Generative Architectural Design and Build Strategies Based on the Mapping of Human Behaviour
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35th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC 2018) Generative Architectural Design and Build Strategies based on the Mapping of Human Behaviour J.B. van Ameijdea aArchitectural Association School of Architecture, London, United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected] Abstract – 1 Introduction The introduction of robotics in construction offers the possibility of implementing design As robotic fabrication and assembly devices are processes that incorporate unforeseen levels of being introduced to construction sites, it becomes complexity. Not only does this allow for the possible to re-think the entire process of how construction of high degrees of formal differentiation, architectural projects are materialised. Construction but for the conception of projects with a high- processes no longer rely on inefficient communication resolution integration of performative qualities. protocols towards manual workers and manual tools but These performance aspects can include can directly be connected to digital 3D models created environmental and economical properties but also by the design team. This could increase quality, reduce social and cultural mechanisms, which can be errors and cost, and potentially reduce construction time. monitored through the tracing of human activities It could also be used to deliver projects of increased within architectural and urban spaces. complexity, due to the system's ability to perform large This research presented here focuses on amounts of operations at high precision. As robotic technologies and work flows that enable on-site data devices are becoming mobile and able to work collection and construction implementation, in collaboratively, this paradigm can be applied to the separated design and build phases or in an scale of the building site instead of being limited to the integrated process with continuous feedback. It working envelope of a single device. discusses a series of small projects that explore new The direct communication between design software scenarios for the creation of architectural structures, and construction technologies signifies a fundamental experimenting with mobile and low-cost fabrication shift in the possibilities of design, as projects can devices, connected to generative design algorithms potentially be conceived and built with a much higher driven by sensory technologies. These projects show resolution of material properties and with a high degree that instead of working directly with the geometry of of internal differentiation rather than repetition. Instead the final outcome, architects can begin to script of applying robotic tools to the production of sculptural individual and unique processes for generating or decorative complex geometries, there is the much structures, using rule-sets that capture the more radical opportunity that presents itself: the intelligence and underlying logic of materiality, incorporation and integration of several layers of organisation and spatial performance. functional complexity. We advocate a new paradigm where the architect The architectural design, and therefore the design is a 'process designer', aiming to generate emergent process as well, could start to incorporate complex outcomes where the inherent complexity of the properties of a building's performance within its project is generated towards specific performance environment, generated through detailed simulations criteria related to human activities and inhabitation. and real-world data gathered through sensors, measurement and mapping processes. Performance Keywords – could be understood within the context of physical On-site sensing and construction technologies; environmental and climatic conditions such as sunlight, Human Activities Monitoring; Computational design; wind, temperature and noise and this is indeed one of Emergent design; Custom robotic devices; Digital the great potentials of digital design processes, to construction; deliver increased building quality, efficiency and improved spaces designed around human comfort. But performance analysis can also be applied to how buildings perform within their socio-political context, from an economical perspective or as an environment 35th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC 2018) for human circulation and inhabitation. Within the environmental conditions such as sun and wind, many practice of planning office layouts for instance, it is of which were consequently applied by municipal already commonplace to consider the interplay between governments in different cities in the United States. the comfort, psychology and productivity of employees Whyte served as a mentor to Jane Jacobs, who wrote and the arrangement of furniture can directly influence The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Jacobs the economic success of a company. The layout of 1961), which famously argued for the conservation of shelves and the product placement in supermarkets is organically grown neighbourhood qualities, recognising designed to increase sales of the most profitable items, the value of the rich mix of complementary programs taking into account the visual navigation and that emerge around walkable neighbourhoods. behavioural psychology of the customers. Through A continuation of research into the underlying increasingly precise monitoring systems that build up principles of human decision making within urban large data-sets of statistical analysis of human activities, environments can be found amongst the highly varied the design processes that optimise spatial layouts are initiatives that can be considered part of the 'smart city' increasingly being automated, informed by semi- movement, that has been referenced by academic and intelligent processes such as machine learning. professionals in various locations in recent time. The While commercial applications might be the driving idea of a ‘Smart City’ was first introduced in the 1990’s force behind the rapid development of data-driven but has recently attracted more high-profile projects and design, there is an opportunity and arguable an attention, resulting in several projects and policies that obligation of academics and practitioners within the are being executed around the world today. The goal of architectural discourse to critically examine the possible a Smart City is to use technology to create economic, positive and negative consequences of these new social and environmental improvements. This challenge processes. The monitoring of people's behaviour is not only related to design and planning issues but is through CCTV, online communication and mobile also aimed at the economic and political frameworks devices might have a potential dystopian dimension, but that guide urban development. ‘Smart City’ projects aim if done in an appropriate and acceptable manner, this to understand the urban ecologies - the invisible could offer a wealth of knowledge to architectural and networks of human activities that drive the urban design processes. Instead of focusing on the materialisation of the city. commodification of user data for profit driven The sociologist Jennifer Gabrys has written about operations, architects and planners could calibrate their the ''new wave of smart-city projects that deploy sensor- designs towards social interaction, human comfort and based ubiquitous computing across urban infrastructures health. Where architectural and urban spaces are and mobile devices'' (Gabrys 2014). She notes the required to house social activities and community potential positive ambitions of these project to improve formation, generative design processes can be used to sustainability but also warns of the potential dangers of monitor human behaviour and define the properties and monitoring and managing data on citizens. Referencing organisation of spaces to stimulate this in the most the French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984) effective way. Data-driven processes could be used in who has written extensively about mechanisms of the design stage of a project, as well as for the power and control exercised by the state, and how its continuous management or adaptation of the project manifestations in the structures of buildings and the city throughout its life. can be understood as a 'bio-political machine'. Gabrys argues that smart-city design processes should focus on the performance of urban environments as demonstrated 2 Precedents: Mapping human behaviour through the behaviour of people within them rather than One example of research into the social dynamics of collecting data on citizens and populations. The public spaces is the work by sociologist William H. sensitive subject of monitoring human activity should Whyte, who's publications include The Social Life of be approached with the necessary safeguards to ensure Small Urban Spaces (Whyte 1980). His aim was to privacy and data protection of individuals and allow for understand why certain plazas remain empty and unused, open-endedness towards behavioural patterns and while others were well loved and heavily used as leisure demographics. spaces and social condensors within the city. He used manual techniques of measuring, counting, mapping and 3 Methodology: Generative Design other forms of direct observation to understand the relationships between specific physical characteristics This paper will present a series of small projects of the space, and the human activities that would occur. undertaken in the context of various academic