| authors |
Mahalingam, Ganapathy |
| year |
2001 |
| title |
POCHE' - Polyhedral Objects Controlled by Heteromorphic Effectors |
| source |
Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures [ISBN 0-7923-7023-6] Eindhoven, 8-11 July 2001, pp. 603-614 |
| summary |
This paper takes the architectural concept of poche' and uses it to explore new possibilities in transforming polyhedra with effectors. In many computer-aided design systems, architectural entities are represented as well-formed polyhedra. Parameters and functions can be used to modify the forms of these polyhedra. For example, a cuboid can be transformed by changing its length, breadth and height, which are its parameters. In a more complex example, a polyhedron can be transformed by a set of user-defined functions, which control its vertices, edges and faces. These parameters and functions can further be embodied as effectors that control and transform the polyhedra in extremely complex ways. An effector is an entity, which has a transforming effect on another entity or system. An effector is more complex than a parameter or function. An effector can be a modelled as a virtual computer. Effectors can take on many roles that range from geometric transformation agents and constraints to performance criteria. The concept of the poche', made famous by Venturi is familiar to architects. The poche' is a device to mediate the differences between an interior and an exterior condition or between two interior conditions. In a poche', the role of the effector changes from being an agent that acts on a polyhedron from the outside, to an agent that acts as a mediator between an interior polyhedron and an exterior polyhedron, which represent interior and exterior environments respectively. This bi-directionality in the role of the effector allows a wide range of architectural responses to be modelled. The effector then becomes an interface in the true sense of the word. This concept will work best in a threedimensional or four-dimensional representational world but can be used effectively in a two-dimensional representational world as well. The application of this concept in design systems is explored with examples drawn from the work of the author, and practitioners who are using the concept of effectors in their work. A brief discussion of how this technique can evolve in the future is presented. |
| keywords |
Effectors, Abstract Machines, Design As Interface |
| series |
CAAD Futures |
| email |
|
| full text |
 file.pdf (247,959 bytes) |
| references |
Content-type: text/plain
|
Deleuze, G. (1988)
 Bergsonism
, Translated by Hugh Tomlinson and Barbara Habberjam, Zone Books, New York, New York, pp. 107
|
|
|
|
|
Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. (1987)
A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia
, Translated by Brian Massumi, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, pp. 141 and pp. 510-514
|
|
|
|
|
Mahalingam, G. (1996)
Object-oriented computer-aided design systems for the preliminarydesign of auditoria
, Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, Vol. 13, No. 3, Locke, Chicago, Illinois, Autumn, pp. 214-229
|
|
|
|
|
Mahalingam, G. (1998)
Representing architectural design using virtual computers
, Automation in Construction, Vol. 8, Elsevier, New York, New York, pp. 25-36
|
|
|
|
|
Venturi, Robert (1966)
Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture
, Museum of Modern Art, New York, pp. 85
|
|
|
|
| last changed |
2006/11/07 07:22 |
|
