Jules Moloney

From Abstraction to Being There: Mixed Reality at the Early Stages of Design

We discuss the use of multiple design representations to enhance decision making at the early stages of design. Our interest is how the context in which design decisions are made can be extended by two interrelated approaches: (1) the incorporation of the temporal; (2) through the concurrent evaluation of qualitative representations and quantitative information. Outcomes from a practice survey and observations from design studios are used to inform the development of mixed reality (MixR) technology, to enable the applications to reflect architecture specific modes of design praxis. We propose two approaches - studio MixR and site MixR - reflecting the distinction between typical studio based design process and the requirements of a formal design review by the design team and stakeholders. Prototype applications have been implemented and a number of projects have been undertaken to illustrate some of the potential of mixed reality for architecture and urban design. These focus on the early stages of design, from the abstraction of parametric design to on site design reviews undertaken with augmented reality visualization.

A Framework for the Design of Kinetic Façades

The particular requirements of kinetic façades are discussed in relation to a general model for future CAAD research – a 3D digital prototype based on (1) the concurrent evaluation of quantitative and qualitative performance over time (2) the calibration of geometry and physics to materiality and mechanics. Concurrent performance in the case of kinetic façades is determined by the dual role as environmental screens and the socio-cultural function as the public face of architecture. From these principles a framework is proposed that informs the conceptualisation of software that will address unique requirements the design of façades as process systems that perform over a range of time scales.

Kinetic Architectural Skins and the Computational Sublime

ABSTRACT The idea of the computational sublime has been introduced into discourse within the generative electronic arts. The author proposes that, for an artwork to exploit the sublime, the form and context in which the mapping of computational process occurs are crucial. He suggests that digital-analogue hybrids within an urban setting allow engagement with a wider audience and the capacity for the work to be surveyed over multiple timescales. To this end, a framework for the design of kinetic architectural skins is presented for artists to consider as a potential resource for collaboration.

Hybrid environmental-media facades: rationale and feasibility

ABSTRACT It has been demonstrated that kinetic sunscreens linked to intelligent building systems have the potential to improve the energy performance of large-scale public and commercial buildings. However, there has been minimal uptake, primarily due to the capital and maintenance costs. This study proposes that costs can be offset through adding value by repurposing the sunscreening system as a low-resolution media screen. To evaluate the feasibility of this hybrid environmental-media facade concept, physical prototypes has developed and calibrated to real-time simulation and control software; and two case studies were undertaken to assess the physical and economic feasibility. This article introduces the rationale for a hybrid façade, documents the prototypes and case studies, and outlines further work on control systems for a truly smart building façade.

Literal and notional force fields in architecture

The contemporary recycling of biological analogy in architecture, in tandem with computational techniques of parametric design and building information models, raise the prospect of a return to a twenty-first century version of biotechnical determinism. This current dalliance with morphology and optimisation, raises the wider issue of how architecture has typically engaged with science: is the use of metaphor or other looser translations more likely to stimulate innovative practice than literal application? This question is considered here in relation to a particular case—the notion of the field, as informed from developments in nineteenth-century physics. An episodic tracing of the influence of field concepts takes in Italian Futurism, urban morphology and the topological to suggest the potency of a multi-various interpretation of science for architecture. The essay concludes with an argument for the concurrent evaluation of the quantitative and the qualitative, through performance simulation and mixed-reality visualisation. That utilisation of a range of analogue and digital technology may enable the balanced evaluation of design quality, architecture conceived in metaphor and poised between pragmatics and poetry.