Gabriela Celani

CAD Scripting and Visual Programming Languages for Implementing Computational Design Concepts: A Comparison from a Pedagogical Point of View

This paper compares the use of scripting languages and visual programming languages for teaching computational design concepts to novice and advanced architecture students. Both systems are described and discussed in terms of the representation methods they use. With novice students better results were obtained with the visual programming language. However, the generative strategies used were restricted to parametric variation and the use of randomness. Scripting, on the other hand, was used by advanced students to implement rule-based generative systems. It is possible to conclude that visual languages can be very useful for making architecture students understand general programming concepts, but scripting languages are fundamental for implementing generative design systems. The paper also discusses the importance of the ability to shift between different representation methods, from more concrete to more abstract, as part of the architectural education.

“Seeing” with the Hands: Teaching Architecture for the Visually-Impaired with Digitally-Fabricated Scale Models

Accessibility of information for the visually-impaired has greatly benefited from information and communication technologies (ICT’s) in the past decades. However, the interpretation of images by the blind still represents a challenge. Bidimensional representations can be understood by those who have seen at least sometime in their lives but they are too abstract for those with congenital blindness, for whom three-dimensional representations are more effective, especially during the conceptualization phase, when children are still forming mental images of the world. Ideally, educators who work with the visually-impaired should be able to produce custom 3D models as they are needed for the explanation of concepts. This paper presents an undergoing project that aims at developing a protocol for making 3D technologies technically and economically available to them.

Computer-Aided Architectural Design Futures. The Next City - New Technologies and the Future of the Built Environment

Urban futures are typically conceptualized as starting anew; an urban future is usually represented as a quest for an ideal state, replacing the status quo with visionary statement about ‘better’ futures. Repeatedly, propositions reinvent the way we live, work and play. The major urban innovations for the changing cityscape from the last 100 years, however, have opportunistically taken advantage of unprecedented technical developments in infrastructure rather than be drawn from architectural inventions in their right, such as telecommunications, services, utilities, point-to-point rapid transit including the elevator. Howard’s Garden City therefore presaged the suburb, just as Le Corbusier et al. proposed the erasure of significant sections of inner city Barcelona and Paris to replace them with the newly contrived towers; the city reformed as the significantly more mobile and dense ‘Ville Radieuse’. More recently Masdar emerged from virgin sand and Milton Keynes from pristine pasture, serving as counterpoints to the paradigm of erasure and rebuild. Despite all these advances in technology and science, little has changed in the paradigm of urban form; the choices we have today are largely restricted to the suburban house or the apartment in the tower. Should the “next city” offer an alternative vision for the future, and what new design processes are required to realize the next city?

Incorporating Computational Theories and Technologies in Architectural Design

New computational theories and technologies that aim at improving the architectural design and production processes have been developed in the past decades.They include generative design systems, building information modelling, virtual and rapid prototyping, digital fabrication and so on.These theories and technologies have been explored in the academic environment and discussed in international conferences. However, it is not clear to which extent they have effectively changed the architectural design practice and industry. Do young architects effectively apply what they have learned in school, or they simply go back to the old methods when they face the reality of daily work? Are there differences in terms of how these technologies are assimilated by architects and the construction industries in different countries? The aim of the present issue was to find out what is the real impact of architectural computing in the work of the new generation of architects and in the built environment. The papers selected for this issue com from America, Europe and Australia.They cover the three phases of the building cycle – conceptual definition, design development and the construction process – from three different points of view – the critic, the practitioner and the research scientist. The issue is divided in three parts. Part I includes review papers that address the subject from the critic ́s point of view. Part two has practical examples of applications in the designs of a residential tower, a bridge and an urban area. Finally, part three shows new directions in research, with four main tendencies: a constructionist approach to design; the development of responsive/adaptable building parts; algorithmic form-generation and biological-inspired design. The first paper, by Henri Achten, is a good introduction to the subject, with a comprehensive overview of recent experimental design methods and their implications to architectural practice, as well as to the construction industry. Achten proposes a formula for evaluating the degree of innovation in design methods, which takes into account the number of agents, aspects

The Future of the Architect’s Employment

This paper was motivated by Frey and Osborne’s [1] work about the probability of different occupations being computerised in the near future, titled “The Future of Employment”. In their study, the architect’s profession had a very low probability of being automated, which does not do justice to the past fifty years of research in the field of architectural design automation. After reviewing some concepts in economics and labor, and identifying three categories of tasks in regards to automation, we propose a new estimate, by looking independently at 30 architectural tasks. We also took into account the reported advances in the automation of these tasks through scientific research. We conclude that there is presently a change in skill requirements for architects, suggesting that we have to rethink architectural education, so architects will not need to compete against the computer in the near future.

Teorías y tecnologías en la arquitectura contemporánea: el Laboratorio de Automatización y Prototipos de Arquitectura y Construcción de la Universidad Estatal de Campinas, Brasil

This article summarizes the work developed at LAPAC for the past seven years. The laboratory was created to start a new line of research in computational design at the School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urban Design at the State University of Campinas, Brazil.

Meta-PREVI Grammar

This paper describes part of a wider research that aimed at using Shape Grammar to generate more diverse and interesting urban spaces in Brazilian Social Housing developments. A shape grammar corresponding to design patterns was inferred from the PREVI Lima urban plan developed by C. Alexander [1] in the 1970s. The grammar was inferred from the plan layout and from the text instructions (or pattern descriptions) presented by Alexander, and can be applied to design new plans within a wider formal universe than what the plan layout would suggest. The final section of the paper points towards the development of generic grammars as a way of encapsulating good qualities of certain design projects and applying them to new situations.

Theories and technologies in contemporary architecture : The Laboratory of Automation and Prototyping for Architecture and Construction at the State University of Campinas, Brazil

| RESUMEN | En este artículo se resume el trabajo desarrollado en LAPAC durante los últimos siete años. El laboratorio fue creado para iniciar una nueva línea de investigación en el diseño computacional de la Facultad de Ingeniería Civil, Arquitectura y Diseño Urbano en la Universidad Estatal de Campinas, Brasil.

As funções de uma maquete

Resumo The paper initially discusses the different applications of physical models in architectur e. It then gives some examples of architectural scale models produced with digital fabrication techniques, with different purposes. Finally, a case study about the production of a model for an arts museum is presented. The objective of this model was to he lp the museum curators to plan an exhibition. The process involved many issues, such as drafting architectural details in CAD software, 3D-scanning of objects and using a laser cutter and a 3D-printer. Neste artigo sao discutidas as diferentes aplicacoes dos modelos fisicos em arquitetura. Em seguida, sao apresentados alguns exemplos de maquetes arquitetonicas produzidas com tecnicas de fabricacao digital, com diferentes finalidades. Finalmente, como estudo de caso, e descrita a producao de uma maquete pa ra um museu. O objetivo da maquete era ajudar a equipe de curadores do museu a planejar um exposicao. Esse processo envolveu diferentes questoes, como o desenho de detalhes arquitetonicos em um aplicativo CAD, a digitalizacao 3D de objetos e o uso de uma cortadora a laser e de uma impressora 3D.