Henriette Bier

Prototypes for automated architectural 3D-layout

Prototypes for automated spatial layout in architecture focus on approaches, which define occupiable space as an orthogonal 2D-grid and use algorithms to allocate each rectangle of the grid to a particular function. However, these approaches are limiting the design to 2D spatial layouts. Based on SAT solving techniques, the prototype presented in this paper proposes a methodology for automated 3D-space planning for voxelized curvilinear geometries.

Materially Informed Design to Robotic Production: A Robotic 3D Printing System for Informed Material Deposition

This paper presents and discusses the development of a materially informed Design-to-Robotic-Production (D2RP) process for additive manufacturing aiming to achieve performative porosity in architecture at various scales. An extended series of experiments on materiality employing robotic fabrication techniques were implemented in order to finally produce a prototype on one-to-one scale. In this context, design materiality has been approached from both digital and physical perspectives. At a digital materiality level, a customized computational design framework has been implemented for form finding of compression only structures combined with a material distribution optimization method. Moreover, the chained connection between the parametric design model and the robotic production setup has enabled a systematic study of specific aspects of physicality that cannot be fully simulated in the digital medium. This established a feedback loop not only for understanding material behaviours and properties but also for robotically depositing material in order to create an informed material architecture.

A High-Resolution Intelligence Implementation based on Design-to-Robotic-Production and -Operation Strategies

This paper presents an initial proof-of-concept implementation of a comprehensively intelligent built-environment based on mutually informing Design-to-Robotic-Production and -Operation (D2RP&O) strategies and methods developed at Delft University of Technology (TUD). In this implementation, D2RP is expressed via deliberately differentiated and function-specialized components, while D2RO expressions subsume an extended Ambient Intelligence (AmI) enabled by a Cyber-Physical System (CPS). This CPS, in turn, is built on a heterogeneous, scalable, self-healing, and partially meshed Wireless Sensor and Actuator Network (WSAN) whose nodes may be clustered dynamically ad hoc to respond to varying computational needs. Two principal and innovative functionalities are demonstrated in this implementation: (1) costeffective yet robust Human Activity Recognition (HAR) via Support Vector Machine (SVM) and k-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN) classification models, and (2) appropriate corresponding reactions that promote the occupants spatial experience and wellbeing via continuous regulation of illumination with respect to colors and intensities to correspond to engaged activities. The present implementation attempts to provide a fundamentally different approach to intelligent built-environments, and to promote a highly sophisticated alternative to existing intelligent solutions whose disconnection between architectural considerations and computational services limits their operational scope and impact.

Adaptive building-skin components as context-aware nodes in an extended cyber-physical network

This paper presents an adaptive building-skin system that attempts to establish the foundations for an intuitive and responsive interface between interior and exterior spaces with respect to environmental, thermal, acoustic, and user-comfort considerations. It does this by enabling each of its components to act as individual, context-aware, sensor-actuator nodes capable of differentiated — yet correlated — actions, reactions, and interactions. The proposal situates the system within an intelligent environment whose ecosystems operational scope subsumes yet extends beyond interior environments to include exterior domains via wearable devices. Accordingly, as the sensed data of any device is accessible across all devices in a topology of meshed nodes, the computationally processed behavior of any node is potentially informed by and informing of the status of individual and/or sets of other nodes. In this manner, the building-skin is not construed as a mere envelope, but rather as a system comprised of agents that, in conjunction with all other embedded, ambulant, or wearable agents, actively promote the well-being, comfort, and spatial experience of users.

SC: prototypes for interactive architecture

This paper describes an ongoing research, SpaceCustomiser : InterActive, [SC : IA] which deals with development of digital design strategies based on non-Euclidean geometries, whereas the body in movement generates interactively architectural SPACE. The input – movement – is being electronically processed in such a way that the output represents a continuous, real-time modification of the space. For this purpose an on-site-built InterFace employing sensor/actuator technology enables translation of the recorded movement into spatial configurations. The InterAction between the body and the architectural space gives insight into, how the human body shapes space.

Integration of a Wearable Interface in a Design-to-Robotic-Production and -Operation Development

This paper presents the integration of an Internet of Things wearable device as a personal interfacing node in an intelligent built-environment framework, which is informed by Design-to-Robotic-Production and -Operation principles developed at Delft University of Technology. The device enables the user to act as an active node in the built-environments underlying Wireless Sensor and Actuator Network, thereby permitting a more immediate and intuitive relationship between the user and his/her environment, where this latter is integrated with physical / computational adaptive systems and services. Two main resulting advantages are identified and illustrated. On the one hand, the devices sensors provide personal (i.e., body temperature / humidity, physical activity) as well as immediate environmental (i.e., personal-space air-quality) data to the built-environments embedded / ambulant systems. Moreover, rotaries on the device enable the user to override automatically established illumination and ventilation settings in order to accommodate user-preferences. On the other hand, the built-environments systems provide notifications and feedback with respect to their status to the device, thereby raising user-awareness of the state of his/her surroundings and corresponding interior environmental conditions. In this manner, the user becomes a context-aware node in a Cyber-Physical System. The present work promotes a considered relationship between the architecture of the built-environment and the Information and Communication Technologies embedded and/or deployed therein in order to develop highly effective alternatives to existing Ambient Intelligence solutions.

Design to Robotic Assembly: An Exploration in Stacking

The Design-to-Robotic-Assembly project presented in this paper showcases an integrative approach for stacking architectural elements with varied sizes in multiple directions. Several processes of parametrization, structural analysis, and robotic assembly are algorithmically integrated into a Design-to-Robotic-Production method. This method is informed by the systematic control of density, dimensionality, and directionality of the elements while taking environmental, functional, and structural requirements into consideration. It is tested by building a one-to-one prototype, which is presented and discussed in the paper with respect to the development and implementation of the computational design workflow coupled with robotic kinematic simulation that is enabling the materialization of a multidirectional and multidimensional assembly system.

Software and hardware prototypes for virtual graduate programs

Internet-based learning platforms facilitate, usually, exchange of text, image, and movie files, while higher education in design-oriented domains needs support in not only exchanging design related 2D drafting and 3D modeling files but also enabling collaborative real-time drafting and modeling interaction. In this context, multi-user interactive interfaces employing game engines offer a framework within which prototypes for Internet-based academic education in architecture, such as Protospace, have been successfully implemented and tested.

Prototypes for Distance Learning in Academic Education

Improvements in Internet-based database connectivities and interactive interfacing allow for real-time interaction between users. While, Internet-based learning platforms facilitate, in general, exchange of text, image, and movie files, academic education in design-oriented domains needs support in knowledge exchange with respect to design related issues such as 2D drafting and 3D-4D modeling. In this context, multi-user interactive interfaces employing game engines offer a framework within which prototypes for Internet-based academic education in architecture, such as Protospace, have been successfully implemented and tested.