Tristan Al-Haddad

Architales: physical/digital co-design of an interactive story table

Many research efforts today explore how digitally augmented tables enable face-to-face interaction with digital content and applications. Yet the design of digital tables is still largely driven by the constraints and requirements of the underlying sensing technologies. In order to move digital tables into our real-world physical spaces, researchers need to work closely with architects and industrial designers in order to engage the knowledge and skills from a long history of physical design and fabrication in the creation of tabletop systems. This paper presents Architales, an interactive story table for gallery exhibition, developed as an experiment in physical/digital co-design. We describe the creation of the interactive table, tangible storytelling system, and story content, which evolved together in a closely unified design process, drawing on the skills from computing, media, design and architecture. We also describe lessons learned about the interdisciplinary design process and the creation of physical/digital artworks.

Rich Knowledge Parametric Tools for Concrete Masonry Design Automation of Preliminary Structural Analysis, Detailing and Specifications

Our research focuses on how new computational tools and design methods can support the design process of masonry buildings. Specifically we discuss the potential of parametric modeling technologies to promote innovation by embedding knowledge on masonry construction as both generative rules and checker functions. Their goal is to inform designers on the feasibility of their intents on early stages of the design process. For this purpose we will adopt a methodology and notation called Building Object Behavior (BOB) to identify and translate construction knowledge towards the implementation of masonry parametric objects. A curved masonry wall is used as case study for the development of several parametric prototypes and their possible implications for collaboration are discussed.

Quad Pod: Ultra-efficient PV Racking System for Long Span Ground Mount and Canopy Applications

Renewable energy from Photovoltaic (PV) Systems is poised to reach the major milestone of grid parity in the coming years due to substantial decreases in the cost of silicon based PV technologies. One of the remaining hurdles to overcome in order to achieve grid parity is the Balance of System (BoS) cost which includes all of the costs other than the PV modules and electrical inverters. This paper presents a novel approach to the problem of racking and mounting for utility scale PV power plants and urban canopy applications with a new racking system design and installation process model. The goal of this design is to provide the most cost effective racking system for utility scale PV arrays. This system, called the Quad Pod, is predicated on the principles of pre-assembly to minimize labor cost and ultra efficient long span truss design to minimize material cost. Additionally, both approaches yield significant improvements in installation time and worker safety and comfort.