PhD. Research • 2022

Addressing Subjectivity in Evolutionary Design Process: An Interactive Framework

A genetic algorithm (GA) which accommodates human interchange or reciprocity with the evolutionary process is called an Interactive Genetic Algorithm (IGA). This interaction allegedly allows the human to influence the direction of the evolutionary process through repeated exchange or interplay with the algorithm when the fitness function cannot be explicitly defined, as per the traditional GA. This research examines types of algorithmic interaction between architects and the GAs with the aim of developing a robust understanding of their influence on the evolutionary process. After analysing the different types of interactions that have occurred in art, design, and architecture since the 1990s, the research develops a framework for interactivity that serves as a roadmap for the existing and new interaction types. The framework classifies three primary levels of interaction with different types and selects three types for testing in three design experiments. The design experiments adopt a new Grasshopper plugin, Snowflake, that was developed collaboratively with the author to test the different interaction types by developing a conceptual model of a high-rise building in an urban context.

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PhD. Research • Current

A Critical Analysis of Recent Publications of Genetic Algorithms in Architecture

This research conducts a critical analysis of the recent publications in the field of Genetic Algorithms (GAs) and their capacity for interaction, design optimisation and exploration. A significant amount of research has been conducted regarding the application of GAs in the architectural design process. This research examines twenty papers selected as primary examples of recent applications of evolutionary, genetic, and interactive genetic algorithms in architecture that have been conducted since 2016. They have been selected based on their applied research method of testing optimisation and exploration processes in selected case studies. The research adopts a critical and analytical approach to compare them by analysing their methods, assumptions, and findings using criteria such as modes of interaction, algorithm selection, and level of interaction with the algorithm. An abstract summary of this comparative study highlights the key differences between these experiments and their findings. The research outcome examines this analysis to verify researchers' claims and classify the adopted interaction method and its influence on the outcome. The aim is to highlight the state of the subject and the different claims and findings over the last five years.

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PhD. Research • Current

Fusing Intuition and Computation - a Unified workflow

In the architectural domain, there is an assumption that human intuition and creativity are separate from computational logic. This assumption divides the process into two streams: quantitative and qualitative. In the quantitative stream, the architect selects the parameters that drive the quantitative objectives and their relationships. Meanwhile, the computer evaluates the effect of these parameters and drives the process towards optimised options. In the qualitative stream, architects define subjective choices (qualitative objectives) using their intuition and creativity. Fusing these two streams to be part of the same algorithmic logic is a core issue in the current research. This fusion aims to include the subjective criteria within the quantitative objectives set to be part of the optimisation process. The new workflow suggests a different form of creativity that would involve designing objectives and relationships (problem formulation) rather than simply designing solutions. Moreover, it requires the architect to be able to interact with and guide the process toward creating a rich and diverse solution space. This research will test the proposed workflow in a design experiment using Snowflake,  a new evolutionary plugin that was developed in collaboration with the researcher.

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PhD. Research • 2020

Genetic Algorithms: from Biological Inspiration to Architectural Applications

Since the 1960s, design computation has been explored as a way of generating rather than modelling design solutions based on their resulting performance. Starting with the prominent work of John Frazer (Frazer, 1995), and moving to Peter Bentley (Bentley, 1999), and Paul Coates (Coates, 2010), the novel approaches to architectural design offered by computation have been investigated concerning the principles of formative and developmental processes in nature. First proposed by John Holland in 1975, evolutionary genetic algorithms are based on biological evolution as a problem-solving machine (Goldberg, 1989). They are arguably the best-known of all evolutionary search algorithms. These algorithms are part of the computing intelligence family and are traditionally used to solve engineering multi-objective optimisation problems. Their advantages are based on their application flexibility on the one hand and on their robustness to address complex problems. Moreover, the open-ended nature of evolutionary computation became particularly interesting for architecture as an exploratory rather than an optimisation process. This research will investigate the structure and evolution of Genetic Algorithms since the 1970s and their application in design optimisation versus design exploration.

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References

Bentley, P. J. (1999) ‘Evolutionary Design by Computers’, Evolutionary Design by Computers, pp. 1–74.

Coates, P. (2010) Programming.architecture, Programming.Architecture. Taylor and Francis Group. London and New York: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203841488.

Frazer, J. (1995) An Evolutionary Architecture, An Evolutionary architecture. London: Architectural Association. Available at: http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/publications/ea/intro.html.

Goldberg, D. E. (1989) ‘Genetic algorithms in search, optimization, and machine learning. Addison’, Reading.

PhD. Research • 2018

From Drawings to Computation- an Architectural Narrative

The separation between design and building that was initiated by Alberti in his De Re Aedificatoria (On Building) which placed the architect above the builder, initiated a need to communicate the architect's thoughts, as well as the construction information, through the means of drawings. Ever since, the act of making drawing has played a central role in the practice of architecture for centuries. As a design activity, drawing can be described as dialogue the designer initiates with him/herself. For centuries, drawing has defined the foundation of the architectural profession and what it means to be an architect. It is the means through which architects externalise their ideas to communicate them to the public. The introduction of the computer in the architectural profession in the 1980s and 1990s as computer-aided drafting (CAD) and computer-based visualisation left the representational nature of the drawing intact. CAD was introduced to automate some drafting tasks using the same representational conventions as manual drawings. The practice of drawing in architecture that took shape in the Renaissance started to be challenged by the rise of simulation through BIM. Architecture moved from drawing and representation into data-based modelling and simulation. Whereas architectural drawings were made to represent construction, simulations were made to test building performance. In the new form, architecture is classified as a system of information.

This study presents a narrative of the role of drawings in architecture and its evolution into computational processes.

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M Arch. Dissertation • 1994 - 1996

Between the Hand and the Bits, The Critical Interface

Between 1994-1996, my dissertation examined the capacity of the computer as a creative stimulus in the design process.

Computer technology has invaded the realm of architecture. The notion of CAD databases, virtual devices and bits commonly superseded that of colour pencils, tracing paper and cardboard models. The question at issue is whether this new fashion can or should, partially or completely, replace the conservative methods of architectural design. A design proposal that incorporates both media will evaluate this dichotomy.

The two sections of the research, operational and conceptual, examined this hypothesis. It was applied and tested through an experimental design method at the School of Architecture at the University of Auckland.

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M Arch. Auckland • 1994 - 1996

The Window of Appearances

Digital Simulation of the Ceremony of Appearance of Ramses III at Madinet Habu, Egypt, 1175 BC

The research project was conducted in 1995. The research explored the computer's role in reconstructing and simulating historical buildings, artefacts and events.

The designation "symbolic window" in architecture is an expression used to define some windows whose symbolic overtones transcend their traditional physical functions. One of the documented stories in the ancient world is the Window of Appearances of the first temple - palace of Ramses III at Medinet Habu, Egypt, 1190 BC. The story says that the Egyptians considered Pharaoh "a child of the Sun - God and hence of divine substance". The Sun - God of the Egyptians "was believed to have a mansion on the horizon in which he appeared each morning and disappeared each night". The horizon here expresses the seat of Pharaoh as the "Island of Truth" and the "Field of Blest". Consequently, the ceremony of his appearance and the window, which is part of it, has symbolic meaning. The window of Appearances became inherent to that window to indicate its specific use in the royal ceremonial appearances. Thus, the Egyptians articulated the window of the palace to give grandeur and predominance to Pharaoh as he stands to show himself in ceremony with the "horizon", "the gateway of the mansion in which the sun showed itself each morning and each evening to fill the world with light and to blunge it with darkness".

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Dubai • 2018

The Symbiotic Towers

Context inspired approach to performance-based architecture.

Abstract

The symbiotic towers is a practice-based computational design research project that seeks to integrate contextual environmental data of Dubai into a synthesis of forms, skins, and public spaces. By exploring the characteristics of variation and adaptation in natural systems, the project proposes a computational design method that integrates environmental building performance with its form generation process. The findings seek to shed light on the opportunities of the computational design method in addressing some of the main challenges of today’s performance-based architecture.

Program and Objectives

The development consists of three towers connected on the ground level by a double-deck pedestrian shopping plaza. Parametric tools with Grasshopper have been incorporated to inform buildings’ generation process to minimise sun exposure and maximise views and connection with the outside. Continuous negotiations between these parameters, and the program of each tower, have been directed towards a synthesis of program, geometry, and performance. Designed with a human-centred approach to sustainability and informed by the contextual environmental data, the research-based project argues that new multidisciplinary and complex systems approaches present a window of opportunity, with a key role for architects, to drive new typologies of high-rise buildings that are symbiotic with the natural environment. Skin and Materials

The main structural system consists of a central core, columns, and slabs. This structure is cladded with two skins: an internal glass curtain wall, and an external terra cotta perforated skin. The 3d printed terra cotta panels are supported by an aluminium framing structure. Water nozzles, connected to a network of internal water sleeves, are incorporated within the terra cotta skin to maintain its moisture. This ecological treatment, inspired by the evaporative cooling of the vernacular architecture, helps maintain a cool temperature in the balconies and creates pleasant micro-climatic conditions for the inhabitants.  

Sustainability and Innovation

Designed with contextual environmental sensibility, the proposal's innovative approach to mapping the environmental data of Dubai to inform forms, plaza, and skin generation was a key aspect of this development. The human-centred approach to sustainability aims to minimize sun exposure and maximize the comfort and performance of the spaces inside. As a result, it reduces the reliance on the prevailing air-conditioning system, creates pleasant spaces for the inhabitants, and generates a symbiosis between the architecture and the natural environment of Dubai.

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Dubai • 2018

Digitizing the Vernacular - 3D Clay Printing

External Skin of the Symbiotic Towers

Inspired by the principle of cross ventilation found in ancient traditional architecture, the terra cotta clay panels introduce an ecologically sustainable material that is recyclable and helps moderate the air temperature on the balconies. The evaporative system resembles the passive cooling system of the traditional clay jar.

The cladding system consists of two skins: an internal glass curtain wall and an external terra cotta perforated skin supported by an aluminium framing structure. To maintain moisture, water nozzles are incorporated into the terra-cotta skin and connected to a network of internal water sleeves inside these panels. This ecological treatment helps maintain a cool temperature in the balconies while creating pleasant micro-climatic conditions for the inhabitants.

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Dubai • 2017

The Dune

3d Concrete Printed House

Inspired by the principle of passive cooling found in the ancient traditional architecture of Dubai and the layout of the traditional house, The Dune proposes a new spatial experience facilitated by 3d robotic concrete printing to create fluid spaces for the different functions. The amorphous form was developed based on wind simulation, resembling the formation of a sand dune. The form was designed to optimise wind intake through the roof wind-catchers and protect the courtyard inside from direct wind.

The form raises gently and elegantly from the ground, making a gently sloping roof landscape easily accessible for walking.

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