ARCHITECTURAL HYBRID (PHYSICAL-DIGITAL) PROTOTYPING IN DESIGN PROCESSES WITH DIGITAL TWIN TECHNOLOGIES

A digital twin is a simultaneous digital reflection of object processes and states. Digital twins are usually made of objects that exist in reality or which are very near completion in a design and production process. In our research, we investigate the potential of digital twin technology for early design. Key to the early application of digital twin in design is the role of information and simulation. Since design information is valuable for predicting the future of design, we assume that design will begin to change as digital twin technologies become more and more adaptable, as designers simultaneously have digital twins of the past, present, and future. Digital twin technologies have many capabilities to support the design process at various stages from concept design to the final design. Throughout this process, architects use digital and physical models. Combined with digital twin technology, these models form what we call hybrid prototypes. Estimating that simulation has a vital impact on the design process, we raised the question of what the potential of architectural hybrid prototyping in design processes with digital twin technologies is. Similar to the development of the design through increasingly informed and detailed models, we think that the closest thing to the design process with the digital twin is the so-called foetal, child, and adult digital twin. Based on this classification, we approach the concept of hybrid prototyping and digital twin

ExploreASL: an image processing pipeline for multi-center ASL perfusion MRI studies

Arterial spin labeling (ASL) has undergone significant development since its inception, with a focus on improving standardization and reproducibility of its acquisition and quantification. In a community-wide effort towards robust and reproducible clinical ASL image processing, we developed the software package ExploreASL, allowing standardized analyses across centers and scanners.The procedures used in ExploreASL capitalize on published image processing advancements and address the challenges of multi-center datasets with scanner-specific processing and artifact reduction to limit patient exclusion. ExploreASL is self-contained, written in MATLAB and based on Statistical Parameter Mapping (SPM) and runs on multiple operating systems. The toolbox adheres to previously defined international standards for data structure, provenance, and best analysis practice.ExploreASL was iteratively refined and tested in the analysis of >10,000 ASL scans using different pulse-sequences in a variety of clinical populations, resulting in four processing modules: Import, Structural, ASL, and Population that perform tasks, respectively, for data curation, structural and ASL image processing and quality control, and finally preparing the results for statistical analyses on both single-subject and group level. We illustrate ExploreASL processing results from three cohorts: perinatally HIV-infected children, healthy adults, and elderly at risk for neurodegenerative disease. We show the reproducibility for each cohort when processed at different centers with different operating systems and MATLAB versions, and its effects on the quantification of gray matter cerebral blood flow.ExploreASL facilitates the standardization of image processing and quality control, allowing the pooling of cohorts to increase statistical power and discover between-group perfusion differences. Ultimately, this workflow may advance ASL for wider adoption in clinical studies, trials, and practice

Interaction Narratives for Responsive Architecture

In this position paper, we present the results of an ongoing theoretical investigation into the phenomenon of interactive architecture. Interaction in architecture deals with the meaningful exchange of information and physical acts between building and person. This goes beyond responsive systems like automated doors, shading systems, and so on. Most examples of interactive architecture are technological explorations that probe possibilities and the potential for interaction. In this paper we claim that this is not enough. The notion of interactive architecture is explored through social aspects, user experience, situatedness, and agent-based theory. From this we argue that interactive buildings need comprehensive and consistent styles of interaction rather than a series of isolated and unrelated interaction events. Different people in various contexts require different sets of behavior from an interactive building. These sets are conceptualized as interaction narratives, following the work of Maria Lehman. We argue that such narratives can provide a better fit of the interactive building with the user, and lead to a more profound understanding of such systems

Digital ground: architecture, pervasive computing, and environmental knowledge

No abstract

Lowering the threshold for computers in early design : some advances in architectural design

The design drawing is an important medium for establishing design support by means of computers. Architects intensively use graphic representations to communicate their design ideas personally, between professionals, and others. In this study, we consider line drawings such as sketches or drawings. Based on previous investigations, we propose that there exist well-structured graphic representations termed graphic units. Examples of graphic units are: grid, zone, axial system, contour, and element vocabulary. Associated to graphic units are specific kinds of design information that is relevant for this kind of representation (for the grid: module size, modular coordination, dependent grids; for the zone: definition of functional elements, dimensions of zones and margins, etc.) Therefore, understanding graphic units forms a basis for computer-based interpretation of drawings during the early phase of the design process. In this paper we present two principally distinct applications: paper plus and pen plus. The paper plus approach features automated recognition of graphic units as the architect is drawing. Work in this area has been based on techniques from multi-agent systems and Case-Based Reasoning. The pen plus approach features drawing tools based on graphic units. Work in this area has been based on techniques from expert systems and computer graphics. The paper plus and pen plus approaches show how an earlier understanding of graphic representations in architectural design is possible, thus lowering the threshold for the use of computers in the design process

Mixed Task Domain Representation in VR-DIS

Direct manipulation interfaces are characterised according to the representation of the task domain: the domain objects and the effect of user operations on those objects. In the VR-DIS system (Virtual Reality- Design Information System), the task domain is represented by a mix of a verbal (textual) and analogue (pictorial) representation. Objects are represented by a mixture of a descriptive spatial 3D graph of text blocks and a realistically rendered perspective view. It is postulated that user interfaces that present mixed views of the task domain can better support differences between users’ working styles and sub-task dependent types of information exchange