Sotirios D. Kotsopoulos

Introduction to shape grammars

The theory of shape grammars defines a formalism to address the ambiguity that quantitative and symbolic computations mostly help us rule out in creative processes. The theory was first launched by Stiny and Gips in 1972 and has evolved into a groundbreaking pragmatist philosophy of shape and design since. The course, composed of a 2 hour lecture and an optional one-day workshop for 10-12 participants, introduces the fundamentals of the theory and optionally a venue for attendees to put these to practice in a hands-on workshop. The lecture will focus on giving some basic knowledge of shapes, shape algebras, and shape rules in order to explain how shape grammars translate visual and spatial thinking into design computation. Multiple examples of generative designs produced using shape grammars will be presented. The workshop consists of one exercise where participants will explore spatial relations between a number of shapes, leading to the production of a series of designs to be built by hand, out of a prescribed material such as wooden blocks or paper.

The Dynamic Façade Pattern Grammar

This paper presents a generative grammar producing a language of patterns for the south façade of a prototype sustainable house. The patterns are produced through the activation of the electrochromic material that is applied on the windowpanes of the façade. The class of the performatively effective configurations of the façade is approached as a visual language and the productive (generation), combinatorial (enumeration) and performative (verification) attributes of this language are examined. Random, performance driven, patterns could supply sufficient interior daylight without acknowledging the visual potential of façade pattern generation. The uniqueness of the chosen approach is that the shape grammar encodes the performative constraints pertaining to the generation of façade patterns in a visual manner by associating principles of two-dimensional pattern generation to levels of illuminance.

Interaction design with building facades

In this paper, we discuss our early studies with electronically activated variable transmission materials (e.g., electrochromic glasses and PDLC films) for the design of interactive, programmable building facades that exercise environmentally and socially sustainable building behaviors. We articulate on the different applications of these facades, such as automated climate moderation, lighting, view and privacy control, and discuss their aesthetic, social, and cultural implications in light of new interaction paradigms that shape the experience of the space that they are manifested in.

From Design Concepts to Design Descriptions

The paper examines the process of articulation and development of design concepts from a computational standpoint. The context of the research is the architectural studio and the process of designing from scratch. The scope of the research is educational. Shape grammar formalism is used in a retrospective analysis, to show how the concept of “porosity” was used by architect Steven Holl and his team in designing Simmons Hall, a 350-unit student residence, at MIT.

Managing Variable Transmittance Windowpanes by Model-Based Autonomous Control

The use of digitally activated, variable transmittance materials and artificial intelligence methods to building control will enhance the performance of buildings, and programmable components will change the traditional modes of architectural design, manufacturing and construction. In the presented key study, the architectural form and functionality of windows are revisited with a view to integrate current advances in material science, control systems engineering and human-computer interaction. The features of a building facade, involving a matrix of programmable windows that enables precise control of daylight, view and privacy in the interior of a house are discussed. Managing the variable transmittance materials of the facade by an autonomous high-level control system allows the optimization of the house performance based on real time data and the schedule of the inhabitants. Using constraint violations as a measure of success, the autonomous control of the house outperforms any existing deterministic control models.

Hybrid Connected Spaces: Mediating User Activities in Physical and Digital Space

The ever connected, almost symbiotic bond between physical and digital domain gives birth to new contexts of use and behavior. Designing a building, conceiving its interior or exterior arrangement, is no longer an issue that can be resolved solely in the physical domain. It calls for the integration of a digital, immaterial dimension introducing new variables and expertise. The fields of Human Computer Interaction, Human Building Interaction and Architecture, designate new environments that appear to be a middle ground between the physical and digital domain. In these new Hybrid Spaces the traditional utilitarian features of space are different, the users act differently, and have reformed expectations. In this paper we question if space can guide, inform, and educate the users to improve usability. To answer this question two projects carried out by the Mobile Experience Lab are presented: the Atlas Service Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Connected Sustainable Home in Trento, north Italy. Motivation for this research was our interest in reconsidering the nature of everyday work and live environments and activities in a way that integrates the latest technological advancements. Hybrid Connected Spaces represent the potential of an original type of symbiotic physical and digital domain that enables new enactments to take place.

From Shape Rules to Rule Schemata and Back

Shape rules and rule schemata are compared in terms of their expressive and productive features in design inquiry. Two kinds of formal processes are discussed to facilitate the comparison. The first proceeds from shape rule instances and infers rule schemata that the shape rules can be defined in. The second proceeds from rule schemata and postulates shape rule instances that can be defined within the schemata. These two parallel processes mirror our intuition in design: the conceptual need to frame explicit actions within general frameworks of principles, and the productive need to supply general principles with an explicit system of actions.

Designing A Connected Sustainable Living Environment

This paper presents the design and development of a prototype, connected to a sustainable home project, which is at its final stage of implementation in Trento, N. Italy. The paper specifically focuses on the design ends and the technological means deployed in the process of implementing the prototype. Design ends outline the technical premises underpinning the development of the house systems. Technological means refer to the methods and technologies that had been deployed to satisfy the premises. Emphasis is given to the properties of the reconfigurable façade and the autonomous control system of the house, where variable transmittance materials, AI methods for building control and digital simulation are used in combination.

A programmable fenestration system for residential use: functional, social and aesthetic qualities

This paper presents a programmable façade that contributes significant reduction in energy consumption by regulating the incoming sunlight into the interior of a residential building. Electrochromic and liquid crystal technologies allow the modification of thermal transmittance and view, which are controlled by a model-based plan executive. Except from operating as climate moderator the façade functions as an interface mediating the dynamics between inside and outside, public and private. The interaction design challenge is how to renew the role of the façade to provide new ways of association between the private environment of the house and the public environment of the street, the residents among themselves and their neighbors, and ultimately the house and its urban context.