Program
Below is the SimAUD 2016 Program. Click here for a printable version.
Invited Talks
SimAUD 2016 Keynote
Alan Penn – The Bartlett, UCL
Presenter Biography
Alan is the Dean of the Bartlett faculty of the Built Environment, a HEFCE Business Fellow and a founding director of Space Syntax Ltd, a UCL knowledge transfer spin out with a portfolio of over 100 applied projects per year, including whole city masterplans, neighbourhood development plans and individual buildings.
His research focuses on understanding the way that the design of the built environment affects the patterns of social and economic behaviour of organisations and communities. How is it that architecture and urban design matter for those that inhabit them? How is it that the spatial design of cities and neighbourhoods leads to the generation of cultural and community identity? Under what conditions do vital and thriving creative communities occur, and under what conditions does crime and urban malaise develop?
In order to investigate these questions he has developed both research methodologies and software tools. These are known as ‘space syntax’ methods. Current research includes the development of agent based simulations of human behaviour, the development of spatio-temporal representations of built environments, investigations of urban spatial networks and the application of these techniques in studies of urban sustainability in the broadest sense, covering social, economic, environmental and institutional dimensions.
Paper Abstracts
Capsule Towers Revisited: Using a Genetic Algorithm for Floor Area and Diffuse Daylight Optimisation
Ricardo Andrade and Angelos Chronis
The capsule tower typology was a well-known visionary architectural idea during the 1960-70s. However, the few materialized projects were criticised mostly due to their use of standard-size capsules and their lack of adaptability to user needs. A new methodology for capsule tower design is proposed by means of the use of a genetic algorithm, in order to emphasise the generative approach of the original projects; it adds area and light optimisation to secure size variation and light comfort. The results show a set of variations in terms of floor layouts, capsule volumes, front facade areas and interstitial spaces amongst modules, which go beyond the uniformity of the earlier strategies. These early findings suggest that this generative approach has the potential of re-examine old design projects by increasing their feasibility and adaptability; this approach also suggests the possibility of combining this concept with additional algorithmic implementations to study other ideas.
Application of Surrogate Models for Building Envelope Design Exploration and Optimization
Ding Yang, Yimin Sun, Rusne Sileryte, Antonio D’Aquilio and Michela Turrin
Building performance simulations are usually time-consuming. They may account for the major portion of time spent in Computational Design Optimization (CDO), for instance, annual hourly daylight and energy simulations. In this case, the optimization may become less efficient or even infeasible within a limited time frame of real-world projects, due to the computationally expensive simulations. To handle the problem, this research aims to investigate the potentials of surrogate models (i.e. Response Surface Methodology - RSM) to be used in the building envelope design exploration and optimization that consider visual and energy performance. Specifically, the work investigates how, and to what extent, 1) problem scales may affect the application of RSM, and 2) different ways of using RSM may affect the quality of Pareto Front approximations. Thus, a series of multi-objective optimization tests are carried out; preliminary discussion is made based on the current results.
Solar Potential in Extreme Climate Conditions: Comparative Analysis of Two District Case Studies in Norway and Reunion Island
Aymeric Delmas, Gabriele Lobaccaro, Michael Donn, Marjorie Musy, François Garde
This work aims to investigate the application and replicability of parametric solar design to both existing and future development urban areas in two extreme climate conditions: Øvre Rotvoll in Norway (subarctic climate) and Ravine Blanche in Reunion Island (tropical humid climate). The interplay between urban morphology and its potential for passive and active solar energy strategies has been investigated. The methodology combines the parametric modelling software Rhinoceros-Grasshopper, with two Radiance-based solar simulation tools to optimise the solar potential of a district. The application of a new workflow is studied over the computation of various design scenarios in an existing urban environment at both the district and the building scale. The results show differences and similarities between climate-specific interventions that can be used as supportive instruments for the on-going local planning processes. The study demonstrates how parametric optimisation allows maximising the solar potential of urban areas at different latitudes despite climatic and urban densification constraints.
Urban Scale Simulations of Solar Reflections in the Built Environment: Methodology & Validation
Ryan Danks, Joel Good
Solar reflections are often unavoidable in an urban environment, however as numerous instances around the world have proven; reflections can pose serious risks to human safety by impairing vision and/or causing undesirable or even dangerous heat gains. The authors have developed a computational tool, which accurately and rapidly predicts reflected irradiance levels at varying temporal and spatial resolutions. This tool allows for high-fidelity simulations of how the visible and thermal energy reflected by a building will impact its environment at the early stages of design. This understanding can then inform decision making regarding façade geometry and materiality. This paper describes the methodology followed in creating the tool and validation of its predictions. The simulation tool shows satisfactory levels of agreement with the measured data both in terms of the peak intensity and timing of the reflections for a situation where a concave façade focused reflections to an intense spot.
Stock Modeling and Building Morphology: a case study of Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Tatiana Alves, Luiz Machado, Roberta Gonçalves de Souza1, Pieter de Wilde
Commercial buildings in Brazil consume approximately 16% of electricity energy use nationwide. The goal of this study is to explore and model the relationship of land use regulation, high-rise commercial building morphology and their energy use intensity in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The database from the local city council was used to identify and map the high-rise commercial building stock combined with a field survey which investigated prevalent commercial building typologies in the city. Data from this field survey was used to build representative energy models of the high-rise commercial buildings for building performance simulation. The tool selected to evaluate building energy performance of the representative model was EnergyPlus, DaySim was used for dynamic daylighting analysis. The simulation results demonstrate how vertical development and a building morphology produced by land use code affect air conditioning energy use intensity and access to daylight in these representative building models.
Environmental Impact of Various Neighborhood Designs
Caroline Hachem-Vermette
This paper examines the impact of selected design parameters of a new community on its environmental performance. The design parameters include the type of the neighbourhood, its density, the location of the commercial center relative to the residential areas, in addition to energy efficiency of the overall neighbourhood. The environmental impact is considered in terms of the energy performance of the neighbourhood and its carbon footprint. Energy performance is measured as the balance between energy consumption, including building operations and transportation, and solar energy generation potential, assuming the integration of PV panels on all available roof surfaces.
The results indicate that while adopting high-energy efficiency measures can reduce the buildings’ impact by up to 40%, transport still has a large impact on the environment. Both the design of the neighbourhood and the distance to the business center have the largest impact on transport energy use and associated GHG emissions.
This study relates to a specific location and a range of design assumptions, however the methodology employed can serve as a template for evaluating design alternatives and their environmental impacts of new sustainable developments.
Simulating Natural Ventilation in Large Sports Buildings: Prediction of Temperature and Airflow Patterns in the Early Design Stages
Antonio D’Aquilio, Rusne Sileryte, Ding Yang, Michela Turrin
In large sport’s buildings, a big part of energy can be saved by providing natural instead of mechanical ventilation. However, additional challenges arise while controlling airflow and temperatures in different zones. These measures highly depend on the shape, construction and ventilation openings, which are mostly decided in the early design stages. Computational optimization can support these early stages of design, but needs to be performed in efficient ways. In this respect, the project proposes rapid assessment of temperature and airflow patterns using customized Grasshopper components, which would be able to evaluate a given model using CONTAM and EnergyPlus software as simulation engine. The proposed method integrates these simulations within an environment, which is familiar to architects and is largely used for parameterization of design in its early stages. A case study (Jiangmen Sports Center, Jiangmen, China) is used to test the developed process for a large indoor sports hall.
Air Flow Visualisation Towards the Design of Breathing Skins
Manuel Muehlbauer, Nancy Y. Cheng, Mehrnoush Latifi Khorasgani, Jesse McCarthy, Jane Burry
How can the geometric modification of surfaces affect airflow and enhance the thermal performance of ventilated facades? This study is an initial investigation into how surface articulation can affect air movement in a plenum between the shaped surface and the building, as a step toward the design of climate-specific ventilated facades, termed “Breathing Skins”.
The research method describes how physical and digital procedures can play complementary roles in the understanding of complex environmental phenomena for architectural applications. Initial wind-tunnel tests measured the pressure change from the inbound side to the outbound side of a cavity with a variable shaped surface on one face. They allowed comparison of the frictional properties of a variety of folded surface forms, that could be used for façade siding or screens. Subsequently, the patterns were simulated with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).
Results show that a solid sheet with concertina folds parallel to the wind revealed a greater loss in pressure and a Miura-Ori pattern a smaller loss in pressure than a flat sheet. These findings are shaping further research into the phenomenon by indicating useful avenues for the development of climate-modulating outer building skins.
An Integrated Experimental - Computational Investigation of Connected Spaces as Natural Ventilation Typologies
Ulrike Passe, Mirka Deza, Baskar Ganapathysubramanian, Shan He, Kyle Vansice, Songzhe Xu
This paper investigates the impact of spatial composition on the effectiveness of passive cooling by natural ventilation in a comparative study of the conical roofed Harran houses in Turkey and a passive solar home in the Midwest of the United States. While the projects are distinct and are situated in two extreme climate zones (hot and arid and continental humid) both projects have in common open variable configurations of multiple interconnected spaces. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations using OpenFoam were used to investigate the fundamental airflow characteristics and the resulting interior temperature and velocity profiles. The simulations were initialized as well as validated with measured field data. Subsequently, we tested the impact of the interconnected spatial composition of the buildings on their cooling potentials. This was accomplished by simulating variations of the spatial connections with reduced flow path connectivity compared to the original validated cases. Preliminary results regarding changes in temperature and air velocity show higher temperatures and lower velocities in the less connected cell-like spaces and indicate the importance of spatial connectivity for effective cooling by natural ventilation based on variable interaction of vents and flow path.
Additive Manufacturing for Daylight_Towards a Customized Shading Device
Lemonia Karagianni, Michela Turrin, Ulrich Knaack, Truus Hordijk
The design of sun-shading systems for facades has a large impact on daylight control and on comfort in the built environment in general. Depending on different climates, functions and user preferences, it requires a variety of customized solutions. However, the current options for customization are limited due to restrictions in geometry and fabrication methods. The research focus is customized sun-shading systems to tailor daylight effects based on the needs of an individual customer. It was developed at Delft university of Technology for a MSc thesis. We discuss a digital workflow, which allows generating different geometric configurations of various sunshades, by means of parametric modelling; verifying their daylight effects by means of performance simulations; and producing the customized solution by means of additive manufacturing. The workflow makes use of the direct relation between geometry, fabrication and light control performance.
Towards a Novel Prediction Model for Visual Interest in Daylit Renderings
Siobhan Rockcastle, María Lovísa Ámundadóttir, and Marilyne Andersen
In spaces where daylight is a primary source of illumination, our visual perception of architecture is largely influenced by the ephemeral composition of sunlight and shadow. To evaluate these perceptual effects, the authors will apply quantitative contrast measures to HDR renderings for a series of existing contemporary architectural spaces under variable sunlight conditions. These measures will then be compared to subjective ratings of visual interest, collected through an online survey designed to test the influence of spatial and temporal parameters. The objectives of this study assess the impact of sunlight dynamics on subjective ratings of daylit architectural renderings and compare the relationship between these subjective ratings and existing quantitative metrics. The results show that one modified contrast metric can be used to predict factors of visual interest in daylit renderings. When applied through an annual simulation-based approach, this novel metric reveals human perceptual responses to dynamic daylight conditions.
Parametric Design Review 2.5: A Prototype for Real-Time Experiential Daylighting Evaluation
Jawad Altabtabai, Nesrine Mansour, Wei Yan
The benefits of real-time rendering and game engines are evident in the AEC industry. Research exists when immersive and interactive virtual environments containing textural and material qualities of a space are created. However, most of these efforts lack the daylighting realism and fidelity of ray-tracing renderings. Previous research efforts focused on simplified experiential walkthroughs of architectural design, almost completely disregarding performance-based analysis and evaluation, and lacked formally disparate design options. The proposed method targets the exploration of virtual spaces in real time when spatial daylight distribution is pre-simulated using a validated rendering engine. This method will materialize through a prototype enabling a realistic as well as a falsecolor representation of daylight performance analysis to be experienced in real-time. Furthermore, the prototype will permit to experiment with different design options at distinct times throughout the year. The resulting final interface is a novel approach in presenting and experiencing the qualitative walkthrough process along with daylighting performance-based analysis of an environment. This interface allows the simultaneous evaluation of form and performance of different design options.
A Multi-Agent System for Design: Geometric Complexity in support of Building Performance
Evangelos Pantazis, David Gerber, Alan Wang
This paper presents the continuing development of research into the applicability, customization and evaluation of a multi-agent systems approach for architectural design. The research describes the system architecture of a bespoke generative and multi-objective optimization design system and computational workflow. Through the use of the system a large solution space of façade designs are generated and ranked in an automated fashion for their improvement in their affect on lighting distribution, intensity, and efficiency. The paper presents the evolution from framework to implemented methodology, the initial in depth experimental design, experimental results, and provides discussion of the analysis of design process and design product improvements. The paper then presents a set of next steps for incorporation of further parameters of relevance to our interest in defending complex geometry for improving building performance. The research culminates with an argument in which we attempt to articulate the benefits of highly intricate geometry as not only a feasible but as well potentially more optimal approach within contemporary architectural discourse and production.
Crowd Modeling in the Sun Life Building
Michael Van Schyndel, Omar Hesham, Gabriel Wainer, Brandon Malleck
Pedestrian movements are a critical component that must be taken into account when one is interested in planning and designing urban areas, buildings and large public spaces. Pedestrian and crowd modelling and simulation has become popular in order to provide information that can be incorporated into the design. This paper presents and discusses an advanced pedestrian model built using the Cellular Discrete Even Specification (Cell-DEVS) formalism. The new model allows the designer to provide an accurate representation of pedestrian behavior. The models presented here were applied to a real world scenario in the city of Ottawa, Canada. The case study focused on the effects of the construction of a new Light Rail Transit (LRT) System, and its influence on the flow of pedestrians into the Sun Life Financial building, located close to one of the main LRT stations. Further illustrated is how the pedestrian model was initialized and verified using data collected from the scene, resulting in accurate pedestrian behaviour. Finally, it’s shown how these results were used to provide insights into possible problems and how to avoid them.
A Computational Framework to Simulate Human Spatial Behavior in Built Environments
Davide Schaumann, Michal Gath Morad, Einat Zinger, Nirit Putievsky Pilosof, Hadas Sopher, Michal Brodeschi, Kartikeya Date, Yehuda E. Kalay
The research addresses current lack of computational tools at architects’ disposal to predict to what extent a built environment will support the activities of its future inhabitants.
Despite recent efforts of agent-based models to represent the dynamic reaction of synthetic characters to the surrounding spatial and social environment, current approaches do not allow simulating larger narratives that describe how people use space over time in larger and complex buildings, such as hospitals.
In this research, human spatial behavior is modeled through Events – computational entities that direct one or more agents to perform specific activities in specific spaces to achieve goals related to the building function (e.g. hospital, airport, or museum). Events allow describing human behavior patterns at different levels of complexity, accounting for social, cultural, spatial and environmental factors.
The paper describes the Event-based system architecture, and presents the simulation of a medicine distribution procedure in an abstracted representation of an existing hospital setting.
Straightness of Rectilinear vs Radio-Concentric Networks: Modeling, Simulation, Comparison
Didier Josselin, Vincent Labatut, Dieter Mitsche
This paper proposes a comparison between rectilinear and radio-concentric networks. Indeed, those networks are often observed in urban areas, in several cities all over the world. One of the interesting properties of such networks is described by the straightness measure from graph theory, which assesses how much moving from one node to another along the network links departs from the network-independent straightforward path. We study this property in both rectilinear and radio-concentric networks, first by analyzing mathematically routes from the center to peripheral locations in a theoretical framework with perfect topology, then using simulations for multiple origin-destination paths. We show that in most of the cases, radio-concentric networks have a better straightness than rectilinear ones. How may this property be used in the future for urban networks?
Spectral Modelling for Spatial Network Analysis
Pirouz Nourian, Samaneh Rezvani, Sevil Sariyildiz, Frank van der Hoeven
Spatial Networks represent the connectivity structure between units of space as a weighted graph whose links are weighted as to the strength of connections. In case of urban spatial networks, the units of space correspond closely to streets and in architectural spatial networks the units correspond to rooms, convex spaces or star-convex spaces. Once represented as a graph, a spatial network can be analysed using graph theory and spectral graph theory. We present four steps of modelling a spectrum for an urban spatial network; present an implementation of a state-of-the-art spectral graph-drawing algorithm and showcase a Spatial Eigenvector Centrality index, which is based on a novel definition of spatial networks based on Fuzzy Closeness indicators computed using Easiest Path distances.
Urban Body Network Configurations Through Attributes of Network Elements
Eirini Androutsopoulou
The methodology presented here is grounded on the analysis and relational relocation of mixed attributes of the urban body, deriving both from the reconstruction of the urban body as a network configuration as well as from research-driven properties which in this case reflect geometry, traffic and accessibility. Cluster analysis is applied in an attempt to restructure those attributes of the urban body which emerge from the position of each element (node) in relation to other elements of the network and not from the Cartesian topology. The methodology proposed here is a way of mapping the multiplicity of elements' structure, in terms of crowds of elements and sets of attributes' values which redefines identity as a shifting threshold of similarity which forms families of things of different qualities, which however keep a certain amount of similarity within the immaterial and evolving boundary of identity. What is more, being able to represent material and non-material elements as nodes (Hillier, 2007), counter-bodies of mixed proprieties emerge, including physical presence and their attributes. In contrast to the hierarchical constructions, network constructions allow for multiple connections between elements (Alexander, 1965), therefore being closer to the complexity of the associative forces found in the structure of the urban body.
Form-based Code (FBC) Modelling for Urban Design of High-dense Cities
Yingyi Zhang and Marc Aurel Schnabel
This research explores Form-Based Code (FBC) modelling and its impact on urban design of high-dense cities. Our paper consists of three parts. First, we discuss the context and components of FBC methodology. Although originating from zoning, FBC is totally a new approach in urban planning and design, which mainly lays emphasis on “form” instead of “land-use”. Second, we present the process of creating FBC models. There are five elements in FBC implementation, Regulating Plan, Public Standards, Building Standards, Administration and Definitions. Modelling FBC has three phases, documenting, visioning and assembling. Last, we end with a pilot study in Hong Kong. There is no real practice of FBC in high-dense cities, however, we argue the potential and challenges of FBC application in high-dense cities through the hypothesis of FBC model making in the case of Hong Kong.
A Method for Data-Driven Insights on the Nexus of Green Infrastructure, Water System, and the Urban Environment
Yannis Orfanos, Sang Cho, Spiro Pollalis
The paper concerns the development of a computational framework focusing on quantitative relationships between green infrastructure, the urban water system, and the urban environment. Specifically, we present a methodology that designates the quantitative impact of green infrastructure interventions on the water system’s performance and the city’s impervious surface coverage. The computational method is derived from identifying green infrastructure opportunity areas in the city through geospatial and urban parametric analysis which considers site constraints and best management guidelines.
The architecture of the water infrastructure system is decoded so that water supply, stormwater, and wastewater flows are linked computationally. The outputs estimate the water system’s performance in relation to different green infrastructure planning alternatives. The output metrics focus on average annual estimations, while the objective is to achieve the level of abstraction that provides informative meaningful results and educates on the basis of macro decision making. Data-driven insights are then enabled through the lens of infrastructure-based sustainable city planning.
An Approach towards Developing Methods to Analyze and Visualize Energy Flow of HVAC System
Aly Abdelalim, Zixiao Shi, William O'Brien
In the field of building operations, it is essential that building operators understand the dynamics of energy use, control strategies, and occupant comfort in buildings. Nowadays, modern commercial buildings’ resource consumption is metered at various levels of spatial and temporal resolution to track and reduce energy use and the associated cost and greenhouse gas emissions. This leads to many data sources at the building level. As a result, lots of data are available but not necessarily in a readily comprehensible form. Furthermore, the current data availability and visualization tools have some limitations in identifying system inefficiencies and possible solutions. This paper proposes a method to estimate and visualize energy flows through different components of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system using Sankey diagrams to make data more accessible and to identify inefficiencies. The proposed method is then applied to an 8,000 m2 multi-zone Canadian university building.
Self-Reported Positioning within Spatial Configurations: Combining Social Media Data and Space Syntax Analysis for Urban Mobility Research
Ricardo Andrade, Angelos Chronis
Space syntax is one of the most established methodologies in urban mobility research. One of the current challenges with this methodology is the integration of geolocation data into urban studies. Digital interfaces that combine spatial data and urban analysis remain absent in current space syntax-based software. The proposed methodology is based on the combination of Facebook check-ins –as a measure of urban mobility– and normalised angular choice values –as a predictor of pedestrian flow– in the same interface in order to examine how these two approaches converge or contradict each other. Early findings suggest that this method confirms the space syntax-related idea that states that urban functions tend to be located in streets with good accessibility and that the lack of correlation between the two measures implies that other factors are influencing pedestrian behaviour in cities. This research highlights the potential of the combination of Big Data and space syntax techniques to reveal new insights on urban analysis.
ARch4maps: A Mobile Augmented Reality Tool to Enrich Paper Maps
Filipe Gaspar, Steven Gomes, Ricardo Resende, Sara Eloy, Miguel Sales Dias, Mariana Lopes, Nuno Faria
This paper describes an augmented reality app running on a Windows tablet that recognizes image features on a city paper map and overlays, in real-time, digital content related to the relevant buildings of the city. The system register in 3D the location of those buildings in the map, enriching the user experience with several multimedia information per building: image, text and 3D models which can be explored in detail in an included BIM viewer. Displayed buildings can be queried and filtered by associated meta-data such as decade, author, conservation, etc. The main target users of this system are tourists or users interested in architecture or history. Our usability evaluation study conducted with several users shown that our app increase the scope of applicability of a paper map.
A Combining Approach of Visibility Analysis to Participate in the Urban Design
Ziyu Tong, Chao Cheng, Bingqing Kuai
Visibility is an essential factor in urban design, especially within the scenic area. Viewshed analysis, a Geographic Information System (GIS) based method, is commonly used to evaluate the urban design. However, it’s hard to be directly applied to aid the urban design in advance. The paper presents a approach to take an active part in the urban design with visibility analysis. A set of GIS-based spatial analyses are integrated to calculate the optimized height of buildings. The generated result could be used as the reference to guide the plan and design. It is significant to improve the rationality of the urban design. The paper introduced the case study of Lake Taihu Bay, China. The entire design process showed that the visibility analysis is an effective method in the project with complex terrain.
Automated Prediction of Preference Level by Artificial Neural Network for Simple Geometry
Josef Musil, Samuel Wilkinson
This paper provides an overview and analysis of researchin-progress and thought-provoking work on user preference simulation-based design tool. This tool automates prediction of aesthetic preference levels for a simple abstract geometry. An artificial neural network is trained on a random sample of interactively user-evaluated geometries and creates a user preference profile. This profile is then used to automatically generate a new geometry that would theoretically be preferred by all users with different profiles. This saves time and avoids user fatigue compared to interactive genetic evolution. The tool is implemented as an online tool running in a web-browser. In this paper we will present the relationship between the artificial neural network and the genetic algorithm that are used for interactive creation of a preference user profile to stimulate further research in the area of preference level prediction and automation.
Stakeholder Decision Making in Passivhaus Design
Elaine Robinson and Christina J. Hopfe, Jonathan A. Wright
The design and construction of a building is inherently complex and a myriad of decisions must be made during the design and planning process. No single stakeholder (architect, client, building physicist) has complete knowledge and visibility of the consequences of each decision and each stakeholder group is driven by different objectives.
Those aspiring to construct low-energy buildings, and Passivhaus in particular, are subject to numerous constraints, relating to building performance, site restrictions and planning policy (amongst others) and seemingly innocuous small changes to the design can divert decision- makers from their aims.
Multi-criteria decision making provides a method of attempting to satisfy numerous, often conflicting objectives, in order to reach the ‘optimum’ solution, and therefore provides a means to combine these varied goals. Existing research in the sphere of building performance simulation often focuses on its application to quantitative criteria.
This paper proposes incorporating stakeholder preference modelling in multi-criteria decision making by first analysing stakeholder goals, to gain a greater understanding of their motivation and decision paths, within the context of Passivhaus construction in the UK.
Objective Driven Design Tool in Support of Early Phase Architectural Design
Bruno Lee, Tze Chun Lam, Hua Ge and Michael Jemtrud
Building energy performance simulation tools are commonly deployed as post-design evaluation tools. The one-to-one relationship between the inputs and performance results discourages users of simulation tools from exploring the impact of their architectural design decisions on building energy performance. During early design phase, effectively comparing design alternatives supports better decision making than precisely evaluating building performance. This paper presents a design tool that enhances the building design process by offering an on-demand visual performance comparison to support design decision making. The proposed design tool is a pre-simulated performance database driven visual design tool that is based on visual basic programming platform. The design tool offers a user friendly interface with reduced number of inputs such that the designers can have a holistic understanding of the performance impact due to different design options.
Potentials of Context Reference Networks in a Collaborative Urban Design Platform
Jie-Eun Hwang
This study conveys novel ideas of an open platform for urban design by showcasing a student architectural design competition. We set up an experiment that opens the whole process of the competition on the web not just for archiving submissions but for facilitating interactions between participants by sharing their interim results. The site consists of fifteen plots and a participant can choose one of those plots. Participants were asked to submit their design proposals with 3D models on the web-based urban simulation platform in three phases. Most interestingly, they were asked to assign a context set, a list of other participants’ projects to which they referred as their prospective neighborhood. This paper reports the strategy of this experimental open competition and the process of developing the open platform. Focused on the interim interaction between participants on the context reference network, we speculate social impacts of the constructive conversation among urban design actors. At the end, we discuss about lessons of collaborative creativity in urban design where diverse decision drivers simultaneously cultivate civic environment.
Rethinking Conceptual Design: Computational Methods for the Simultaneous Integration of Tower Subsystems
Elif Erdine
The paper describes the computational methodological approach of a recently completed PhD thesis. The principal argument is the demonstration that the initial phases of the long and complex chain of design development can be shortened by the designer working in the computational environment of a typical laptop. The design domain is the Tower, and emphasis is on developing a generative system of design that offers simultaneous integration and differentiation throughout the subsystems of a concept for a tall building during the conceptual design phase. In this framework, the functional parameters of the tower system are incorporated with principles of biological models. Tower subsystems are grouped as the structural system, floor system, vertical circulation system, façade system, and environmental system. The paper focuses on the principles and structure of the Processing algorithm developed according to the rules of the key methodology, multiparameter integration. Global constraints pertaining to each subsystem and the overall system are described, followed by the structure and operational logic of each subsystem’s classes. Correlations which encompass several subsystems simultaneously are presented. Finally, evaluation of the output model is presented via progressive Finite Element Analysis (FEA) procedures in order to illustrate how each subsystem influences the structural behavior of the tower.
Supporting Exploration of Design Alternatives using Multivariate Analysis Algorithms
Rusne Sileryte, Antonio D’Aquilio, Danilo Di Stefano, Ding Yang and Michela Turrin
Parametric modelling allows quick generation of a large number of design alternatives. Ultimately, it can be combined with optimization algorithms for obtaining optimal performance-driven design. However, setup of design space for optimization is a very complex task requiring designer’s a priori knowledge and experience. Therefore, this paper focuses on the process that happens before the optimization. It proposes to use multivariate analysis algorithms for exploring and understanding the relations between various design parameters, after sampling the design space. Additionally, portrayal of geometry is introduced as an extension of conventional visualization methods, which accounts for evaluation of ill-defined design criteria by using designer’s expertise. The proposed method is computationally efficient and integrated into an environment familiar to architects. It relies on multivariate analysis algorithms together with database querying capabilities and an interactive dashboard developed for geometry portrayal.
Multivariate Interactive Visualization of Data in Generative Design
Andre Chaszar, Peter von Buelow, Michela Turrin
We describe our work on providing support for design decision making in generative design systems producing large quantities of data, motivated by the continuing challenge of making sense of large design and simulation result datasets. Our approach provides methods and tools for multivariate interactive data visualization of the generated designs and simulation results, enabling designers to focus not only on high-performing results but also examine suboptimal designs’ attributes and outcomes, thus discovering relationships giving greater insight to design performance and facilitating guidance of further design generation. We illustrate this by an example exploring building massing and envelope design (fenestration arrangement and external shading) with simulations of daylighting and heat gain. We conclude that the visualization techniques investigated can help designers better comprehend inter-relationships between variable parameters, constraints and outcomes, with consequent benefits of: finding good design outcomes; verifying that simulation results are reliable and; understanding characteristics of the fitness landscape.
Folded Wooden Responsive Houses in Hot Arid Climate.
Alessandro Mattoccia, Marco Giorgio Bevilacqua, Francesco Leccese, Michele Rocca and Rodrigo Rubio
Out of the architectural typologies that emerged in countries with a rough, arid and hot climate we synthesized the principles that laid the foundations of applied theories in bioclimatic and sustainable architecture. The accumulated experience is visible in their vernacular architecture, clearly showing the layers of attempts, adaptation and knowledge merging towards the best adaptive model of architecture to the harsh context. Some of the more prominent features of this type of architecture is constant search of cooling techniques, such as shading, designed to be protected by direct sunlight.
There has been little to none improvement to this type of architecture for a long period as no real value could have been added to this already functional ancient systems. But today, with the help of modern technology, one can use parametric design in order to further optimize this architecture and push it to an even more effective response to context.
A Sound Working Environment: Optimizing the Acoustic Properties of Open Plan Workspaces Using Parametric Models
Nick Vlaun, Arend van Waart, Martin Tenpierik and Michela Turrin
Optimizing the acoustic environment of open plan offices is a complex task due to the large number of design parameters that must be considered. In current practice, acoustic analysis – even in a simplified form – is not naturally integrated into the design process of office spaces. Applying digital acoustic simulation in architectural design currently requires a time consuming back-and-forth transition between geometric modelling programs and specialist analysis software. In this study, an acoustic ray tracer was developed within Grasshopper and coupled to Galapagos in order to optimize the acoustics of an open office space. This tool has been tested and validated through a case study performed on an existing office space in the Netherlands. This study demonstrates the possibility to computationally optimize open plan workspaces by way of acoustic analysis performed on a parametric model. In its current form the presented model is still limited in its features and calculation speed. Hence, further development of the tool is needed in order to facilitate a truly seamless iteration and hands‐on evaluation of different design configurations (with respect to room acoustic performance).
Towards Rating of Generated Typologies by Means of Adjacency Comparisons
Gabriel Wurzer and Wolfgang E. Lorenz
Applying different typologies to the same building yields a number of options concerning extensibility and circulation. However, it is hard to rate and compare these in order to find the most fitting one for a specific building task at hand. In this paper, we wish to work towards this goal using a showcase in which we generate and rate a large number of buildings in order to find out whether certain typologies prevail among the fittest solutions. On a technical level, we contribute (1.) a simple cell-space grammar that generates building volumes, given a preference for different axes in which form can develop - orthogonal, diagonal and vertical, (2.) a rating procedure which infers a fitness for every solution, based on (a.) the assignment of functions to parts of the generated building and computation of adjacencies between these and (b.) the extensibility of the building along its axes. Typologies are attributed in a post-step, as part of a manual analysis. Our results show a preference for the compact/central building type, as dictated by the use of adjacencies for rating a building.
Indeterminacy in Designing Large-Scale Bending-Active Bamboo Gridshells – A Hong Kong Case Study
Kristof Crolla, Tsz Man Vincent Ip
This paper discusses Hong Kong’s 2015 ‘ZCB Bamboo Pavilion’ as a methodological case study for the design and construction of light-weight, bending-active, bamboo gridshells using digital simulation and physical prototyping. It covers the form-finding methods, physics simulation engines, and methods for construction documentation that were developed in response to the volatile nature of bamboo.
The ‘ZCB Bamboo Pavilion’ is a twelve meter tall public event space that spans thirty seven metres. It is built from bamboo poles, manually bent onsite, hand-tied with metal wire, and covered with a composite tension membrane. The project’s design and implementation pivot around formulating strategies for dealing with onsite imperfections and setting-up of protocols concerning unavoidable error.
The paper starts by addressing the design sequence for form-finding the bending-active structure. This sequence combines digital physics simulations with testing through physical model making. It then discusses the construction sequence which was iteratively developed through simulation and physical prototyping. It continues by analysing the construction documentation methods and notation systems set up for implementation of structure and skin without traditional architectural drawings.
The paper concludes by discussing the necessity for digital architecture to proactively operate within the field of real-world indeterminacy, highlighting applied design priorities, assumptions, risks, and probabilities.
Form-Finding Methods of FaBrick and its Application to Morphogenetic Design
I-Ting Tsai, Somdatta Majumdar, Xixi Zheng and Yiru Yun
The thesis aims to explore the limits of fabric in a threedimensional form. It introduces a novel technique of using felted fabric coated in resin to create architectural elements. The objective is to examine the possibility of applying the fabric and the concept of origami to morphogenetic design. The discussion centers on how the fabric takes advantage of its characteristic to form interesting geometry and how it changes the morphogenesis in fabric design. To develop its material system, different simulation methodologies of fabric behavior and design languages were studied to scrutinize the transformation process from a twodimensional pattern to three-dimensional geometry. By applying fabric simulation engine and crease modeling plus mathematical deformation, we could simulate the traveling seams and tubes of geometry and generate volume to achieve intricate fluid space afterwards. The idea the façade and structure merged into one material system leads to a new typology of fabric construction.
Modelling Natural Formations: Design and Fabrication of Complex Concrete Structures
Elif Erdine, Alexandros Kallegias
The paper aims to address techniques directed towards the integration of form, structure, and singular material systems through a series of simulation-based design tools acting in correlation with digital fabrication processes for the realization of one-to-one scale architectural prototypes that have been designed and produced as part of the Architectural Association (AA) Summer DLAB Visiting Schools 2014 and 2015. The case studies described investigate concrete and its inherent fluid materiality through various physics-based simulations derived from generative form-finding methods, Finite Element Analysis (FEA), and innovative modes of digital fabrication processes. The first case study, Callipod, correlates rules extracted from branching and bundling systems in nature with a fabrication process based on earth scaffolding and fabric formwork for the production of a concrete shell structure. The second case study, In.Flux, investigates doubly-curved complex geometries through form-finding simulations and robotic milling techniques for the design and construction of a concrete wall. The discussion points at the progressive inter-relationship between different simulation software in recognizing ways of integrating architectural criteria with structural performance.