Editorial

This issue of the Journal is the second part of a pair of linked issues that derive from a call following the CAADRIA 2019 Conference held at Victoria University of Wellington in April 2019. The first part was published in December 2019. The theme of the conference, and again of this issue, is Intelligent and Informed. In response to the theme, the research that we focus on in this issue blends human and machine intelligence to make further advances in computationally enhanced design and analysis processes. The work reported reflects the increasingly refined exploitation of digitally mediated approaches.

In this issue, the research undertaken that is reported, both builds on and exploits the growth in open and flexible tools that are available to us. As noted previously, alongside that we are seeing intelligent development and exploitation of these tools, along with the environments they operate in, and applied to both research and practice. In this issue, we see an interesting application in practice in the paper by Tarabishy et al., where work at the well-known Fosters practice on spatial connectivity is reported.

It is often the case that Keynote Addresses at conferences are only presented verbally. But we are very pleased that, on this occasion, we are able to capture one of the keynote presentations at the CAADRIA 2019 Conference. So the first paper in this issue by Justyna Karakiewicz sets down, in written form, her provocative thoughts that she was able to deliver in her keynote address. The paper reflects on her career and, in particular, the lessons that the various stages can bring us. This journey is reported alongside the associated developments that the projects have brought with them. As such, it is both a reflection on the evolving role of computational design, and on the design professions that have sought to exploit such potential. Reflecting on the difficult realities that face the designers in their tasks, she reminds us that architectural design is ‘. . . not a stylistic escape. Reality is complex’.

The next three papers in this issue address such complex issues – all related to form and space, but at different scales.

Over the past 5 years, the Urban Strategy Playground (USP) research group has been developing increasingly capable and complex urban planning tools. The paper by members of the USP describes the how a ‘toolbox’ of computational tools has been developed and how the components can now be employed to support the urban planning and design processes; and how they can aid in managing the environmental concerns that are associated with such processes. In particular, Nils Seifert, Michael Mühlhaus and Frank Petzold show how the toolbox can be applied to the ‘simulation and monitoring of building codes, analysis of key density indicators and green space provision, simulation of shading, building energy and noise dispersion’. The outputs from the processes can include rapid prototype models and Augmented Reality representations. The techniques have been tested in case studies undertaken by the authors.

To follow this, in a more specific application of computational design, Geoff Kimm takes the particular concern of shadow casting – and notes that the technique developed has application in research, prototyping or civic engagement contexts. Kimm notes the particular virtue of the technique developed being the computational efficiency that the raster approach to the analysis, that he has developed, brings. This is certainly in line with the theme of this issue; here we are seeing the development of smarter algorithms, enabling more efficient and effective ‘participatory built environment simulation and generative modelling applications’. Kimm further notes how this core technique can be then extended and applied in other computational design tasks.

The previous two papers present analytical tools that can be applied at building and city scale. In the subsequent paper, Sherif Tarabishy, Stamatios Psarras, Marcin Kosicki and Martha Tsigkari take on the computationally intensive task of analysis of spatial relationships across a particular building floor plate. Spatial and visual connectivity are key goals in the process investigated. They present a bespoke engine that undertakes this computational analysis and show how machine learning has been interrogated and exploited to deliver an intelligent analytical process.

The final two papers in this issue concern themselves with intelligent approaches to contemporary technological challenges in Architecture.

Elena Vazquez, Gürsoy, Benay and Jose Duarte investigate the field of shape changing materials. Such materials present particular challenges due to their (by definition) dynamic nature. We normally regard the fabric of architecture as relatively static and stable, although we are familiar with deformation under load of even the most rigid materials, such as stone. We are also aware of more dynamic movement in fabric structures under wind load or the contraction of timber as it dries; but usually we are aiming to avoid or limit this. Working with materials and components that deliberately change shape has proven more challenging. Interestingly, in this article, the authors use wood-based composites in kirigami forms. Kirigami is the variant of origami where cutting is involved in addition to the folding associated with origami – and the authors have developed three-dimensional (3D) printing protocols to accomplish the desired forms and behaviour.

Finally, as we strive for more intricate surface forms in architecture, such as varying double curvature in surfaces, the design of the supporting structure potentially becomes more complex and costly. So, in the final paper in this issue, Antiopi Koronaki, Paul Shepherd and Mark Evernden address this challenge and have developed a technique that rationalises the kind of space frame structure that we regularly adopt for the supporting structure in such cases. They aim for a reduction in complexity of the jointing and point to the consequent advantages of the novel workflow that they have developed. This is achieved through an intelligent interpretation and response to the curvature of the structure; the response to the desired geometry driving the associated optimisation process. As with earlier papers, we see here the results of research that optimises computational efficiency in a complex design problem solving context; what we might call an intelligent and informed process.