design tasks. Analyses of the experimental data suggest that the interactions of designers with their sketches can be formalised according to a finite number of generalised shape rules. A set of shape rules, formalising the reinterpretation and transformations of shapes, e.g. through deformation or restructuring, is presented. These rules are suggestive of the manipulations that need to be afforded in computational tools intended to support designers in design exploration. Accordingly, the results of the experimental investigations informed the development of a prototype shape synthesis system, and a discussion is presented in which the future requirements of such systems are explored.
series	journal
last changed	2009/03/03 07:48

_id	cdc2008_243
id	cdc2008_243
authors	Loukissas, Yanni
year	2008
title	Keepers of the Geometry: Architects in a Culture of Simulation
source	First International Conference on Critical Digital: What Matters(s)? - 18-19 April 2008, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge (USA), pp. 243-244
summary	“Why do we have to change? We’ve been building buildings for years without CATIA?” Roger Norfleet, a practicing architect in his thirties poses this question to Tim Quix, a generation older and an expert in CATIA, a computer-aided design tool developed by Dassault Systemes in the early 1980’s for use by aerospace engineers. It is 2005 and CATIA has just come into use at Paul Morris Associates, the thirty-person architecture firm where Norfleet works; he is struggling with what it will mean for him, for his firm, for his profession. Computer-aided design is about creativity, but also about jurisdiction, about who controls the design process. In Architecture: The Story of Practice, Architectural theorist Dana Cuff writes that each generation of architects is educated to understand what constitutes a creative act and who in the system of their profession is empowered to use it and at what time. Creativity is socially constructed and Norfleet is coming of age as an architect in a time of technological but also social transition. He must come to terms with the increasingly complex computeraided design tools that have changed both creativity and the rules by which it can operate. In today’s practices, architects use computer-aided design software to produce threedimensional geometric models. Sometimes they use off-the-shelf commercial software like CATIA, sometimes they customize this software through plug-ins and macros, sometimes they work with software that they have themselves programmed. And yet, conforming to Larson’s ideas that they claim the higher ground by identifying with art and not with science, contemporary architects do not often use the term “simulation.” Rather, they have held onto traditional terms such as “modeling” to describe the buzz of new activity with digital technology. But whether or not they use the term, simulation is creating new architectural identities and transforming relationships among a range of design collaborators: masters and apprentices, students and teachers, technical experts and virtuoso programmers. These days, constructing an identity as an architect requires that one define oneself in relation to simulation. Case studies, primarily from two architectural firms, illustrate the transformation of traditional relationships, in particular that of master and apprentice, and the emergence of new roles, including a new professional identity, “keeper of the geometry,” defined by the fusion of person and machine. Like any profession, architecture may be seen as a system in flux. However, with their new roles and relationships, architects are learning that the fight for professional jurisdiction is increasingly for jurisdiction over simulation. Computer-aided design is changing professional patterns of production in architecture, the very way in which professionals compete with each other by making new claims to knowledge. Even today, employees at Paul Morris squabble about the role that simulation software should play in the office. Among other things, they fight about the role it should play in promotion and firm hierarchy. They bicker about the selection of new simulation software, knowing that choosing software implies greater power for those who are expert in it. Architects and their collaborators are in a continual struggle to define the creative roles that can bring them professional acceptance and greater control over design. New technologies for computer-aided design do not change this reality, they become players in it.
email
last changed	2009/01/07 08:05

_id	cdc2008_117
id	cdc2008_117
authors	Parthenios, Panos
year	2008
title	Analog vs. Digital: why bother?
source	First International Conference on Critical Digital: What Matters(s)? - 18-19 April 2008, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge (USA), pp. 117-128
summary	Architects take advantage of a broad palette of tools and media for design, analog and digital, because each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses and provides an additional value—an added level of vision—to the architect. This closely relates to the notion of Critical Points for Change (CPC) a contribution this study makes towards a better understanding of the uniqueness of the conceptual design process. CPC are crucial moments when the architect suddenly becomes able to “see” something which drives him to go back and either alter his idea and refine it or reject it and pursue a new one. They are crucial parts of the design process because they are a vital mechanism for enhancing design. The right choice and smooth combination of design tools, analog and digital, is critical for the design outcome. Using multiple tools allows the designer to overcome the possible influences and limitations imposed by a single tool. The current and evolving landscape is illustrated by coexistence, complementing and evolution of tools. The answer to the pseudo-dilemma of analog or digital is both.
keywords	Conceptual design, design process, tool, analog, digital
email
last changed	2009/01/07 08:05

_id	acadia08_382
id	acadia08_382
authors	Peters, Brady; Xavier De Kestelier
year	2008
title	Rapid Prototyping and Rapid Manufacturing at Foster + Partners
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.382
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 382-389
summary	Over the last 15 years, rapid prototyping has been an integral part of the design process in the car and aerospace industry (Brad Fox 2006). Recently the architecture profession has started to use these techniques in its design process (Greg Corke 2006), and some architecture schools have begun experimenting with these technologies. ¶ Foster + Partners have been one of the first architecture practices to fully integrate rapid prototyping within its design process. The technology was initially seen as a sketch model making tool in the early stages of the design, in particular for projects with complicated geometries. It surpassed this purpose within a year and it is now seen an essential design tool for many projects and in for many project stages. The office’s rapid prototyping department now produces about 3500 models a year. ¶ Besides, or perhaps because of, rapid prototyping, Foster + Partners have started to experiment with rapid manufacturing. This first was done through the design and manufacture of a Christmas tree for the charity organisation Save the Children.
keywords	Complex Geometry; Design; Generative; Process; Rapid Prototyping
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 08:00

_id	ecaade2008_111
id	ecaade2008_111
authors	Theodoros, Dounas
year	2008
title	Dynamic Algebras and Grammars
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2008.429
source	Architecture in Computro [26th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 978-0-9541183-7-2] Antwerpen (Belgium) 17-20 September 2008, pp. 429-436
summary	The research presented in the paper explores the creation of custom shape grammars with animation tools, either as learning or educational tool or for the purposes of architectural design. Standard shape grammars contain an initial shape or design and one or more transformation rules. The designer just applies the rules in the initial design or has to chose which rule to apply. Dynamic shape grammars on the other hand use animation tools to produce dynamic rules of transformation, or even dynamic – parametric initial shapes on which to apply the rules on. The dynamic state of the rules in our system allows the designer to change the rules during designing without having to abandon a core structural idea or concept. Furthermore the implementation with an animation tool allows the design system to be form-independent and express the underlying structure of an architectural idea with non-graphical connections like parent and child relationships, or other deformation rules.It can be shown that in a computation context dynamic shape grammars are actually groups of standard shape grammars where the grammars in the group share the classification of the transformation rules they contain. The system that we present allows the designer to change between the grammars in one group in a transparent way without expressing the grammar formally but by only manipulating simple objects inside the animation software package.
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:58

_id	caadria2008_2_session1a_022
id	caadria2008_2_session1a_022
authors	Theodoros, Dounas; Kotsiopoulos M. Anastasios
year	2008
title	Dynamic (Shape) Grammars
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.2008.022
source	CAADRIA 2008 [Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia] Chiang Mai (Thailand) 9-12 April 2008, pp. 22-28
summary	The research presented in the paper explores the creation of custom shape grammars with animation tools, either as learning or educational tool or for the purposes of architectural design. Standard shape grammars contain an initial shape or design and one or more transformation rules. In a simple scenario the designer just applies the rules in the initial design or in a complicated scenario has to choose which rule to apply. Dynamic shape grammars on the other hand use animation tools to produce dynamic rules of transformation, or even dynamic – parametric initial shapes on which to apply the rules on. The dynamic state of the rules in our system allows the designer to change the rules during designing without having to abandon a core idea or concept. Furthermore the implementation with an animation tool allows the design system to be form-independent and express the underlying structure of an architectural idea with non-graphical connections like parent and child relationships, or other deformation rules. It can be shown that in a computation context dynamic shape grammars are actually groups of standard shape grammars where the grammars in the group share the classification of the transformation rules they contain. The system that we present allows the designer to change between the grammars in one group in a transparent way without expressing the grammar formally but by only manipulating simple objects inside the animation software package. This transparency focuses the effort of the user in simply design and keeping track of the formal declarations of shape grammars while the multiple dynamic grammars remove the obstacle of conforming to a single set of rules. The benefits of this effort can be especially seen in actual architectural design where the focus is in developing a concept idea and not strictly adhering to the rules.
series	CAADRIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:58

_id	sigradi2008_180
id	sigradi2008_180
authors	Vincent, Charles
year	2008
title	Gulliver in the land of Generative Design
source	SIGraDi 2008 - [Proceedings of the 12th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics] La Habana - Cuba 1-5 December 2008
summary	The current trend in architectural design towards architectural computing has been treated both from a philosophical standing point and as an operational systems’ problem, in a quest for explications which could at last break ground for a more broad development and adoption of design tools. As Kostas Terzidis (2007) puts it, the intuitiveness that architects have put on so high a pedestal seems to be the central issue to be dealt with by both views. There seems to be no apparent shortcut toward the reconciliation between traditional practice and new media and most certainly it is not only a problem of interface design, but one of design method clarification and reinterpretation of those methods into computing systems. Furthermore, there’s no doubt left as to whether computing systems can generate such new patterns as to impact our own understanding of architecture. But even if computer algorithms can make possible the exploration of abstract alternatives to an abstract initial idea, as in Mathematica and Processing, the issue of relating abstract and geometric representations of human centered architecture lays in the hands of architects, programmers or, better yet, architect-programmers. What seems now to be the relevant change is that architectural design might escape from the traditional sequence embedded in the need – program – design iterations – solution timeline, substituted by a web of interactions among differing experimental paths, in which even the identification of needs is to be informed by computing. It is interesting to note that the computational approach to architectural design has been praised for the formal fluidity of bubbles and Bezier shapes it entails and for the overcoming of functionalist and serialization typical of modern architecture. That approach betrays a high degree of canonic fascination with the tools of the trade and very little connection to the day to day chores of building design. On the other hand, shall our new tools and toys open up new ways of thinking and designing our built landscape? What educational issues surface if we are to foster wider use of the existing technologies and simultaneously address the need to overtake mass construction? Is mass customization the answer for the dead end modern architecture has led us to? Can we let go the humanist approach begun in Renascence and culminated in Modernism or shall we review that approach in view of algorithmic architecture? Let us step back in time to 1726 when Swift’s ‘Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Lemuel Gulliver’ was first published. In Swift’s fierce critic of what seemed to him the most outrageous ideas, he conceived a strange machine devised to automatically write books and poetry, in much the same generative fashion that now, three centuries later, we begin to cherish. “Every one knew how laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts and sciences; whereas by his contrivance, the most ignorant person at a reasonable charge, and with a little bodily labour, may write books in philosophy, poetry, politicks, law, mathematics and theology, without the least assistance from genius or study. He then led me to the frame, about the sides whereof all his pupils stood in ranks. It was twenty foot square, placed in the middle of the room. The superficies was composed of several bits of wood, about the bigness of a dye, but some larger than others. They were all linked together by slender wires. These bits of wood were covered on every square with paper pasted on them; and, on these papers were written all the words of their language in their several moods, tenses, and declensions, but without any order. The professor then desired me to observe, for he was going to set his engine at work. The pupils at his command took each of them hold of an iron handle, whereof there were forty fixed round the edges of the frame; and giving them a sudden turn, the whole disposition of words was entirely changed. He then commanded six and thirty of the lads to read the several lines softly as they appeared upon the frame; and where they found three or four words together that might make part of a sentence, they dictated to the four remaining boys who were scribes. This work was repeated three or four times, and at every turn the engine was so contrived, that the words shifted into new places, as the square bits of wood moved upside down.” (Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, A Voyage to Balnibarbi) What astonishing forecast did Swift show in that narrative that, in spite of the underlying incredulity and irony, still clarifies our surprise when faced to what might seem to some of us just an abandonment of all that architects and designers have cherished: creativeness and inventiveness. Yet, we could argue that such a radical shift in paradigm occurred once when master builders left the construction ground and took seat at drafting boards. The whole body of design and construction knowledge was split into what now seem to us just specialties undertaken by more and more isolated professionals. That shift entailed new forms of representation and prediction which now each and all architects take for granted. Also, Cartesian space representation turned out to be the main instrument for professional practice, even if one can argue that it is not more than the unfolding of stone carving techniques that master builders and guilds were so fond of. Enter computing and all its unfolding, i.e. DNA coding, fractal geometry, generative computing, nonlinear dynamics, pattern generation and cellular automata, as a whole new chapter in science, and compare that to conical perspective, descriptive and analytical geometry and calculus, and an image begins to form, delineating a separation between architect and digital designer. In previous works, we have tried approaching the issues regarding architects education in a more consensual way. But it seems now that the whole curricular corpus might be changed as well. The very foundations upon which we prepare future professionals shall change, not only in College, but in High School as well. In this paper, we delve further into the disconnect between current curricula and digital design practices and suggest new disciplinary grounds for a new architectural education.
keywords	Educational paradigm; Design teaching; Design methods;
series	SIGRADI
email
last changed	2016/03/10 10:02

_id	cdc2008_403
id	cdc2008_403
authors	Wie, Shaxin
year	2008
title	Poetics of performative space
source	First International Conference on Critical Digital: What Matters(s)? - 18-19 April 2008, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge (USA), pp. 403-417
summary	My project concerns subjectivation, performativity and embodiment, as inflected by notions of process and field. These questions were inspired by recent work in the margins of experimental performance, sound arts, computational media, and philosophy of process. They are informed by, and critically respond to Leibniz’s continuous substance, Whitehead’s “unbifurcated” process ontology, and Petitot’s approach to morphogenesis. Beginning with a concern with the materiality of writing, the project explores the ethico-aesthetics of touch and movement, and poetic architecture or installation events as sites for speculative action. The kind of events I describe, are collective, co-present, embodied, and a-linguistic. The potential for physical contact is a condition for the collective embodied experiences needed to conduct experimental phenomenology. Our events are designed for four or more participants, three to destabilize dyadic pairing, and lower the threshold to improvising being in that space, and a fourth for potential sociality. Having dissolved line between actor and spectator, we may adopt the disposition of an agent of change, or equally a witness of the event. Relinquishing also a categoreal fixation on objects in favor of continua, we inhabit ambient environments thick with media and matter that evolve in concert with movement or gesture.
email
last changed	2009/01/07 08:05

_id	acadia08_246
id	acadia08_246
authors	Zawidzki, Machi
year	2008
title	Implementation of Cellular Automata for Dynamic Shading of Building Facade
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.246
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 246-255
summary	Paper presents creative use of cellular automata (CA) in architecture, namely for dynamic shading of building facade. The abbreviation “CA” refers both to singular form “cellular automaton” and plural- “automata”. One of the most interesting “visual” quality of CA is abilty to create organic patterns which sometimes are very pleasing to human eye. These patterns seem to “live their own life” and “taming” them to perform purposeful actions is quiet challenging due to their computational irreducibility as shown in an example of possible practical application, but as a result, provides visual effects of unmatched intriguing complexity hard to achieve by means of artistic will, whim or chance. Although amazing qualities of CA astonish for many years, their practical (physical) applications are still very sparse if existing at all, besides “pretty pictures”. Four classes of CA “behavior” with conjunction to the problem of “pattern average grayness” was presented. Two classes of CA were analyzed: 2- color, 1- dimension, range- 1 (2C-1D-R1) and 2-color, 1- dimension, range- 2 (2C-1D-R2) for potential practical use. Problem of monotonic gradual change of average grayness as a function of sequence of initial conditions was discussed. Scheme of mechanical system realizing the idea of shading controlled by CA was proposed.
keywords	Cellular Automata; Lighting; Pattern; Robotics; Skin
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:57

_id	ddss2008-01
id	ddss2008-01
authors	Viejo García, Pablo; Christian Keim
year	2008
title	Simulation model of heat and power demand in aGerman region until 2030Stuttgart Metropolitan Region as case study
source	H.J.P. Timmermans, B. de Vries (eds.) 2008, Design & Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban Planning, ISBN 978-90-6814-173-3, University of Technology Eindhoven, published on CD
summary	Energy demand is a major concern for the future of European Cities. Resource availability and costs, climate change, and their consequences are directly related with the energy consumption in our cities. In 2007 already more than half of the world population live in cities, and cities are the main consumers of energy. The model presented in this paper explores the possibility of estimate the demand of end energy (heat and power) by simulating with a cellular automaton land use changes in a German region, in this case, Stuttgart Metropolitan Region. Several approaches deal with problems due to data availability, non-spatial information sources, aggregation levels, quality and consistence of data, among others. This case study shows that a non-deterministic simulation model of energy demand related to urban growth is already feasible, with several constraints. Otherwise, the energy demand calculations differ in great manner depending on consumption sectors (residential, commercial, industrial, transport) and all these calculation models should be further improved. Software and hardware constraints have been as well identified, and stressed in the conclusions.
keywords	Complex systems, Self-organisation, Cellular automata, Geographical information systems, land-use change, end energy demand, energy planning systems
series	DDSS
last changed	2008/09/01 17:06

_id	ddss2008-47
id	ddss2008-47
authors	Den Otter, Ad F. and H.J. Pels
year	2008
title	Rivalry between the collective use of IT tools and working methods of design teams Comparison of research outcomes
source	H.J.P. Timmermans, B. de Vries (eds.) 2008, Design & Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban Planning, ISBN 978-90-6814-173-3, University of Technology Eindhoven, published on CD
summary	Nowadays a high variety of IT tools is available for communication purposes in design processes on individual and group level. Despite this, the exchange and sharing of design documents collectively in design and engineering teams might be limited mainly, due to habits, preferences, working methods and rivalry between the collective use of IT tools in such product development. Changes in habits and preferences for collective use of IT tools might be realized by training and management power. However, adoption of collectively to be used tools, like project websites, is depending heavenly on the attractiveness for users in daily work. Based on empirical research outcomes it is indicated that rivalry between collective used tools and differences in working methods of users might be main barriers for attractiveness of these tools in daily work. Applying a framework for analyzing and categorizing of the frequency of use of IT tools for team communication, the authors explain the appearance of rivalry between tools, limiting the effectiveness in daily work and not affecting team communication and performance. By comparison of working methods in different sectors authors explain the necessity of changes in working methods in design and engineering in the building & construction industry on organizational and inter-organizational level for successful adoption of collectively to be used IT tools in team communication.
keywords	Rivalry between IT tools, collective use, team communication, team performance, working habits, preferences, working methods, 2nd order of change
series	DDSS
last changed	2008/09/01 17:06

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