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	acadia11_270
id	acadia11_270
authors	Swackhamer, Marc
year	2011
title	From Post- to Plus-Digital
source	ACADIA 11: Integration through Computation [Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA)] [ISBN 978-1-6136-4595-6] Banff (Alberta) 13-16 October, 2011, pp. 270-271
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2011.270
summary	The 2011 ACADIA Conference theme positions architecture’s present condition as “post-digital.” This term calls to question the relevance of an organization like ACADIA, whose focus is precisely on the digital in architecture. Paradoxically, it is the work of ACADIA and digitally-oriented designers that has facilitated the gradual dissolution of the digital. In reality, we of course know that the computer has never been more present and relevant to architecture than it is today. The barriers to entry are lower than they’ve ever been. Digital technology is more pervasive and flexible. But, its ubiquitous integration has rendered the computer itself, with its legacy of opaque user interfaces and inaccessible language, ostensibly transparent. Through this transparency, an array of designers and collaborators previously relegated to the sidelines of computation discourse are now active participants in it. The papers in this session point to five ways in which the boundaries between the digital and non-digital, between architecture and non-architecture, are quickly eroding, and thereby allowing each to influence the other in profound and surprising ways.
series	ACADIA
type	moderator overview
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:56

_id	sigradi2011_000
id	sigradi2011_000
authors	Chiarella, Mauro; Tosello, Maria Elena (eds.)
year	2011
title	Sigradi 2011: Augmented Culture
source	Proceedings of the 15th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics Graphics / ISBN 13: 978-987-657-679-6] Argentina - Santa Fe 16-18 November 2011, 579 p.
summary	“Augmented Culture” talks about a combination of interdependent social and technological meanings in a complex, multiple, interactive and interconnected context. It acknowledges that a new social and cultural paradigm is being developed as the old barriers of time, space and language are ruptured and transcended. In our knowledge-based civilization, we inhabit interconnected societies where new relational forms are configured. Additionally, cultural expressions have been qualitatively augmented starting from their integration with information and communication technologies, which have dramatically enhanced not only their creative and reflective processes, but also the realization and construction of cultural objects. In this sense, an “Augmented Culture” compels us to investigate the wide and complex spectrum of the variables that express the interdisciplinary, collective and participative constructions of our present age, so strongly related to visual culture, information culture and interface culture. Thus, we consider it necessary to concentrate, to expand, to spread and to share exploratory, descriptive or explanatory experiences and productions of such phenomena. The attempt is to define a multidimensional theoretical framework that while recognizing today’s state-of-the-art and tendencies, it provides us with a critical viewpoint.
series	other
type	normal paper
email
last changed	2011/12/30 18:05

_id	caadria2011_023
id	caadria2011_023
authors	Champion, Erik M. and Andrew Dekker
year	2011
title	Indirect biofed architecture: Strategies to best utilise biofeedback tools and interaction metaphors within digital architectural environment
source	Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia / The University of Newcastle, Australia 27-29 April 2011, pp. 241-250
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.2011.241
summary	This paper explains potential benefits of indirect biofeedback used within interactive virtual environments, and reflects on an earlier study that allowed for the dynamic modification of a virtual environment’s graphic shaders, music and artificial intelligence (of Non Playing Characters) based on the biofeedback of the player. It then examines both the potential and the issues in applying biofeedback (already effective for games) to digital architectural environments, and suggests potential uses such as personalization, object creation, atmospheric augmentation, filtering, and tracking.
keywords	Virtual worlds; biofeedback; sensors; empathy theory
series	CAADRIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:56

_id	sigradi2011_303
id	sigradi2011_303
authors	Moreira, Alejandro Ariel; Vazquez Ramiro
year	2011
title	Conectando Datos y Forma [Connecting Data and Form]
source	SIGraDi 2011 [Proceedings of the 15th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics] Argentina - Santa Fe 16-18 November 2011, pp. 143-146
summary	Working on the margins of the discipline, traditionally untouchable, constitutes a substantial challenge for contemporary professional practice, as technological innovations can produce significant changes and benefits. Government founded social housing constitutes a relevant object to explore and explode, incorporating new methods of analysis rendered possible by new information and knowledge management digital technologies. Therefore, it is possible to produce an expanded field of knowledge, analyzing each case and bringing into play a large number of variables in order to offer socially responsible alternatives.
series	SIGRADI
email
last changed	2016/03/10 09:55

_id	sigradi2011_209
id	sigradi2011_209
authors	Peronti Santiago, Rodrigo
year	2011
title	Jogos e Processos de Projeto: Diálogos Possíveis [Games and Design Processes: Possible Dialogues]
source	SIGraDi 2011 [Proceedings of the 15th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics] Argentina - Santa Fe 16-18 November 2011, pp. 503-506
summary	With the background of the reflections of the philosopher Vilém Flusser about games on contemporary culture, and the mathematical theory of Constructionism of the educator Seymour Papert, the subject of this work, a doctoral research in progress, relates to the use of a new programming language in the development of design processes in architecture. Intends to examine and explore the similarity of this language with the definition of "open game" by Flusser, whose use seems to favor so-called participatory methods and collaborative work, in which the role of the individual project gives rise to an activity shared by several actors.
series	SIGRADI
email
last changed	2016/03/10 09:57

_id	sigradi2011_101
id	sigradi2011_101
authors	Tosello, María Elena; Martino, Silvana: Rodriguez, Guillermo
year	2011
title	El libro hipermedial de la memoria plural. Una historia sin fin [The hypermedia book of plural memory. A never-ending story]
source	SIGraDi 2011 [Proceedings of the 15th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics] Argentina - Santa Fe 16-18 November 2011, pp. 552-555
summary	The hybrid and augmented contemporary space, which integrates urban and interactive virtual spaces, implies particular ways of inhabiting that suggests new identities, promoting the constant alternation between its different worlds. We propose to analyze and understand the design, construction and appropriation processes in this new social space-time. These processes are not only guaranteed by the accessibility to new media, but they involve the organization of complex strategies which included the development of instruments, guidelines and landscapes that allow the migrations and interweaving between two realities that, for many digital immigrants, seems to be juxtaposed: the urban and the virtual.
series	SIGRADI
email
last changed	2016/03/10 10:01

_id	ecaade2011_077
id	ecaade2011_077
authors	Ettlinger, Or
year	2011
title	The Perceptual, the Virtual, and the Real: On the experience of place in the digital age
source	RESPECTING FRAGILE PLACES [29th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 978-9-4912070-1-3], University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Architecture (Slovenia) 21-24 September 2011, pp.925-932
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2011.925
wos	WOS:000335665500106
summary	Since the dawn of philosophical thought man has questioned the validity of his experience of the world around him: Is the world just as we perceive it to be, or does its true essence lie beyond our reach? In our own time, technological, social, and economic developments have made such philosophical concerns more relevant to our everyday lives than ever before. However, the available terminology for discussing such matters is often too limited to fully capture their nature. This paper proposes a consistent terminology for the discussion of such matters and suggests a model of the different aspects from which they are comprised. This terminology will be applied to, as well as presented through, issues that are pertinent to architectural theory, to the experience of places, and to the intangible sense of place which digital phenomena can sometimes provide.
keywords	Architectural theory; media theory; perceptual; virtual; real
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/05/01 23:21

_id	ecaade2011_127
id	ecaade2011_127
authors	Di Mascio, Danilo; Palka, Pierpaolo
year	2011
title	From the 3D survey “ad Oggetto” to the technological representation of the architecture: The case study of Caporciano
source	RESPECTING FRAGILE PLACES [29th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 978-9-4912070-1-3], University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Architecture (Slovenia) 21-24 September 2011, pp.829-836
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2011.829
wos	WOS:000335665500095
summary	In this paper we are to present a research, still in progress, whose main objective is the desire to develop and test an alternative method of surveying, representing and analyzing buildings that are part of a minor historical-artistic heritage. The instruments used and the proposed methodology want to give an alternative to other solutions such as 3D laser scanners and photogrammetry, which would be not only expensive, but also difficult to use in small and irregular spaces, typical of the old Italian villages. The case study that will be presented is Caporciano, a small medieval village in Abruzzo (a region at the centre of Italy), in the internal area of the region affected by a violent earth quake in 2009. This tragic event has put the spotlights on the problems and the fragility of these small villages, which represent an important local resource of cultural importance, and therefore must be preserved for the future generation. In order to properly act in these areas, it is necessary to thoroughly know the actions to be taken for its recovery or conservation, and the present methodology allows the creation of this knowledge made up of several drawings, both two-dimensional and three-dimensional.
keywords	3D survey; cultural heritage; 3d modeling; CAD; Abruzzo region
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/05/01 23:21

_id	sigradi2020_903
id	sigradi2020_903
authors	Herran Cuartas, Coppelia
year	2020
title	Domestic spaces design for allow income housing
source	SIGraDi 2020 [Proceedings of the 24th Conference of the Iberoamerican Society of Digital Graphics - ISSN: 2318-6968] Online Conference 18 - 20 November 2020, pp. 903-911
summary	This research is related to the urban transformation that Medellín underwent during the 2004-2011 administrations, in which large architectural projects were implemented in the poorest and most violent areas of the city. To inquire about the effectiveness of these interventions, we look at one of the housing projects worthies of different international recognitions, called the Housing Consolidation of the Quebrada Juan Bobo. Characterized by generating Social Interest Housing (Vivienda de Interés Social-VIS in Spanish) in the creek’s basin, this project benefited 1,240 people who were relocated within the same neighborhood, including some on the same space next to the creek, where their old home was built.
keywords	Live, Quality of life, Home, Domestic practices, Informality
series	SIGraDi
email
last changed	2021/07/16 11:53

_id	acadia11_112
id	acadia11_112
authors	Klinger, Kevin
year	2011
title	Informing Design through Production Formulations
source	ACADIA 11: Integration through Computation [Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA)] [ISBN 978-1-6136-4595-6] Banff (Alberta) 13-16 October, 2011, pp. 112-113
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2011.112
summary	Over the decade of the aughts, architectural discourse has charted a new course, and in the wake of the digital effect on mainstream architectural thinking, we find ourselves in a great age of exploration. Research in digital fabrication has moved from the general to the specific, in that it aims to focus efforts related to technological impact on particular cases and variable parameters which contribute to even larger ideas, such as manufacturing, the social impact, sustainable practices, etc. Specific work on building components, coupled with a pragmatic rigor about durability, strength, and production have provided concrete examples of work that spin out of these design-through-production investigations. To be certain, each new design-through-production project explores unique territory and contributes to the knowledge map by adding to a matrix of possible applications. Still, we align our work with the age-old discipline of architectural thinking, while privileging “Making, Materials, Performance, Form, and Function.” Indeed, form is informed by performance! The principles that govern the human decision-making, in light of this new kind of digitally generated work have yet to be clearly articulated, but techniques and methods have expanded to create new opportunities for making architecture. In fact, research has tended to be less about framing the new principles for making digital architecture and more about adding specific cases to the knowledge base, as each new project helps to define the collective body.
series	ACADIA
type	moderator overview
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:51

_id	eaea2015_t1_paper05
id	eaea2015_t1_paper05
authors	Lobo de Carvalho, Jose Maria; Heitor, Teresa
year	2015
title	The Adaptive Reuse of the Arco do Cego ancient Car-Barn Structure in Lisbon
source	ENVISIONING ARCHITECTURE: IMAGE, PERCEPTION AND COMMUNICATION OF HERITAGE [ISBN 978-83-7283-681-6],Lodz University of Technology, 23-26 September 2015, pp.61-70
summary	This paper presents the example of the reconversion of an important tram station from the origins of electricity in Portugal that was still in use until the late 1990’s but became redundant since then. Its significant urban presence and the importance of preserving the memory of the old trams that were still in use some years ago in Lisbon, led to an innovative solution, combining public value and heritage protection. In 2011, the Lisbon City Council agreed to give the building and its site for university use, namely to be transformed into a student’s facility, as a study, leisure, recreational and cultural space of the IST, open 24h a day. This new university building, located just one block away from the traditional IST compound, was called IST Learning Center and extended the notion of campus outside its walls and into the city’s urban fabric.
keywords	reconversion; university; tram
series	EAEA
email
last changed	2016/04/22 11:52

_id	ijac201310105
id	ijac201310105
authors	Agkathidis, Asterios and Andre_ Brown
year	2013
title	Tree-Structure Canopy:A Case Study in Design and Fabrication of Complex Steel Structures using Digital Tools
source	International Journal of Architectural Computing vol. 11 - no. 1, 87-104
summary	This paper describes and reflects on the design and manufacturing process of the Tree-Structure canopy for the WestendGate Tower in Frankfurt upon Main, completed early 2011.The project investigated fabrication and assembly principles of complex steel structures as well as the integration of contemporary computational design, engineering, optimization and simulation techniques in a collaborative design approach. This paper focuses on the notion of modular standardization as opposed to non standard customized components. It also engages with issues relating to digital production tools and their impact on construction cost, material performance and tolerances. In addition it examines the reconfiguration of liability during a planning and construction process, an aspect which can be strongly determined by fabrication companies rather than the architect or designer.This paper is written as a reflection on the complete building process when contemporary digital tools are used from design through to fabrication. It studies both the generation of the steel structure as well the ETFE cushion skin. It reports on a collaborative project, where the main author was responsible for the canopies design, parameterization, digitalization and fabrication, as well as for the dissemination of the outcomes and findings during the design and realization process.As such it represents an example of research through design in a contemporary and evolving field.The canopy received a design award by the Hellenic Architecture Association.
series	journal
last changed	2019/05/24 09:55

_id	acadia12_47
id	acadia12_47
authors	Aish, Robert ; Fisher, Al ; Joyce, Sam ; Marsh, Andrew
year	2012
title	Progress Towards Multi-Criteria Design Optimisation Using Designscript With Smart Form, Robot Structural Analysis and Ecotect Building Performance Analysis"
source	ACADIA 12: Synthetic Digital Ecologies [Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) ISBN 978-1-62407-267-3] San Francisco 18-21 October, 2012), pp. 47-56
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2012.047
summary	Important progress towards the development of a system that enables multi-criteria design optimisation has recently been demonstrated during a research collaboration between Autodesk’s DesignScript development team, the University of Bath and the engineering consultancy Buro Happold. This involved integrating aspects of the Robot Structural Analysis application, aspects of the Ecotect building performance application and a specialist form finding solver called SMART Form (developed by Buro Happold) with DesignScript to create a single computation environment. This environment is intended for the generation and evaluation of building designs against both structural and building performance criteria, with the aim of expediently supporting computational optimisation and decision making processes that integrate across multiple design and engineering disciplines. A framework was developed to enable the integration of modeling environments with analysis and process control, based on the authors’ case studies and experience of applied performance driven design in practice. This more generalised approach (implemented in DesignScript) enables different designers and engineers to selectively configure geometry definition, form finding, analysis and simulation tools in an open-ended system without enforcing any predefined workflows or anticipating specific design strategies and allows for a full range of optimisation and decision making processes to be explored. This system has been demonstrated to practitioners during the Design Modeling Symposium, Berlin in 2011 and feedback from this has suggested further development.
keywords	Design Optimisation , Scripting , Form Finding , Structural Analysis , Building Performance
series	ACADIA
type	normal paper
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	sigradi2011_282
id	sigradi2011_282
authors	Alcantara Brod, Gustavo; Borda Almeida da Silva, Adriane; Freitas Pires, Janice
year	2011
title	Anamorfose na Praça: Um Encontro do Real e do Virtual [Anamorphosis in the square: the real meets the virtual]
source	SIGraDi 2011 [Proceedings of the 15th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics] Argentina - Santa Fe 16-18 November 2011, pp. 131-134
summary	This paper describes the process of creating anamorphic projection using digital tools in order to apply this technique to full color images that can then be printed and applied onto a surface. The experiment was done as an installation in the main square of the city of Pelotas - RS, intended to explore the perception of three-dimensional illusion produced by anamorphosis and verify the reaction of the general public while they experience the unusual view of the historic building in front of them.
series	SIGRADI
email
last changed	2016/03/10 09:47

_id	sigradi2011_084
id	sigradi2011_084
authors	Alves, Gilfranco; Pratschke, Anja
year	2011
title	Mediação digital e revisão dos processos de design em Arquitetura [Digital mediation and review of design processes in Architecture]
source	SIGraDi 2011 [Proceedings of the 15th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics] Argentina - Santa Fe 16-18 November 2011, pp. 35-38
summary	This paper presents partial results of doctoral research entitled Architecture, Semiotics and Second Order Cybernetics: observation, representation and performance in design process. The research is linked to the Nomads.usp research group and proposes a review of design process, considering the mediation of digital media by using concepts of Second order Cybernetics. This work start with the hypothesis that in a contemporary context, professional demands of architects and designers requires a different approach in relation to the concept of emergence in architecture, and also describes an experiment during the AA Visiting School SP 2011, the Strings / Supple Pavilion project.
keywords	Design processes; digital media; emergence; performance.; Second-order Cybernetics
series	SIGRADI
email
last changed	2016/03/10 09:47

_id	ecaade2011_021
id	ecaade2011_021
authors	Asanowicz, Aleksander
year	2011
title	Digital “serial vision” - new approach in urban composition teaching
source	RESPECTING FRAGILE PLACES [29th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 978-9-4912070-1-3], University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Architecture (Slovenia) 21-24 September 2011, pp.716-724
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2011.716
wos	WOS:000335665500083
summary	The paper discusses the following problem: How can digital technology are integrated with urban composition teaching to provide a better understanding of the aesthetical and emotional aspects of the city? It argues for the current need for an integration of computer modelling and the approaches developed form the work of K. Lynch, G. Cullen, R. Krier, F. Ching. The paper is based on the experience in design studio teaching and an experiment completed with students. The exercise shows the students that different spatial organization may cause different emotions according to the treatment of space-defining elements. The paper presents the background and context as well as describes the experimental environment and the student work.
keywords	Urban composition; serial vision; computer animation
series	eCAADe
email
last changed	2022/05/01 23:21

_id	caadria2017_182
id	caadria2017_182
authors	Austin, Matthew
year	2017
title	The Other Digital - What is the Glitch in Architecture?
source	P. Janssen, P. Loh, A. Raonic, M. A. Schnabel (eds.), Protocols, Flows, and Glitches - Proceedings of the 22nd CAADRIA Conference, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China, 5-8 April 2017, pp. 551-559
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.2017.551
summary	This paper will discuss and investigate the issues with the concept of 'glitch' in architecture. There are currently two definitions that sit in a symbiotic relationship with each other; Moradi's (2004) and Menkman's (2011). This paper will explore the implications of these two approaches, while investigating the possibility of a third, unique definition (the encoded transform), and what effect they have on the possibility for a 'glitch architecture'. The paper will then focus on the glitches' capacity to be disruptive within the design process. In the context of architecture, it has been previously argued that the inclusion of glitches within a design process can easily create a process that does not 'converge' to a desired design outcome, but instead shifts haphazardly within a set of family resemblances (Austin & Perin 2015). Further to this, it will be revealed that this 'divergent' quality of glitches is due to the encoded nature of architectural production.
keywords	Glitch aesthetics; Theory; Algorithmic Design; Process.
series	CAADRIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	sigradi2011_290
id	sigradi2011_290
authors	Azevedo de Oliveira, Fabiana Mabel
year	2011
title	Redes sociotécnicas: a concepção de uma interface [Sociotechnical network: design of an interface]
source	SIGraDi 2011 [Proceedings of the 15th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics] Argentina - Santa Fe 16-18 November 2011, pp. 568-570
summary	This paper aims to examine the forms of representation of the processes of creation of Web interfaces for platforms. Its origin is associated with a proposal that understands the new communications technologies, specifically the Internet, and the possibility of formation of a sociotechnical network, as a tool to expand the ways of social interaction (Egler, 2007). Increasing access to information and communication, making the process more open, redefining the relationships and social exchanges, and allowing its mediation by digital processes.
series	SIGRADI
email
last changed	2016/03/10 09:47

_id	caadria2011_032
id	caadria2011_032
authors	Barker, Tom; Nicole Gardner, M. Hank Haeusler and Martin Tomitsch
year	2011
title	Last train to trancentral: From infrastructure to ‘info’structure: a case study of embedding digital technology into existing public transport infrastructures
source	Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia / The University of Newcastle, Australia 27-29 April 2011, pp. 335-344
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.2011.335
summary	The research presented in this paper is an investigation into how ubiquitous computing technologies can contribute to improving the quality of existing public transport environments through the integration of responsive technologies. The paper argues that given the significant challenges associated with transport infrastructure expansion including cost, disruption, energy use, and implementation periods augmenting existing transport environments offers alternate measures to manage demand and improve the user experience. The paper proposes improving transport environments by integrating smart, or responsive, digital information into the existing physical fabric in a coherent architectural and spatial context. This approach offers an opportunity to shift away from the static nature of public transport infrastructure to the dynamic notion of public transport ‘info’structure. The research uses an architecture graduate studio as a foundation to investigate the objectives. The contribution of this paper is an investigation of ways in which digital technologies and networked communications can transform and augment public transport infrastructure, allowing new forms of intelligent, adaptive, interactive and self-aware architecture to be developed.
keywords	Urban Informatics; media facades; public transport; responsive technologies; smart environments
series	CAADRIA
email
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	cf2011_p170
id	cf2011_p170
authors	Barros, Mário; Duarte José, Chaparro Bruno
year	2011
title	Thonet Chairs Design Grammar: a Step Towards the Mass Customization of Furniture
source	Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures 2011 [Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures / ISBN 9782874561429] Liege (Belgium) 4-8 July 2011, pp. 181-200.
summary	The paper presents the first phase of research currently under development that is focused on encoding Thonet design style into a generative design system using a shape grammar. The ultimate goal of the work is the design and production of customizable chairs using computer assisted tools, establishing a feasible practical model of the paradigm of mass customization (Davis, 1987). The current research step encompasses the following three steps: (1) codification of the rules describing Thonet design style into a shape grammar; (2) implementing the grammar into a computer tool as parametric design; and (3) rapid prototyping of customized chair designs within the style. Future phases will address the transformation of the Thonet’s grammar to create a new style and the production of real chair designs in this style using computer aided manufacturing. Beginning in the 1830’s, Austrian furniture designer Michael Thonet began experimenting with forming steam beech, in order to produce lighter furniture using fewer components, when compared with the standards of the time. Using the same construction principles and standardized elements, Thonet produced different chairs designs with a strong formal resemblance, creating his own design language. The kit assembly principle, the reduced number of elements, industrial efficiency, and the modular approach to furniture design as a system of interchangeable elements that may be used to assemble different objects enable him to become a pioneer of mass production (Noblet, 1993). The most paradigmatic example of the described vision of furniture design is the chair No. 14 produced in 1858, composed of six structural elements. Due to its simplicity, lightness, ability to be stored in flat and cubic packaging for individual of collective transportation, respectively, No. 14 became one of the most sold chairs worldwide, and it is still in production nowadays. Iconic examples of mass production are formally studied to provide insights to mass customization studies. The study of the shape grammar for the generation of Thonet chairs aimed to ensure rules that would make possible the reproduction of the selected corpus, as well as allow for the generation of new chairs within the developed grammar. Due to the wide variety of Thonet chairs, six chairs were randomly chosen to infer the grammar and then this was fine tuned by checking whether it could account for the generation of other designs not in the original corpus. Shape grammars (Stiny and Gips, 1972) have been used with sucesss both in the analysis as in the synthesis of designs at different scales, from product design to building and urban design. In particular, the use of shape grammars has been efficient in the characterization of objects’ styles and in the generation of new designs within the analyzed style, and it makes design rules amenable to computers implementation (Duarte, 2005). The literature includes one other example of a grammar for chair design by Knight (1980). In the second step of the current research phase, the outlined shape grammar was implemented into a computer program, to assist the designer in conceiving and producing customized chairs using a digital design process. This implementation was developed in Catia by converting the grammar into an equivalent parametric design model. In the third phase, physical models of existing and new chair designs were produced using rapid prototyping. The paper describes the grammar, its computer implementation as a parametric model, and the rapid prototyping of physical models. The generative potential of the proposed digital process is discussed in the context of enabling the mass customization of furniture. The role of the furniture designer in the new paradigm and ideas for further work also are discussed.
keywords	Thonet; furniture design; chair; digital design process; parametric design; shape grammar
series	CAAD Futures
email
last changed	2012/02/11 19:21

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