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Learning Algorithms, Design, and computed space
Full text linkThe paper analyses and speculates on what opportunities and challenges will arise from the introduction of learning algorithms (machine learning, neural networks, etc.) in architectural and urban design. The penetration of such class of algorithms in cities and design disciplines is rapid and profound increasing both the thirst for gathering ever larger and more accurate datasets and raising the prospect of automating tasks currently performed by humans. Whilst it is understood that learning algorithms are essential tools to analyse large datasets, design disciplines have paid far less attention to how such processes are carried out, how spatial data are reformatted by algorithms which largely operate on statistical bases and, most importantly, what image of the city emerges from such processes. To unravel the complexity of the issue, it is first necessary to retrace the ideas informing the emergence of numerical procedures at beginning of the twentieth century and Artificial Intelligence in the 1950's as they allow us to project a different paradigm of how space can be analysed, structured, and changed. Finally, the paper will offer some points for speculation and further reflection on how the methods put forward through learning algorithms compare to current approaches to digital design; this will foreground their disruptive potential for a radical transformation of urban design, one that could be deployed to tackle some of the most pressing urban issue. 
Rapprochement Urbanism: An Exploration into the Rewilding of Jackson, Mississippi
Full text linkRapprochement urbanism addresses how wild environments can be accommodated in urban spaces to create more sustainable and resilient cities. Referring to the dual realities of wilderness and urbanity, this design strategy explores the interaction of their two structures to replace the misconception that cities are built "on” the natural environment, with the assertion that cities are built "in” it. Jackson, Mississippi currently treats adjacent vibrant ecological habitats as forgotten back alleys rather than urban assets. Utilizing interventions within a holistic plan, rapprochement urbanism combats urban sprawl and "back alley” attitudes, mitigates stormwater challenges, and facilitates human and animal spatial needs. Rapprochement urbanism, through the rewilding of Jackson, MS, allows architects to more directly impact and improve the ecological sustainability of this city of 170,000 inhabitants.[i]
i"Jackson, Mississippi.” Jackson, Mississippi (MS) Profile: Population, Maps, Real Estate, Averages, Homes, Statistics, Relocation, Travel, Jobs,Hospitals, Schools, Crime, Moving, Houses, News, Sex Offenders. http://www.city-data.com/city/Jackson -Mississippi.html (Accessed November 01, 2018)
Analysis and Simulation of Dynamic Vision in the City: A Computer-Aided Cinematic Approach
Full text linkThis paper proposes a computer-aided Dynamic Visual Research and Design Protocol for environmental designers to analyze humans' dynamic visual experiences in the city and to simulate dynamic vision in the design process. The Protocol recommends using action cameras to collect massive dynamic visual data from participants' first-person perspectives. It prescribes a computer-aided visual analysis approach to produce cinematic charts and storyboards, which further afford qualitative interpretations for aesthetic assessment and discussion. Employing real-time 3D simulation technologies, the Protocol enables the simulation of people's dynamic vision in designed urban environments to support evaluation in design. Detailed contents and merits of the Protocol were demonstrated by its application in the Urbanscape Studio, a community participatory design course based at Watertown, South Dakota
Algorithms and the near future of design
Full text linkIntroduction by Silvio CartaIn this article Euan Mills, who co-leads the Plantech programme at Connected Places Catapult, reflects on the changes of the design, planning and construction industries. The Connected Places Catapult is a centre devoted to the development and advancement of innovation in cities supported by the UK government. In this multidisciplinary team, planners, urban designers and many other experts collaborate with the public and private sectors, informing the design and construction industries as well as influencing policy-makers. In recent years, Euan and colleagues have been particularly active in engaging with academics, designers and the public in devising new ways in which the planning system in the UK can be improved and updated taking full advantage of new digital technologies and computational approaches to design increasingly available today. Under the title of Plantech (Connected Places Catapult 2019), Euan and colleagues are promoting a new planning agenda whereby in a near future urban data, people's input and the regulatory system can converge into a seamless framework. Not only this would significantly simplify the planning system and the relationship that residents have with planning authorities and designers but, more importantly, it will synchronise some of the workflows that characterise urban planning and permissions (often with scanned version of old documents, historical paper archives etc.) with the digital assemblage of big data that is the fabric of our cities today
Figuration as Participation. Notes on Álvaro Siza's Architecture as Representation
No full textAlthough in the wake of the Modern Movement tradition, Álvaro Siza Vieira's architectural research moves along the thin red line between abstraction and representation. The apparent arbitrariness of some of his compositions, widely analyzed in typological and social key, is primarily an expression of his attention to the moving subject that never translates into illusory devices. Yet, in the last two decades of the 20th century, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic presences began to haunt his architectures, addressing to new meanings. The keys to understanding this phase of Siza's creative trajectory reside in his hypertrophic graphic activity, in his production as a designer and, most of all, as a sculptor. On one hand, his sketches reveal the tension and negotiation between architecture body and human body, which to some extent constitute the extremes of his formal investigation. On the other hand, his objects and sculptures result as intermediate moments of experimentation and clarification by responding the ergonomic demands through the semantic economy of objet trouvée. Through them, Siza's architectural anthropomorphism can be interpreted as a moment of transition towards an architecture parlant, which relies on the connotative participation of people to put in scene no longer figures or characters but interactions and feelings: the opportunity of a meeting
Dimensions of Use: From Determinism to a New Humanism
Full text linkDimension”the measure of extent”is the technical means and manifestation of human use embedded in architecture. Beginning in the enlightenment historic, proportional relationships between humans and architectural dimension evolved into precise measurements, becoming by the modern era indicators of efficiency, performance, and standardization. Today, the architectural dimension has become deterministic; driven by stringent codes, standards, and benchmarks tied to building program. Divorced from their originating logics and consequences on human occupation, the dimensional standards and requirements abstract people into loads or clearances: separating buildings from human experience and use. Examining dimension's entanglement with practice and technology to provide shelter for human use illuminates the ways architecture has been thought about and the ways it is used over time. By tracing the changing concepts, metrics, standards, and technologies of architectural measurement, this article reveals the sometimes overlooked or disconnected values and considerations of use in the theory of architectural technology. This research points towards critical approaches to design based on human use, reframing building performance towards an architectural dimension of inhabitation; one that avoids standardization and reasserts human users as the measure of building
Quasi-periodic Geometry for Architectural Acoustics
Full text linkThe discovery of quasi-periodic atomic order in the crystalline state has uncovered an exciting new class of symmetries that has never been explored before. Because of their non-periodic translational order and self-similar properties, quasi-periodic structures offer unique opportunities for investigating questions related to their acoustical behavior. Their unique long-range non-periodic formations have the ability to diffuse and orchestrate the flow of sound energy in many unique ways; offering intriguing potential for innovating a new wave of optimized sound diffusers. One key limitation with available periodic diffusers is that their repeating logic creates repetitive energy loops, which significantly reduce their ability to uniformly disperse sound energy. Quasi-periodic geometry can mitigate such limitation. By encapsulating an infinite variety of distinct profiles in all directions, quasi-periodic surfaces can eliminate the formation of bundled or looped reflections; considerably enhancing the ability of the diffuser to uniformly disperse sound energy. To investigate this hypothesis, an experimental approach is used to simulate sound reflection patterns of the quasi-periodic surface profiles using a ray tracing method. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses are used to interpret the simulated results. The international Standards (ISO) metrics are used to validate the proposed approach and verify the results. Results show that the diffusion quality of the tested quasi-periodic surface is superior to the diffusion performance of the tested periodic surface
Design, development, and public health: Conceptualizing health and wellness strategies for multifamily projects through a private development lens
Full text linkAs awareness of the built environment's impact on individual and community health spreads through design and construction, different stakeholders are engaging in conversations of strategies and metrics. This paper explores the structure, methodology, and findings of research supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation addressing how multifamily developers conceptualize, discuss and implement health strategies in their projects.
Framed in a Critical Theory perspective, this research first explores the traditional multifamily development decision-making process, specifically targeting how early adopters in multifamily development are discussing health and wellness in their projects. By unpacking the discussions around health and wellbeing in design, real estate development, and public health, aligned concepts are identified to operationalize these concepts for further exploration.
Using a comparative case study strategy addressing how and why (Yin 2017), five developers positioned as early adopters were engaged to better understand how they each conceptualize, implement and measure health strategies in their multifamily projects. Two-day in-depth interviews were held in two initial developers' home offices, addressing their standard design and decision-making processes and evolving into specific consideration of various health strategies. Four additional developers were engaged either over the phone or in person. Interview protocol ensured that discussion topics were standardized at the outset, with the following topics addressed with each partner: (1) company mission, (2) organizational structure, (3) differentiation in the market, (4) company evaluation metrics, (5) assessment scales, (6) decision-making processes, (7) market trends, (8) use of evidence-based data, (9) internal health discussions, and (10) investor relationships. Cyclical data collection, transcription, and analysis allowed the interview protocol to be modified for emergent topics. Site visits, website analysis, and clicks through national online real estate databases also contributed to a holistic perspective of this complex problem.
Findings indicate that multifamily developers are focusing on upfront, marketable strategies that are likely to foster mental and social health, but with little regard of applying any form of evaluative metrics. Rating systems addressing health are of little help. When asked directly about choices to influence the health of residents, participants heavily cited (1) location, emphasizing access to community amenities; (2) place making, for community building and social and mental wellbeing; and (3) physical fitness opportunities through fitness spaces. Even those developers viewed as early adopters are uncomfortable discussing health strategies using a public health lens. This research intends to highlight interdisciplinary conversations surrounding health in multifamily real estate, contributing to more rigorous adoption of health strategies in this challenging building type. These findings can be valuable to stakeholders in design, development, private investment, property management, public health, community design, and policy.  
Evaluating the Utility Core in the Prefabricated Building Industry – past, present and future
Full text linkHarnessing, distributing, tempering and supplying water, heat and power in a building produces its share of design, technical and coordination issues. Specifically, the relationship between hygiene and cooking functions and architecture has been underscored by even the most ancient civilizations as these services give a building its potential to serve and showcase architecture's hospitality. The relationship between services and architectural space has long challenged designers and manufacturers to streamline their piecing together. Throughout construction history and modern architecture in particular the wet service core or utility core sought to organize an efficient way of zoning services, their production and construction integration; The utility core epitomized this rationalization within a self-contained engine-like device positioned to serve the entire dwelling. This paper proposes an extensive review of literature and practical exploration in order to detect new potentials for designing integrated, technology-driven, flexible and adaptable prefabricated utility cores for today's industry. The core was intended as a hub accommodating mechanical and technological equipment; electrical services, plumbing fixtures, water supply, drain, waste, vent piping, telephone cables, and easy connections to site infrastructure. Today's techniques and building information modeling allows the core to be redefined in relation to multiple scales and various organizational possibilities with regard to space/function connections. Further an adaptable core articulated to the «open building» theoretical framework of layering systems to avoid entanglement and to maximize durability, can be part of a comprehensive strategy to enable customization. The vast amount of literature and precedents contribute to a robust historic narrative of two distinct approaches of architectural rhetoric and industrial production. This paper will endeavor to illustrate this narrative and evaluate the potentials for achieving broader application
Land Use and Transport Mode choices: Space Syntax Analysis of American Cities
Full text linkNatural movement theory (from space syntax literature) postulates that configuration of the urban grid is an important generator of aggregate patterns of movement in urban areas (Hillier et al. 1993). In addition, movement economy theory asserts that retail and commercial activities migrate to configurationally hotspot locations to take advantage of the economic opportunities created by movement (Hillier 1996). These concentrations of retail and commercial activities are also the work places for a good number of people and in turn, will influence the choices of residential locations. Since journey-distance and time are two very important factors influencing transport mode choice, (Plaut 2005; Wardman, Tight, and Page 2007; Pucher and Dijkstra 2003; Schwanen and Mokhtarian 2005). This paper hypothesized that the locations of retails and commercial areas as understood by their space syntax derived configurational index, will first affect the choices of residential locations and also influence choices of commuting mode. This hypothesis is tested in four US cities of Boston, Pittsburgh, Lubbock, and Salt Lake City using data collected from online open source database of the respective cities and US census bureau. Space Syntax topological and angular analyses of CAD drawn axial lines and street centerlines extracted from GIS maps are performed for all cities. ArcGIS spatial analysis tools were applied to combine land use, socio-economic & demographic, transportation and Space Syntax variables to the scale of census block-groups that was selected as the study unit. Multiple regression analyses are carried out to identify relevant and significant variables explaining each mode of transport. The findings indicate that Space Syntax variables play an important role in explaining choice of commuting mode. In addition, several linear regression analyses are performed to examine the land use and transport mode choice in the context of street configuration. The results indicate that commercial and retail concentration were positively correlated with integration cores. Following general trend of space syntax findings, commuters tend to live at configurationally segregated areas while walkers and bicycle riders tend to live in configurationally integrated areas where commercial and retail activities are concentrated. Regarding the differences of layout types, the results of comparative analysis between gridded and non-gridded cities indicates that closeness variable called ‘integration' and between-ness variable called ‘choice' are relevant to explain walking and driving modes in non-gridded and gridded cities respectively