Post-Anthropocene_2.0: Alternative Scenarios through Nature/Computing Coalition Applicable in Architecture

Concepts of the Post-Anthropocene often depict dystopian futures where land is occupied by giant machines performing repetitive tasks and replicating and fixing other machines. This speculation amplifies what is to be today’s solution for the efficient management of available assets, supported by hardware, software, and Artificial Intelligence technologies. However, it also portrays a dehumanising future where Earth has totally been succumbed to the machinic dogma, and for which architecture is no longer made for people. In response to this unsettling scenario, an alliance between nature as a source of references and computing explaining its systemic logic is considered, offering a pathway to reharmonize architecture’s scope with the greater ecology. Moreover, semantic analogies are drawn between holistic models of physical space and nature’s operational and organisational principles developed since early modernism. This sums up to a paradigm shift that employs cross-disciplinary concepts, cultural knowledge, political ideologies, technology and computing altogether to respond to critical challenges of sustainable thinking for the Post-Anthropocene introduced in architecture’s core discourse

Zoom in/Zoom out:: the abolishment of the drawing scale in architectural practice

The paper draws upon the changes brought up by the use of the zoom command into architectural practice. Zoom is compared to the analogue methods traditionally applied for the development of an architectural project. Due to the increasing immediacy of experience in the digital working environment, some routines have become so repetitive, instantaneous and automatic that their influential significance in the design process, also in the end result, is often overlooked. Thus, a detailed analysis of the changes appointed to the computer is pending, so that the historical transition from analogue to digital would be compared to the gradual shifting of the most common assumptions about design: namely, how the extensive use of commands such as copy, paste, delete, zoom, and practices such as the organizing of elements in layers and groups, have affected the design process. It is stated that a radical transformation of architectural design has happened primarily because the drawing processes have changed, as there have also been ongoing researches on the emerging possibilities due to digital technology in the recording, digitalization, diagrammatic expression, reordering and evaluation of data, also algorithmic design, digital manufacturing and material research, to name a few. In the above wider context, the zoom command is examined. Methodologically, zoom is compared to the analogue drawing methods and techniques, such as the paper drawing and the physical model. The inquiry points out the impact of the zoom command upon the mostly common drawing conventions, as a consequence of viewing the object in different scales onto the computer screen from extreme close up to a very large distance. In that sense, the paper examines which issues are facilitated, resolved, even cancelled with zoom, also how the digital tool may be superior, or fall short to its analogue counterparts, finally the emerging areas of research

The Diagram as a Vehicle of Transposition in the Quest of Architectural Form:: Program | Typology | Drawing

This paper discusses the impact of diagrammatic processes into architectural design. The diagram may be related to its scientific origin as a means of analysis and comparison of data. In accordance with diagrammatic interpretations of Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon, also with Gilles Deleuze's notion of "abstract machine,” the diagram operates in architecture as a means expressing the dynamic relationships among different elements having spatial significance. With the use of diagrams, abstract information of analysis is transposed into architectural design by using codes of spatial definition. The diagram may thus be distinguished from architectural form, as the connection between them remains metaphorical. From a theoretical point, such an explanation of the diagram is illuminating, also tying up with computational practices using advanced CAD software; however, ambiguities may be raised due to the fact that, in practice, essential issues regarding the diagram's overall functionality are often being disregarded. For example: under what conditions might it be useful arguing that the diagram has no relationship whatsoever with a sketch drawing of an architectural idea? Or, upon the assumption that the diagram is a tool aiding the conceptual manipulation of data and besides any of its representational capabilities, how would it be beneficial denying its direct or indirect contribution as a harbinger to architectural synthesis? In response, this paper redeploys the applications of the diagram in the transition from abstract notions to the first graphic sign and the gradual development of an architectural project. Respectively, the diagram is related to data analysis, the defining of the program, the building type and the architectural drawing

New Metabolism: ‘Placeless’ solution strategies for unplanned scenarios

Architectural design is addressed as a process wherein a problem about physical space is analysed to a set of variables, then re-synthesised towards new solutions. Additionally, design’s increasing complexity and challenges with regards to sustainability, ecology, infrastructure, political issues, and public resources often require novel responses. It follows that design deals with change as a quality that is inherent to a project’s main purpose. Architecture, as much as it envisions new ways of living, inevitably causes a shift of socio-cultural memory due to a place’s transforming. This observation is mostly relevant in cases where unexpected phenomena take precedence over other imperatives being more predictable and controlled; in that sense, design may purposefully disengage from prior references by which place would have been identified. This paper delves into this challenge by introducing the `unexpected' into architecture’s body of work. Open-ended strategies are compared as alternative ones set in response to unforeseen scenarios. Historical paradigms and ‘placeless’ styles are drawn, namely Metabolism and Late-modernist avant-garde in Japan and Europe, reflecting widely applicable bottom-up and cross-disciplinary approaches. As this Post-War legacy is met with the use of algorithms, it prompts to raise complexity, prediction, and overall expectations even further. In effect, ‘placeless’ styles are preferred, as ones that are more adjustable, speculative, and responsive to different contexts. Case studies with unpredictable character are also examined along with computing, which sets design a cross-parametric task impacting regional planning, infrastructure, architectural modules, and smaller elements altogether, with reference to acclaimed examples on similar themes

The building façade as an active skin: Water bio-remediation through a probiotic layer system

In 2020, the United Nations demonstrated that the building sector is responsible for 38% of all energy-related CO2 emissions [1]. Architecture as an invasive practice, bears a responsibility and the capacity to minimize its negative ecological impact. This study investigates alternative methodologies of architectural design that employ the upgrading of greywater through the building envelope to integrate the building in the environment’s metabolic cycles. The building façade may be treated as an active membrane that controls energy and material resources to carry out energy-related functions. Its performance may be modeled by the operational principles of cell membranes and living organisms. The activation of the membrane is achieved by managing greywater resources, while architectural design is informed by biotechnology and environmental engineering. On a different note, water is a vital resource for the sustenance of life whose scarcity increases rapidly. By upgrading greywater, the building membrane becomes a space for different species to inhabit. Considering the above, an interdisciplinary design method is proposed that: • Allows the envelope to circulate water in a controlled manner. • Incorporates the bio-remediation of greywater. • Adapts the envelope to create living “pockets” activated by water. These pockets host vegetation and microorganisms, serving as a probiotic layer that regulates the micro-climate and supports local fauna

Post-anthropocene: the design after the human centered design age

The paper exemplifies possible traces of transition towards Post-Anthropocene that is envisioned as non hierarchical system. It is taking Morton’s discussion on ‘hyperobjectivity’ further into multi-layered codesign performed in real time and real life across bio-digital agents, including humans. Though our planet might be recently experiencing drastic times and one catastrophic scenario follows the other, a natural succession often comes after most disasters

Enhancing User-Engagement in the Design Process through Augmented Reality Applications

Augmented Reality (AR) technologies are often perceived as the most impactful method to enhance the communication between the designer and the client during the iterative design process. However, the significance of designing the User Interface (UI) and the User Experience (UX) are often underestimated. To intercede, this research aims to employ new and existing techniques to develop UI's, and comparatively assess ``the accuracy and completeness with which specified users can achieve specified goals in particular environments'' (Stone, 2005) - a notion this research delineates as `effectiveness'. Prompted by the work of key scholars, the developed UI's were assessed through the lens of existing UI evaluation techniques, including: Usability Heuristics (Nielsen, 1994) and Visual and Cognitive Heuristics (Zuk and Carpendale, 2006). In partnership with PTW Architects, characteristics such as the rapidity and complexity of interactions, in conjunction with the interface's simplicity and intuitiveness, were extracted from 15 trials underwent by architectural practitioners. The outcomes of this research highlights strategies for the effective development of user interface design for mobile augmented reality applications

Building Bio-Shelters Using Industry 4.0 Data-Driven Hybrid Fabrication Technologies

This chapter describes the innovative design and fabrication of a complex reef system for Sydney Harbour, Australia. The Bio-Shelters project is an ongoing collaborative investigation into the application of computational design and Industry 4.0 hybrid technologies to create site-specific artificial reefs. The location of the artificial reefs is Blackwattle Bay in Sydney Harbour. The Bay has been used for heavy industry for over 100 years, resulting in polluted water and severely damaged natural marine ecosystems. The chapter discusses the design approach to the Bio-Shelters, the marine species targeted, the iterative computational design, and sustainable material investigations that took place during the development. The authors then detail the hybrid fabrication processes using laser-cut steel waffle structures and shotcrete surface treatments. The chapter concludes with the current status of the ongoing project and defines the next steps using robotic fabrication