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	acadia17_238
id	acadia17_238
authors	El-Zanfaly, Dina
year	2017
title	A Multisensory Computational Model for Human-Machine Making and Learning
source	ACADIA 2017: DISCIPLINES & DISRUPTION [Proceedings of the 37th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) ISBN 978-0-692-96506-1] Cambridge, MA 2-4 November, 2017), pp. 238-247
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2017.238
summary	Despite the advancement of digital design and fabrication technologies, design practices still follow Alberti’s hylomorphic model of separating the design phase from the construction phase. This separation hinders creativity and flexibility in reacting to surprises that may arise during the construction phase. These surprises often come as a result of a mismatch between the sophistication allowed by the digital technologies and the designer’s experience using them. These technologies and expertise depend on one human sense, vision, ignoring other senses that could be shaped and used in design and learning. Moreover, pedagogical approaches in the design studio have not yet fully integrated digital technologies as design companions; rather, they have been used primarily as tools for representation and materialization. This research introduces a multisensory computational model for human-machine making and learning. The model is based on a recursive process of embodied, situated, multisensory interaction between the learner, the machines and the thing-in-the-making. This approach depends heavily on computational making, abstracting, and describing the making process. To demonstrate its effectiveness, I present a case study from a course I taught at MIT in which students built full-scale, lightweight structures with embedded electronics. This model creates a loop between design and construction that develops students’ sensory experience and spatial reasoning skills while at the same time enabling them to use digital technologies as design companions. The paper shows that making can be used to teach design while enabling the students to make judgments on their own and to improvise.
keywords	education, society & culture; fabrication
series	ACADIA
email	d.elzanfaly@gmail.com
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	sigradi2009_835
id	sigradi2009_835
authors	El-Zanfaly, Dina
year	2009
title	Design by Algorithms: A Generative design system for Modular Housing Arrangement
source	SIGraDi 2009 - Proceedings of the 13th Congress of the Iberoamerican Society of Digital Graphics, Sao Paulo, Brazil, November 16-18, 2009
summary	This paper explores the applicability of algorithmic design in a real-world architectural context; through the creation of a generative system for modular housing arrangements (MHAS). It is a user interface in Autodesk Maya based on stochastic search to produce various alternatives for the modular housing arrangements. Through the UI, the designer can enter parameters and rules, and then the MHAS will produce 3D alternatives according to the specified frame conditions and renders a selected view. This generative system is expected to facilitate the design process, generate unexpected solutions for well specified rules, and save time consumption in the early design process.
keywords	Generative design; Algorithmic design; stochastic search; Modular housing
series	SIGRADI
email	samir_hosni@hotmail.com
last changed	2016/03/10 09:51

_id	sigradi2011_361
id	sigradi2011_361
authors	El-Zanfaly, Dina
year	2011
title	Active Shapes. Introducing guidelines for designing kinetic architectural structures
source	SIGraDi 2011 [Proceedings of the 15th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics] Argentina - Santa Fe 16-18 November 2011, pp. 176-179
summary	This paper proposes guidelines for designing kinetic architectural structures, in which rules based on Shape Grammars are used for motion capturing and design. There is an increasing demand for adaptive architecture that reconfigures itself physically to meet functional or climatic changes. These guidelines provide a way for the designer to describe and design novel kinetic structures. Based on Shape Grammars, the rule A ->t(A) is introduced. (A) means an Active Shape, that is a physical shape with motion observed or created by the designer.t(A) means a new Active Shape produced by applying one or more transformations t on the original Active Shape to produce a novel motion.
keywords	MotionGrammars; Kinetic Architectural Design; Shape Grammars.
series	SIGRADI
email	dzanfaly@mit.edu
last changed	2016/03/10 09:51

_id	cf2017_533
id	cf2017_533
authors	El-Zanfaly, Dina; Abdelmohsen, Sherif
year	2017
title	Imitation in Action: A Pedagogical Approach for Making Kinetic Structures
source	Gülen Çagdas, Mine Özkar, Leman F. Gül and Ethem Gürer (Eds.) Future Trajectories of Computation in Design [17th International Conference, CAAD Futures 2017, Proceedings / ISBN 978-975-561-482-3] Istanbul, Turkey, July 12-14, 2017, pp. 533-545.
summary	One of the problems in teaching students how to design kinetic architecture is the difficulty of helping them grasp concepts like motion, physical computing and fabrication, concepts not generally dealt with in conventional architectural projects. In this paper, we introduce a pedagogical method for better utilizing prototyping and explore the role prototyping plays in learning and conceptualizing design ideas. Our method is based on building the learner’s sensory experience through iteration and focusing on the process as well as the product. Specifically, our research attempts to address the following questions: How can architecture students anticipate and feel motion while they design kinetic prototypes? How do their prototypes enable them to explore design ideas? As a case study, we applied our methodology in an 8-week workshop in a fabrication laboratory in Cairo, Egypt. The workshop was open to young architects and students who had completed at least four semesters of study at the university. We describe the pedagogical approach we developed to build the sensory experience of making motion, and demonstrate the basic setting and stages of the workshop. We show how a cyclical learning process, based on perception and action -- copying and iteration -- contributed to the students’ learning experience and enabled them to create and improvise on their own.
keywords	Kinetic Architecture, Digital Fabrication, Sensory Experience, Computational Making, Imitation
series	CAAD Futures
email	dzanfaly@mit.edu, sherifmorad@aucegypt.edu, sherifmorad@eng.asu.edu.eg
last changed	2017/12/01 14:38

_id	ecaade2017_ws-ioh
id	ecaade2017_ws-ioh
authors	Elbanhawy, Eiman, Gooch, Daniel, Georgiou, Theodoros and Chatzivasileiadi, Aikaterini
year	2017
title	Internet of Homes (IoH) - Ambient Displays and Wearable Devices for Eco-feedback in Smart Homes
source	Fioravanti, A, Cursi, S, Elahmar, S, Gargaro, S, Loffreda, G, Novembri, G, Trento, A (eds.), ShoCK! - Sharing Computational Knowledge! - Proceedings of the 35th eCAADe Conference - Volume 1, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, 20-22 September 2017, pp. 45-48
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2017.1.045
series	eCAADe
email	Eiman.Elbanhawy@open.ac.uk
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	ascaad2021_108
id	ascaad2021_108
authors	Elbaz, Noran; Mohamed Ezzeldin
year	2021
title	Phenomenological BIM Design Evaluation of Indoor Spatial Configurations
source	Abdelmohsen, S, El-Khouly, T, Mallasi, Z and Bennadji, A (eds.), Architecture in the Age of Disruptive Technologies: Transformations and Challenges [9th ASCAAD Conference Proceedings ISBN 978-1-907349-20-1] Cairo (Egypt) [Virtual Conference] 2-4 March 2021, pp. 371-383
summary	The studies of evaluating spaces’ different spatial configurations mostly cover the physical dimensions; especially when using digital platforms such as BIM. The gap between the physical dimension of abstract spaces, and the metaphorical senses of these places, has always been a missing layer when testing the quality of space. The current BIM tools – as a digital platform – are mostly based only on physical dimensions of spaces, where the phenomenological approach is not considered as one of the layers or attributes when evaluating the spatial configurations of indoor spaces. This missing layer of the user perceptual experience leads to incomprehensive results of spatial design evaluation. This paper aims to identify the gap between the qualitative and quantitative studies of space configurations and the experiential dimension of indoor spaces in order to increase the accuracy of design evaluation by filling the missing gaps through adding; to the spatial configurations of physical ‘Space’ another dimensions and attributes that are related to senses of ‘Place,’ highlighting the need of creating a SIM, “Sensory Information Modeling,” a digital platform for Places integrated with BIM for Spaces.
series	ASCAAD
email	elbaz_noran@yahoo.com
last changed	2021/08/09 13:13

_id	2214
authors	Elber, Gershon
year	1996
title	Error bounded piecewise linear approximation of freeform surfaces
source	Computer-Aided Design, Vol. 28 (1) (1996) pp. 51-57
summary	Two methods for piecewise linear approximation of freeform surfaces are presented. One scheme exploits an intermediate bilinear approximation and the other employs global curvature bounds. Both methodsattempt to adaptively create piecewise linear approximations of the surfaces, employing the maximum norm.
keywords	Adaptive Sampling, Polygonization, Bilinear Fit, Freeform Curves
series	journal paper
last changed	2003/05/15 21:33

_id	ascaad2004_paper1
id	ascaad2004_paper1
authors	Eldin, Neil N. and K.A. Eldrandaly
year	2004
title	A Computer-Aided System for Site Selection of Major Capital Investments
source	eDesign in Architecture: ASCAAD's First International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design, 7-9 December 2004, KFUPM, Saudi Arabia
summary	Site selection for capital investments is a crucial complex decision for owners and analysts. Difficulties are caused by the inclusion of the numerous possible sites that may qualify, multiple objectives that could also contradict each other, intangible objectives that are difficult to quantify, diversity of interest groups, uncertainties regarding external factors such as government legislations, uncertainties regarding the timing required for permitting the sites in question, and unknown construction challenges for the different sites. As such, these exercises are multi-facetted and necessitate the employment of analysts who possess in-depth knowledge in a number of fields. More importantly, a solution must satisfy a number of physical suitability criteria, as well as, meeting a number of social, economical, environmental and political requirements. Consequently, a number of specialized tools is frequently utilized to ensure reaching an optimal decision. This paper presents a new system that integrates Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) operations within a Geographic Information System (GIS) application to determine the optimum site for a specified facility. The system was validated through a facility for a selected metropolitan area.
series	ASCAAD
last changed	2007/04/08 19:47

_id	sigradi2004_360
id	sigradi2004_360
authors	Eleanna Cadalso Vera
year	2004
title	Hmo: hibridos entre la maquina y el organismo. Procesos de aproximación a la realidad material [Hmo: Hybrids Between Machine and Organism. Processes to Approach Material Reality]
source	SIGraDi 2004 - [Proceedings of the 8th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics] Porte Alegre - Brasil 10-12 november 2004
summary	How do we imagine the future of accessories? Will they be made of metals such as gold, silver, bronze and precious stones? Or will they be conceived from new synthetic ergonomic and intelligent materials such as titanium, carbon, plastics and elastometers? HMO is an experimental project that investigates this area of design and science. Interested in the balance between technology and nature, this project seeks to participate in the new generation of accessories, conceived as artifacts made of smart material that will amplify our human senses and natural capacities in the near future.
series	SIGRADI
email	ecc0d3@yahoo.com
last changed	2016/03/10 09:51

_id	sigradi2004_345
id	sigradi2004_345
authors	Eleanna Cadalso; Alejandro Haiek Coll; Pedro Soza Ruiz
year	2004
title	Modelación por captura de movimiento [Modeling by means of Movement Capture]
source	SIGraDi 2004 - [Proceedings of the 8th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics] Porte Alegre - Brasil 10-12 november 2004
summary	Keyframing, Morphing, Inverse Kinematics; they are all animation technics which have been explored by diverse groups of architects, academics and students, searching for new horizons in the proyecting process development, pushing forward the present limits of proyecting methodology. We define this project starting by the explorative use of animation tools as experimental variables in reformulating our design processes. Data input have been traditionally carried out using classic interfaces such as keyboard, mouse, graphics tablet, among others. Despite this is accepted by many as the standard way of communicating with machines, we think this is still very far from the ideal way to design and model new proposals. In this context we propose to investigate a new way to approach to the computed aided modelling process, questioning and reformulating traditional interfaces in user .machine communication.
series	SIGRADI
email	eccode@hotmail.com, haiek@uchile.cl, psoza@uchile.cl
last changed	2016/03/10 09:51

_id	ga0220
id	ga0220
authors	Eleni, P., Turner, A. and Thum, R.
year	2002
title	Interacting unities: an agent-based system
source	International Conference on Generative Art
summary	Recently architects have been inspired by Thompson’s Cartesian deformations and Waddington’s flexible topological surface to work within a dynamic field characterized by forces. In this more active space of interactions, movement is the medium through which form evolves. This paper explores the interaction between pedestrians and their environment by regarding it as a process occurring between the two. It is hypothesized that the recurrent interaction between pedestrians and environment can lead to a structural coupling between those elements. Every time a change occurs in each one of them, as an expression of its own structural dynamics, it triggers changes to the other one. An agent-based system has been developed in order to explore that interaction, where the two interacting elements, agents (pedestrians) and environment, are autonomous units with a set of internal rules. The result is a landscape where each agent locally modifies its environment that in turn affects its movement, while the other agents respond to the new environment at a later time, indicating that the phenomenon of stigmergy is possible to take place among interactions with human analogy. It is found that it is the environment’s internal rules that determine the nature and extent of change.
series	other
email	pgeleni@otenet.gr
more	http://www.generativeart.com/
last changed	2003/08/07 17:25

_id	ecaade2020_290
id	ecaade2020_290
authors	Elesawy, Amr Alaaeldin, Signer, Mario, Seshadri, Bharath and Schlueter, Arno
year	2020
title	Aerial Photogrammetry in Remote Locations - A workflow for using 3D point cloud data in building energy modeling
source	Werner, L and Koering, D (eds.), Anthropologic: Architecture and Fabrication in the cognitive age - Proceedings of the 38th eCAADe Conference - Volume 1, TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 16-18 September 2020, pp. 723-732
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2020.1.723
summary	Building energy modelling (BEM) results are highly affected by the surrounding environment, due to the impact of solar radiation on the site. Hence, modelling the context is a crucial step in the design process. This is challenging when access to the geometrical data of the built and natural environment is unavailable as in remote villages. The acquisition of accurate data through conventional surveying proves to be costly and time consuming, especially in areas with a steep and complex terrain. Photogrammetry using drone-captured aerial images has emerged as an innovative solution to facilitate surveying and modeling. Nevertheless, the workflow of translating the photogrammetry output from data points to surfaces readable by BEM tools proves to be tedious and unclear. This paper presents a streamlined and reproducible approach for constructing accurate building models from photogrammetric data points to use for architectural design and energy analysis in early design stage projects.
keywords	Building Energy Modeling; Photogrammetry; 3D Point Clouds; Low-energy architecture; Multidisciplinary design; Education
series	eCAADe
email	elesawy@arch.ethz.ch
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	sigradi2015_2.213
id	sigradi2015_2.213
authors	Eleutheriou, Vanessa; Schreiner, Tatiana; Fialho, Francisco Antonio Pereira; Fadel, Luciane
year	2015
title	Design Thinking as collaborative tool for the development of human and intelligent cities towards the common good
source	SIGRADI 2015 [Proceedings of the 19th Conference of the Iberoamerican Society of Digital Graphics - vol. 1 - ISBN: 978-85-8039-135-0] Florianópolis, SC, Brasil 23-27 November 2015, pp. 51-56.
summary	A human and intelligent city has as key feature the participation and cooperation of the people in the city life. Considering rationality or collective intelligence one that emerges when a group of individuals works for the common good (commons), this paper aims to observe, with theoretical and conceptual lens, the emergence of the tragedy of the commons during the development of more human and smart cities and how Design Thinking can be introduced as a tool in managing this issue.
keywords	Design Thinking, Smart Cities, Commons, Cooperation
series	SIGRADI
email	veleutheriou@gmail.com
last changed	2016/03/10 09:51

_id	270d
authors	Elezkurtaj, Tomor and Franck, Georg
year	2001
title	Evolutionary Algorithms in Urban Planning
source	CORP 2001, Vienna, pp. 269-272
summary	The functions supported by commercial CAD software are drawing, construction and presentation. Until now, no programssupporting the creative part of architectural and urban problem solving are on the market. The grand hopes of symbolic AI ofprogramming creative architectural and urban design have been disappointed. In the meantime, methods called New AI are available.Among these methods, evolutionary algorithms are particularly promising for solving design problems. The paper presents anapproach to town panning and architectural problem solving that combines an evolutionary strategy (ES), a genetic algorithm (GA)and a Particle System. The problem that remains incapable of being solved algorithmically has to do with the fact that in architectureand urbanizm form as well as function count. Because function relates to comfort, easiness of use, and aesthetics as well, it ishopeless to fully specify the fitness function of architecture. The approach presented circumvents a full specification through dividinglabor between the software and its user. The fitness function of town plans is defined in terms only of proportions of the shapes, areasand buildings to be accommodated and topological relations between them. The rest is left to the human designer who interactivelyintervenes in the evolution game as displayed on the screen.
series	other
email	tomor@osiris.iemar.tuwien.ac.at
more	www.corp.at
last changed	2002/12/19 12:17

_id	5007
authors	Elezkurtaj, Tomor and Franck, Georg
year	1999
title	Genetic Algorithms in Support of Creative Architectural Design
source	Architectural Computing from Turing to 2000 [eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-5-7] Liverpool (UK) 15-17 September 1999, pp. 645-651
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.1999.645
summary	The functions supported by commercial CAAD software are drawing, construction and presentation. Up to now few programs supporting the creative part of architectural problem solving have become available. The grand hopes of symbolic AI to program creative architectural design have been disappointing. In the meantime, methods called referred to as New AI have become available. Such methods includegenetic algorithms (GA). But GA, though successfully applied in other fields of engineering, still waits to be applied broadly in architectural design. A main problem lies in defining function in architecture. It is much harder to define the function of a building than that of a machine. Without specifying the function of the artifact, the fitness function of the design variants participating in the survival game of artificial evolution remains undetermined. It is impossible to fully specify the fitness function of architecture. The approach presented is one of circumventing a full specification through dividing labor between the GA software and its user. The fitness function of architectural ground plans is typically defined in terms only of the proportions of the room to be accommodated and certain topological relations between them. The rest is left to the human designer who interactively intervenes in the evolution game as displayed on the screen.
keywords	Genetic Algorithms, Creative Architectural Design
series	eCAADe
email	tomor@osiris.iemar.tuwien.ac.at, franck@osiris.iemar.tuwien.ac.at
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	f91f
authors	Elezkurtaj, Tomor and Franck, Georg
year	2000
title	Geometry and Topology. A User-Interface to Artificial Evolution in Architectural Design
source	Promise and Reality: State of the Art versus State of Practice in Computing for the Design and Planning Process [18th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-6-5] Weimar (Germany) 22-24 June 2000, pp. 309-312
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2000.309
summary	The paper presents a system that supports architectural floor plan design interactively. The method of problem solving implemented is a combination of an evolutionary strategy (ES) and a genetic algorithm (GA). The problem to be solved consists of fitting a number of rooms (n) into an outline by observing functional requirements. The rooms themselves are specified concerning size, function and preferred proportion. The functional requirements entering the fitness functions are expressed in terms of the proportions of the rooms and the neighbourhood relations between them. The system is designed to deal with one of the core problems of computer supported creativity in architecture. For architecture, form not only, but also function is relevant. Without specifying the function that a piece of architecture is supposed to fulfil, it is hard to support its design by computerised methods of problem solving and optimisation. In architecture, however, function relates to comfort, easiness of use, and aesthetics as well. Since it is extraordinary hard, if not impossible, to operationalise aesthetics, computer aided support of creative architectural design is still in its infancy.
keywords	New AI, Genetic Algorithms, Artificial Evolution, creative Architectural Design, Interactive Design, Topology
series	eCAADe
email	tomor@osiris.iemar.tuwien.ac.at
more	http://www.uni-weimar.de/ecaade/
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	c201
authors	Elfes, Alberto and Talukdar, Sarosh N.
year	1983
title	A Distributed Control System for a Mobile Robot
source	7 p. : ill. Pittsburgh: Design Research Center, CMU, December, 1983. includes bibliography
summary	This paper describes a distributed software control structure developed for the CMU Rover, an advanced mobile robot equipped with a variety of sensors. Expert modules control the operation of the sensors and actuators, interpret sensory and feedback information, build an internal model of the robot's working environment, devise strategies to accomplish proposed tasks and execute these strategies. Each expert module is composed of a pair of (master, slave) processes, where the master process controls the scheduling and working of the slave process. Communication among expert modules occurs asynchronously over a blackboard structure. Information specific to the execution of a given task is provided through a control plan. The system is distributed over a network of processors. Real-time operating system kernels local to each processor and an interprocess message communication mechanism ensure transparency of the underlying network structure. The various parts of the system are presented in this paper and future work to be performed is mentioned
keywords	robotics, control
series	CADline
last changed	2003/06/02 13:58

_id	837b
authors	Elger, Dietrich and Russell, Peter
year	2000
title	Using the World Wide Web as a Communication and Presentation Forum for Students of Architecture
source	Promise and Reality: State of the Art versus State of Practice in Computing for the Design and Planning Process [18th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-6-5] Weimar (Germany) 22-24 June 2000, pp. 61-64
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2000.061
summary	Since 1997, the Institute for Industrial Building Production (ifib) has been carrying out upper level design studios under the framework of the Netzentwurf or Net-Studio. The Netzentwurf is categorized as a virtual design studio in that the environment for presentation, criticism and communication is web based. This allows lessons learned from research into Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) to be adapted to the special conditions indigenous to the architectural design studio. Indeed, an aim of the Netzentwurf is the creation and evolution of a design studio planing platform. In the Winter semester 1999-2000, ifib again carried out two Netzentwurf studios. involving approximately 30 students from the Faculty of Architecture, University of Karlsruhe. The projects differed from previous net studios in that both studios encompassed an inter-university character in addition to the established framework of the Netzentwurf. The first project, the re-use of Fort Kleber in Wolfisheim by Strasbourg, was carried out as part of the Virtual Upperrhine University of Architecture (VuuA) involving over 140 students from various disciplines in six institutions from five universities in France, Switzerland and Germany. The second project, entitled "Future, Inc.", involved the design of an office building for a scenario 20 years hence. This project was carried out in parallel with the Technical University Cottbus using the same methodology and program for two separate building sites.
keywords	Virtual Design Studios, Architectural Graphics, Presentation Techniques
series	eCAADe
email	dietrich.elger@ifib.uni-karlsruhe.de
more	http://www.uni-weimar.de/ecaade/
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	8862
authors	Elger, Dietrich and Russell, Peter
year	2001
title	Net-based Architectural Design: The Difficult Path from the Presentation of Architectural Design in the World Wide Web to Teamwork in Virtual Planning Offices: A Field Report
source	Architectural Information Management [19th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9523687-8-1] Helsinki (Finland) 29-31 August 2001, pp. 371-375
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2001.371
summary	In the last 18 months, students from the Institute for Industrial Building Production (ifib) have undertaken six design projects as so-called Netzentwurf (“Net- Design”) studios in collaboration with different universities in Europe. These studios have used a web-based collaboration platform established at an independent web site and use didactical methods for web based design collaboration established over the past four years at ifib. A total of some 500 students have been involved in these projects and all have used the common platform to carry out their presentation and communication work.
keywords	Virtual Design Studio, Collaboration, CSCW, Architectural Graphics
series	eCAADe
email	russell@bazillus.architektur.rwth-aachen.de
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	7e02
authors	Elger, Dietrich and Russell, Peter
year	2002
title	The Virtual Campus: A new place for (lifelong) learning?
source	Connecting the Real and the Virtual - design e-ducation [20th eCAADe Conference Proceedings / ISBN 0-9541183-0-8] Warsaw (Poland) 18-20 September 2002, pp. 472-477
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.ecaade.2002.472
summary	472 eCAADe 20 [design e-ducation] Modeling Real and Virtual Worlds Session 13 In the early spring of 2001 a collection of German universities founded a virtual faculty of architecture, which was named „Liquid Campus“. Current thinking about future forms of education in the field of architecture combined with over 4 years of experience with net-based design studios, led to questions about the future of existing universities, their buildings and their use. This problem was put to 43 students in the form of a design exercise to create a place for a virtual university. In the current situation, in which the administration of knowledge is more and more located on the internet, and even the so-called meeting places themselves can be virtualised through the help of video-conference-software, the exercise was to design a virtual campus in the framework and to carry out this design work in a simulation of distributed practice. Initial criticism of the project came from the students in that exemplary working methods were not described, but left for the students to discover on their own. The creation of a concept for the Liquid Campus meant that the participants had to imagine working in a world without the face to face contacts that form the basis (at present) of personal interaction. Additionally, the assignment to create or design possible links between the real and the virtual was not an easy task for students who normally design and plan real physical buildings. Even the tutors had difficulties in producing focused constructive criticism about a virtual campus; in effect the virtualisation of the university leads to a distinctive blurring of its boundaries. The project was conducted using the pedagogical framework of the netzentwurf.de; a relatively well established Internet based communication platform. This means that the studio was organised in the „traditional“ structure consisting of an initial 3 day workshop, a face to face midterm review, and a collective final review, held 3,5 months later in the Museum of Communication in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In teams of 3 (with each student from a different university and a tutor located at a fourth) the students worked over the Internet to produce collaborative design solutions. The groups ended up with designs that spanned a range of solutions between real and virtual architecture. Examples of the student’s work (which is all available online) as well as their working methods are described. It must be said that the energy invested in the studio by the organisers of the virtual campus (as well as the students who took part) was considerably higher than in normal design studios and the paper seeks to look critically at the effort in relation to the outcomes achieved. The range and depth of the student’s work was surprising to many in the project, especially considering the initial hurdles (both social and technological) that had to overcome. The self-referential nature of the theme, the method and the working environment encouraged the students to take a more philosophical approach to the design problem. The paper explores the implications of the student’s conclusions on the nature of the university in general and draws conclusions specific to architectural education and the role of architecture in this process.
series	eCAADe
email	russell@bazillus.architektur.rwth-aachen.de
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

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