MACE – Enriching Architectural Learning Objects for Experience Multiplication.

Stefaner, M., Dalla Vecchia, E., Condotta, M., Wolpers, M., Specht, M., Apelt, M., Duval, E. (2007) MACE – Enriching Architectural Learning Objects for Experience Multiplication. In: Duval, E., Klamma, R., & Wolpers, M. (eds.) EC-TEL 2007. LNCS 4753; Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer; pp. 322-336.Education in architecture requires access to a broad range of architectural learning material to develop flexibility and creativity in design. The learning material is compromised of digital information captured in textual and visual media including single images, videos, description of architectural concepts or complete architectural projects, i.e. digital artifacts on different aggregation levels. The repositories storing such information are not interrelated and do not provide unified access so that retrieval of architectural learning objects is cumbersome and time consuming. In this paper, we describe how an infrastructure of federated architectural learning repositories will provide unique, integrated access facilities for high quality architectural content. The integration of various types of content, usage, social and contextual metadata enables users to develop multiple perspectives and navigation paths that support experience multiplication for the user. A service– oriented software architecture that is based on open standards, and a flexible user interface design solutions based on widgets ensure easy integration and re- combinability of contents, metadata and functionalities

A digital surreal

As architects, much of our work lives within our various computer softwares. Rendering within architectural practice allows us to fabricate highly calculated, realistic representations of our work- a method by which we place ourselves within a space, inhabit it, or make it familiar. “A Digital Surreal” seeks to explore how rendering can be employed as a space for the production of narratives that instead challenge our perceptions of space. Drawing from artwork from the Surrealist movement, the project considers the characteristics of work by artists including Rene Magritte, Kay Sage, and Conroy Maddox, amongst others, along with contemporary architectural precedents, using them to generate compositions of speculative moments and worlds where objects, scales, and stories come together to manipulate familiar environments. The result is a collection of images that challenge the preconceived notions of architectural rendering, re-purposing the everyday and hyper-real in order to produce a digital Surrealism. The images serve as a commentary on rendering by means of manipulations, distortions, and a co-existence of reality and unreality that push us to explore the role of the architect as not only a producer of said reality, but as an artist with the ability to highlight peculiar, unfamiliar visions of space. “A Digital Surreal” is composed of a collection of scenes built from digital models with a combination of self-built and sourced materials and objects, each exploring a marrying of architectural and Surrealist qualities. The collection pushes us to rethink our relationship with spatial imaginations, while producing content to be consumed by those familiar with architectural design, and those that are not. Looking forward, it seeks to serve as a point from which these visions may be pushed to take on concrete form, becoming spaces, objects, or experiences for engagement within the real world

Virtual Heritage Learning Environments

. The change and restrictions in how we react with cultural heritage because of the COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgency in advancing remote and digital access to objects and sites. This paper outlines the process for developing Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) using digital recording and modelling of architectural heritage and archaeology. Virtual Reality (VR) software, game engine platforms and WEB platforms are outlined which can be applied to represent heritage sites in addition to emerging screen based technological learning systems. The application Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM) and Game Engine Platforms for creating Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) is also examined. The design-theory based on Virtual Learning Objects for cultural heritage is explored. Two case studies are explored for their potential to create Virtual Heritage Learning Environments. Finally, a design framework is proposed for developing Virtual Heritage Learning Environments

Cultivating the Erratic: Architectural representation and materialisation after the digital turn

This thesis investigates representation and materialisation in contemporary architectural design. Due to cultural and technological shifts, the act of design is no longer squarely located in the abstract realms of drawings or digital geometries. Computer aided manufacturing, physics simulation, and 3d-scanning offer alternative possibilities for design by incorporating the often-erratic qualities of extant objects and materials. These developments call for architects to intervene in and theorise technological transfers between representation and material reality that might otherwise become matters of mere expediency. Spanning in scope from design to technology to theory, the thesis is developed through a combination of analytical enquiry and design driven research. The design works included, Erratic and Completions, explore materialisation and representation against a critical review of key concepts associated with the ‘digital turn’ in architecture during the 1990s and 2000s. The thesis interrogates how those concepts have been developed and challenged in the decades after this turn. Key to the analysis is a critical enquiry about the nature of architectural representation and the significance of theoretical frameworks gleaned from other areas of enquiry, including materialist and post-digital thinking. The implications of the design work are explored by positioning physics simulation and 3d-scanning as means of representation through an interlacing of thinking from such frameworks with detailed accounts of technical apparatuses involved in conception and production.Overall, the thesis aims to build a new position for architectural conception and production. It argues that the means of representation that facilitate architectural design have agency, and that simulation and scanning offer a contemporary context in which the effects of such agencies can be productively observed. This opens a disciplinary discussion on issues of projection, translation, and codification and their role in shaping the architectural imagination. The discussion also extends beyond such architectural concerns and into political critique, as practices, technicalities, and histories of representation condition how we view the world, how we operate in it, and might even modify how we view ourselves

Virtual studio: a digital repository in architectural education

The “virtual studio” is a project exploring the potential of virtual learning environments to augment conventional studio culture in the Lincoln School of Architecture. Staff saw an opportunity to bridge the long-acknowledged divide in learning between theory, technology and studio practice by linking a wide range of digital material and media from across the curriculum within a single virtual space, both formal learning objects created by staff and work produced by students. Early in its development the project was expanded to link with Lincoln’s JISC-funded Institutional Repository which aims to establish a digital repository of teaching and learning objects and peer-reviewed research across the University. The School of Architecture was to be an initial test bed for the creation of a more generic, university-wide repository. However, architecture is an atypical discipline; its emphasis is more visual than literary, more practice than research-based and its approach to teaching and learning is more fluid and varied than either the sciences or the humanities (Stevens, 1998). If we accept that it is social interests that underlie the development of technology rather than any inevitable or rational progress (Bijker, 1997), the question arises as to what extent an institutional repository can reconcile architectural interests with the interests of other disciplines. Architecture and the design disciplines are marginal actors in the debate surrounding digital archive development, this paper argues, and they bring problems to the table that are not easily resolved given available software and that lie outside the interests of most other actors in academia

Integrated computational framework for the design and fabrication of bending-active structures made from flat sheet material

This paper introduces an integrated computational design framework for the design and realization of arbitrarily-curved bending-active architectural structures. The developed framework consists of a series of methods that enable the production of a complex 3D structures composed of a set of flat 2D panels whose mechanical properties are locally tuned by varying the shape of embedded spiraling patterns. The resulting panels perform as variable stiffness elements, and they are optimized to match a desired target shape once assembled together. The presented framework includes all the steps for the physical delivery of architectural objects, including conception, static assessment, and digital fabrication. The developed framework has been applied to an architectural scale prototype, which demonstrates the potential of integrating architectural design, computational simulation, structural engineering, and digital fabrication, opening up several possible novel applications in the building sector.</p

Architectural Potential of Data Representation: Modeling Physiological Processes

This inter-disciplinary project, seeks to develop new displays for visually representing physiologic variables, to enhance a clinician’s ability to see and rapidly respond to critical events. A digital architectural visualization of an individual’s physiologic data is created in real time. It is both a probing and representational system that brings together science and art through architectural design. Supported by a 5-year grant from the NIH, the project’s goal is to create a coordinated and interactive hyper-representation that articulates physiologic data in a format that is easily and quickly understood. Raw data is obtained from existing medical equipment that measures human physiological signs using non-invasive techniques. Using this data 3-D objects are created in digital space that represent physiologic changes within the body and show functional relationships that aid in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of critical event

Function, Role, Limitation, and Potential of Space Syntax Analysis in Architectural Field

This study aims to determine the function, roles, limitations, and potential of spatial configuration analysis with Space Syntax. The development of digital technology affects the development of science, including in the field of architecture. Digital technology is not only a design visualization tool but also a part of the design process and a thinking tool for architects in designing. One of them is the Space Syntax program. Space Syntax is a quantitative analysis tool used to analyze the pattern of relationships between spaces in various forms of architectural space: buildings, cities, interiors, and landscapes. The method used in this research is the literature study method. Data collection techniques are collecting several sources from the internet and journal references that discuss using the Space Syntax program. The results of this study indicate that Space Syntax has a function, roles, limitations, and potential in analyzing architectural space. SpaceSyntax can explore various horizontal space scales, including buildings objects and urban areas. However, the findings show that Space Syntax has limitations. Some studies use a combination of other methods to overcome this limitation. The combination method also raises the potential of Space Syntax as an analysis tool in the architectural field