A preliminary investigation on the sound field properties in the Sagrada Familia Basilica

This paper reports on a preliminary investigation of the sound field properties inside a large Roman Catholic Church in Barcelona, the Sagrada Familia Basilica, which is a World Heritage Site although its construction has not been completed. The impulse responses were measured at 5 sound source positions combined with 14 measurement locations inside the Sagrada Familia Basilica, and the Impulse response to Noise Ratios (INR) were examined to check the reliability of the measured impulse responses. The room acoustic parameters were calculated and the following 5 sound field properties in the Sagrada Familia Basilica were analysed: reverberation, spaciousness, loudness, warmth and clarity. No optimal values of room acoustic parameters for such large volume churches have been found in the literature; thus, the preferred values of the reverberation time (T20) and the Early Decay Time (EDT) for small volume churches, and the preferred values of the middle frequency strength of sound (Gmid), the low frequency strength of sound (G125), the clarity (C80) and the binaural quality index (1 - IACCe) for concert halls were compared with the measurement results to illustrate a primary impression of the listening experience in the Sagrada Familia Basilica. The reverberation time (T20) and the EDT in the Sagrada Familia Basilica are much higher than the preferred values, while the middle frequency strength of sound (Gmid), the low frequency strength of sound (G125) and the clarity (C80) are less than the preferred values. The binaural quality index (1 - IACCE) is just above the typical satisfactory value

Fabricate 2020

Fabricate 2020 is the fourth title in the FABRICATE series on the theme of digital fabrication and published in conjunction with a triennial conference (London, April 2020). The book features cutting-edge built projects and work-in-progress from both academia and practice. It brings together pioneers in design and making from across the fields of architecture, construction, engineering, manufacturing, materials technology and computation. Fabricate 2020 includes 32 illustrated articles punctuated by four conversations between world-leading experts from design to engineering, discussing themes such as drawing-to-production, behavioural composites, robotic assembly, and digital craft

System remotely inspects, measures, and records internal irregularities in piping

Video electromechanical probe visually inspects and measures internal offset and peaking of welds in relatively large piping. Irregularity dimensions are recorded on peripheral equipment consisting of video tape and X-Y plotter. The probe is used for inspection of vacuum-jacketed liquid lines that cannot be inspected externally

Understanding social behaviors in the indoor environment: a complex network approach

Being able to monitor and analyze human interactions in the indoor environment over time has many architectural applications from spatial planning to post occupancy evaluation. In this paper, we present our interdisciplinary approach that interprets human-spatial interactions as a complex network. We combine methods and techniques from sensor networks, signal processing, data mining, network theory, and information visualization to form a novel framework that facilitates versatile investigations. We will demonstrate the framework with a real-world case study: we have collected and analyzed human-spatial interaction data from a workshop scenario where multiple design projects were conducted within a shared studio space

Experience and imagination in transdisciplinary design: The fabpod

© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This article examines how techniques for imagining atmospheres are conceptualized and practiced in architecture, anthropology and acoustic measurement in order to advance discussion of how transdisciplinary theory and practice might be realized. Building on research into the experience of atmospheres of already existing architectural spaces, it discusses how architects, anthropologists and users of designed environments imagine atmospheres. This is explored through an examination of the processes of design, making, quantitative measurement and ethnographic study of an acoustically designed prototype meeting space, the FabPod. It is argued that transdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration offers architecture a new mode through which to participate in imagining and designing atmosphere

COMPLEX HUMAN AUDITORY PERCEPTION AND SIMULATED SOUND PERFORMANCE PREDICTION

This paper reports an investigation into the degree of consistency between three different methods of sound performance evaluation through studying the performance of a built project as a case study. The non-controlled office environment with natural human speech as a source was selected for the subjective experiment and ODEON room acoustics modelling software was applied for digital simulation. The results indicate that although each participant may interpret and perceive sound in a particular way, the simulation can pre- dict this complexity to some extent to help architects in designing acoustically better spaces. Also the results imply that architects can make valid comparative evaluations of their designs in an architecturally intuitive way, using architectural language. The research acknowledges that complicated engineering approaches to subjective analysis and to controlling the test environment and participants is difficult for architects to comprehend and implement

Complex human auditory perception and simulated sound performance prediction: A case study for investigating methods of sound performance evaluations and corresponding relationship

© 2016, The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), Hong Kong. This paper reports an investigation into the degree of consistency between three different methods of sound performance evaluation through studying the performance of a built project as a case study. The non-controlled office environment with natural human speech as a source was selected for the subjective experiment and ODEON room acoustics modelling software was applied for digital simulation. The results indicate that although each participant may interpret and perceive sound in a particular way, the simulation can predict this complexity to some extent to help architects in designing acoustically better spaces. Also the results imply that architects can make valid comparative evaluations of their designs in an architecturally intuitive way, using architectural language. The research acknowledges that complicated engineering approaches to subjective analysis and to controlling the test environment and participants is difficult for architects to comprehend and implement

Logic and intuition in architectural modelling: philosophy of mathematics for computational design

This dissertation investigates the relationship between the shift in the focus of architectural modelling from object to system and philosophical shifts in the history of mathematics that are relevant to that change. Particularly in the wake of the adoption of digital computation, design model spaces are more complex, multidimensional, arguably more logical, less intuitive spaces to navigate, less accessible to perception and visual comprehension. Such spatial issues were encountered much earlier in mathematics than in architectural modelling, with the growth of analytical geometry, a transition from Classical axiomatic proofs in geometry as the basis of mathematics, to analysis as the underpinning of geometry. Can the computational design modeller learn from the changing modern history, philosophy and psychology of mathematics about the construction and navigation of computational geometrical architectural system model space? The research is conducted through a review of recent architectural project examples and reference to three more detailed architectural modelling case studies. The spatial questions these examples and case studies raise are examined in the context of selected historical writing in the history, philosophy and psychology of mathematics and space. This leads to conclusions about changes in the relationship of architecture and mathematics, and reflections on the opportunities and limitations for architectural system models using computation geometry in the light of this historical survey. This line of questioning was motivated as a response to the experience of constructing digital associative geometry models and encountering the apparent limits of their flexibility as the graph of dependencies grew and the messiness of the digital modelling space increased. The questions were inspired particularly by working on the Narthex model for the Sagrada Família church, which extends to many tens of thousands of relationships and constraints, and which was modelled and repeatedly partially remodelled over a very long period. This experience led to the realisation that the limitations of the model were not necessarily the consequence of poor logical schema definition, but could be inevitable limitations of the geometry as defined, regardless of the means of defining it, the ‘shape’ of the multidimensional space being created. This led to more fundamental questions about the nature of Space, its relationship to geometry and the extent to which the latter can be considered simply as an operational and notational system. This dissertation offers a purely inductive journey, offering evidence through very selective examples in architecture, architectural modelling and in the philosophy of mathematics. The journey starts with some questions about the tendency of the model space to break out and exhibit unpredictable and not always desirable behaviour and the opportunities for geometrical construction to solve these questions is not conclusively answered. Many very productive questions about computational architectural modelling are raised in the process of looking for answers

A multimodal toolkit for thermal performance feedback in conceptual design modelling

This paper presents a multimodal toolkit for rapid performance-driven façade design that includes both virtual and physical performance feedback. The toolkit has been user tested in the SmartGeometry 2013 event by the Thermal Reticulations workshop cluster. Although the workshop participants were predominately digital design focused, the authors observed several distinct approaches to the tool selection and workflow involving both physical and virtual simulations, with a favoring to tools that produce fast visual outcomes. The approaches to tool selection are presented here as case studies with their workflow mapped for discussion. We conclude that access to a diverse range of simulation tools for design evaluation is advantageous to the creativity of the design process

Investigating driver support systems in real traffic with the Instrumented Car for Computer Aided Driving (ICACAD)

This paper describes the Instrumented Car for Computer Aided Driving (ICACAD) and how it is used for conducting behavioural research in traffic. Its primary aim was to investigate the effects of telematics applications on driver performance, which is important for making such applications a success. However, the general set-up of ICACAD makes it suitable for other types of experiments possible as well.RESUMO ------ Neste artigo e descrito o Carro Instrumentado para Condução Auxiliada por Computador (Instrumented Car for Computer Aided Driving, ICACAD) e a forma como ele 6 usado para investigaq8es comportamentais em tráfego rodoviário. Este automóvel foi desenvolvido com o objectivo inicial de estudar os efeitos de sistemas telemáticos no desempenho de condutores, o que é importante para assegurar o êxito desses sistemas. Porémm, as características gerais do ICACAD tornam-no também adequado para outros tipos de investigações