Parameterizing the geometry and visualizing the lighting method of Byzantine church domes

This paper introduces a computer-based tool for the analysis of the geometry and the daylighting of Byzantine church domes to facilitate experimentation with a number of cases before any fieldwork is undertaken. Starting with a geometric derivation of the relationship between dome parameters, the digital tool builds an interactive three-dimensional model of a Byzantine church dome. The model allows the user to input the properties of the dome, the drum, any windows, and the slope of their sills. The model allows the user to define the dome using three different curvatures since such a case was identified in a Mistras church. A custom ray-tracing algorithm visualizes the path of light rays falling on the windowsills and their reflections within the dome. It was found that several parameters are interrelated and that an optimal set of proportions must be established to achieve the expected behavior of light within the dome

A parametric model of Byzantine church domes

This paper attempts to analyze, through the use of a flexible parametric model, the majority of cases of dome designs of the Byzantine period. Through interactive experimentation and a review of literary sources and case studies, it theorizes on the variety of refinements that were used in order to achieve the uniformly luminous effect present in most Byzantine church domes over a period of a thousand years. The parametric computer model employs a physics simulation engine and animation methods to trace the path of a sunray as it enters and reflects within a Byzantine dome. Through parametric variation and simulation, the method has the potential to produce endless dome designs as well as accurately derive their qualitative and quantitative lighting characteristics

Applying the vernacular model to high-rise residential development in the Middle East and North Africa

In the age of globalisation and continuous urbanisation, architects have a greater responsibility to design residential buildings with comfortable and sustainable environments. However, sustainable solutions should not concern themselves only with utilising technology, but also with creating synergies amongst community’s social, cultural, historical, and environmental aspects. This research focuses on the implications of this wider definition of sustainability within the hot-arid climates of the Middle-East and North-Africa. Most of the current high-rise residential buildings in these regions do not promote social cohesion as they have been constructed without consideration for local identity and lifestyle. In contrast, vernacular courtyard dwellings and neighbourhoods offer good examples of socially cohesive and healthy environments. Yet, vernacular houses might not be compatible with pressures of modern construction. The question then becomes how to maintain the relationship between the spatial, social and environmental aspects while employing the latest technologies and materials. This paper presents the different qualities of vernacular houses and neighbourhoods in the different regions of the Middle-East and North-Africa. Social and spatial relationships of different cases are assessed, through a typological analysis approach using a developed syntactic-geometric model, to trace the lifestyle and the cultural values of the society. The aim is a parametric exploration of appropriate sustainable solutions that facilitate the synergy of socio-climatic requirements, the well-being qualities of the residents, and the specifics of culture, time and people while designing sustainable high-rise developments

Humanising the computational design process: Integrating parametric models with qualitative dimensions

Parametric design is a computational based approach used for understanding the logic and the language embedded in the design process algorithmically and mathematically. Currently, the main focus of computational models, such as shape grammar and space syntax, is primarily limited to formal and spatial requirements of the design problem. Yet, qualitative factors, such as social, cultural and contextual aspects are also important dimensions in solving architectural design problems. In this paper, an overview of the advantages and implications of the current methods is presented. It also puts forward a ‘structured analytical system’ that combines the formal and geometric properties of the design, with descriptions that reflect the spatial, social, and environmental patterns. This syntactic-discursive model is applied for encoding vernacular courtyard houses in the hot-arid regions of the Middle-East and North-Africa, and utilising the potentials of these cases in reflecting the life-style and the cultural values of the society, such as privacy, human-spatial behaviour, the social life inside the house, the hierarchy of spaces, the segregation and seclusion of family members from visitors, and the orientation of spaces. The output of this analytical phase prepares the ground work for the development of socio-spatial grammar for contemporary tall residential buildings that gives the designer the ability to reveal logical spatial topologies based on social-environmental restrictions, and to produce alternatives that have an identity, and at the same time respect the context, the place, and the needs of users

Parametric spatial models for energy analysis in the early design stages

Much of the research into integrating performance analysis in the design process has focused on the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) as input for analysis engines. The main disadvantage of this approach is that BIM models are resource intensive and thus are usually developed in the later stages of design. BIM models are also not necessarily compatible with energy analysis engines and thus a conversion and export process is needed. This can lead to data loss, calculation errors, and failures. Starting with the premise that energy analysis is more compatible with earlier design stages where simpler schematic models are the norm, this paper presents a software system that integrates non-manifold spatial topology, a parametric design environment and an energy analysis engine for a more seamless generate-test cycle in the early design stages. The paper includes a description of the system architecture, initial results, and an outline of future work

RAF | A framework for symbiotic agencies in robotic – aided fabrication

The research presented in this paper utilizes industrial robotic arms and new material technologies to model and explore a different conceptual framework for ‘robotic-aided fabrication’ based on material formation processes, collaboration, and feedback loops. Robotic-aided fabrication as a performative design process needs to develop and demonstrate itself through projects that operate at a discrete level, emphasizing the role of the different agents and prioritizing their relationships over their autonomy. It encourages a process where the robot, human and material are not simply operational entities but a related whole. In the pre-actual state of this agenda, the definition and understanding of agencies and the inventory of their relations is more relevant than their implementation. Three test scenarios are described using human designers, phase-changing materials, and a six-axis industrial robotic arm with an external sensor. The common thread running through the three scenarios is the facilitation of interaction within a digital fabrication process. The process starts with a description of the different agencies and their potentiality before any relation is formed. Once the contributions of each agent are understood they start to form relations with different degrees of autonomy. A feedback loop is introduced to create negotiation opportunities that can result in a rich and complex design process. The paper concludes with speculation on the advantages and possible limitations of semi-organic design methods through the emergence of patterns of interaction between the material, machine and designer resulting in new vistas towards how design is conceived, developed, and realised

Investigations in robotic-assisted design: Strategies for symbiotic agencies in material-directed generative design processes

The research described in this article utilises a phase-changing material, three-dimensional scanning technologies and a six-axis industrial robotic arms as vehicles to enable a novel framework where robotic technology is utilised as an ‘amplifier’ of the design process to realise geometries that derive from both constructive visions and architectural visions through iterative feedback loops between them. The robot in this scenario is not a fabrication tool but the enabler of an environment where the material, robotic and human agencies interact. This article describes the exploratory research for the development of a dialogic design process, sets the framework for its implementation, carries out an evaluation based on designer use and concludes with a set of observations. One of the main findings of this article is that a deeper collaboration that acknowledges the potential of these tools, in a learning-by-design method, can lead to new choreographies for architectural design and fabricatio

Vernacular neighbourhoods as models for socially-sustainable vertical cities: A computational approach

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has one of the world’s most rapidly expanding urban population. This issue has dramatic impacts on the built environment and increases the need for constructing sustainable vertical buildings. However, most recent developments in the study area have focused on utilising technology and have ignored the potential of incorporating social needs and cultural values. Information gained from a post-occupancy evaluation for contemporary apartment buildings in MENA region show that there are several problems affected the social life of residents. These include lower levels of social support, lower sense of community and familiarity with neighbours, and impacts on children as parents keep them inside apartments due to safety concerns and difficulties of supervision at a distance. Moreover, the excessive use of glazed facades and the standarization of floors destructed the privacy of the family and the identity of each unit. In contrast, vernacular neighbourhoods in the study area represent a successful example of a socially cohesive and healthy environment. For instance, the hierarchical configuration of public spaces and private courtyards allow for a high degree of social interaction between families, and at the same time maintain their privacy. This research aims to benefit from potentials of such horizontal clusters for generating socially-sustainable tall residential buildings that trace the cultural values of the society. Spatial analysis of various traditional neighbourhoods was adopted as a rigorous method for understanding the layout complexity and discovering logical topologies that have social or experiential significance. Using principles of shape grammar, results extracted from the analytical process, associated with specific requirements for vertical buildings, were used to identify sets of parametric rules that combine geometrical properties of spaces with aspects that enhance the social life of residents. Samples of potentially sustainable social solutions, generated by a computational tool, are presented

Pop-up concrete constructions: forming fabric reinforced concrete sheets

New technologies and fabrication tools urge us to explore new materials and their potential for integration in architectural construction. One such material, Concrete Canvas, is explored in this paper for its hybrid characteristics that blend fabric and thin-shell tectonics. The potential of Concrete Canvas lies in its ability to modify itself from a flexible fabric that when activated with water becomes a rigid concrete structure. Combined with a digitally controlled workflow of on-site cutting and an iterative material feedback loop, the process can serve as a radical alternative to current concrete formwork fabrication techniques. This paper outlines a prototypical design process that combines a phase-changing material, physical computer simulations, robotic fabrication and scanning technologies on a feedback loop between the digital and the physical that allow for customized, free-form, on-site concrete structures to pop-up without the need of a complex formwork. In this process the architect sets the various parameters based on fabrication techniques and material properties and adjusts them iteratively in the physical and digital model during the ‘popping-up’ process until a balance between material properties, technical requirements and aesthetics is reached, exploring new potentials on digital fabrication processes. The paper outlines the proposed workflow including iterative experiments with robotic cutting of flat patterns, their ‘popping-up’ into 3D concrete shells, and material phase transitions during its forming process. The established feedback loop consisting of geometry scanning, parametric perforation pattern control, computational analysis and simulation, and robotic fabrication is described in detail. The paper concludes by exploring the potential of this process to enable a dialogue between digital architecture and the process of materialization and discusses the implications of this approach in relation to architectural design and fabrication workflow