Aj Joran Jessurun

A virtual reality tool to measure shoppers’ tenant mix preferences

Tenant mix is an important key to the success of a shopping centre. Rules dictating the ideal tenant mix are still based on assumptions about consumer preferences and consumer behaviour. However, research into consumers’ tenant mix preferences seems to become more prominent in this context. As standard questionnaires are inadequate to measure preferences regarding the locational components of tenant mix, the purpose of this project is to develop and test an enhanced virtual reality tool to elicit shoppers’ preferences regarding tenant mix. The tool can be used in the case of designing or developing new shopping centres as well as in the case of refurbishing or restructuring existing shopping centres. A prototype version of the VR-tool has been tested in a real world context. A Dutch neighbourhood centre, planned to be refurbished in the near future, was selected as a test case. The findings show that the VR-tool can be used to measure shoppers’ preferences regarding tenant selection and tenant placement. Taking into consideration these preferences may increase the attractiveness of a shopping centre, and therewith the competitive position of the centre in the region.

An Intuitive Interface for Building Management and Planning

Building management and planning professionals utilize database systems for administrative support, but these systems are inadequate for conveying architectural plans. In this article we describe the so-called Virtual Maquette that was developed at the Eindhoven University of Technology for the board of the University. The Virtual Maquette consists of a vertical display for 3D view and information of building stock, and an interactive horizontal display for manipulation of view and information. Interaction is implemented using infrared tracking of devices that are positioned on the desktop with the projected plan view. Through this interface the states of the buildings can be inspected at different periods in history and in the future. The support of multiple devices in a single environment is a technical challenge, but it provides a new interaction method for non-technical persons.

The Tangible Interface : experiments as an integral part of a research strategy

The Human-Computer interface is crucial to good design support tools. It has to be non-interruptive and non-distracting, yet allow the architect to interact with the computer software. The physical reality of the interface, such as the shape and manipulability of devices like the mouse, keyboard, joystick, or data-glove, has to be mapped on actions and commands in the software. Already the current user interfaces are felt to be inadequate for a good support of design, and the functionality of design tools is growing, requiring even more and new physical interface devices. In this paper, we present research on new tangible interfaces for architectural design support. In particular, we focus on the research methodological question how to investigate such devices. The research strategy is introduced and discussed, after which concrete implementations of this strategy are shown. Based on this work, we conclude that the combination of interface and the context of its use in terms of design method and user needs form crucial aspects for such research and cannot be considered separately.

A Multi-Agent Mah Jong Playing System: Towards Real-Time Recognition of Graphic Units in Graphic Representations

In architectural design, sketching is an important means to explore the first conceptual developments in the design process. It is necessary to understand the conventions of depiction and encoding in sketches and drawings if we want to support the architect in the sketching activity. The theory of graphic units provides a comprehensive list of conventions of depiction and encoding that are widely used among architects. These graphic units form useful building blocks to understand design drawings. We investigate whether it is possible to build a system that can recognize graphic units. The technology we are looking at is multi-agent systems. It was chosen for the following reasons: agents can specialize in graphic units, a multi-agent system can deal with ambiguity through negotiation and conflict resolution, and multi-agent systems function in dynamically changing environments. Currently there is no general approach or technology available for multi-agent systems. Therefore, in our research we first set out to make such a multi-agent system. In order to keep the complexity low, we first aim to make a system that can do something simple: playing Mah Jong solitary. The Mah Jong solitary system shares the following important features with a multi-agent system that can recognize graphic units: (1) specialized agents for moves; (2) negotiation between agents to establish the best move; (3) a dynamically changing environment; and (4) search activity for more advanced strategies. The paper presents the theoretical basis of graphic units and multi-agents systems, followed by a description of the multi-agent framework and its implementation. A number of systems that can play Mah Jong at various degrees of competence and accordingly degrees of complexity of multi-agent system, are distinguished. Finally, the paper demonstrates how the findings are informative for a system that can recognize graphic units.

Agent-Based Pedestrian Activity Simulation in Shopping Environments Using a Choice Network Approach

Most of current approaches for processing agent-based pedestrian activity simulations propose movement choice networks. Choice mechanisms include where to stop, in what order, and which overall route to take. In our network approach, the movement choice network is approximated using a lattice of irregular cells representing streets and shops. In this approach, cell centroids are considered the nodes of an implicit movement network. A pedestrian agent is located in a node and can move on the implicit movement network to other nodes and is situated randomly in the cell related to that node. In this paper, the focus is on the generation of the movement network and the underlying behavioral rules that conducts the activation of pedestrians on the network representing a shopping environment.