Empathic Space: The Computation of Human-Centric Architecture AD

148 Pages·2014·24 MB·English

by  Christian Derix

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
EMPATHIC SPACE
GUEST-EDITED BY
CHRISTIAN DERIX AND
ÅSMUND IZAKI
THE COMPUTATION
OF HUMAN-CENTRIC
ARCHITECTURE
05 / 2014
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014
ISSN 0003-8504
PROFILE NO 231
ISBN 978-1118-613481
1 ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014
PROFILE NO 231
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Front and back cover: Gianni Colombo, Elastic
Space, 1967–8. c/o Galleria L’Attico, Rome,
1968. Courtesy Archive Gianni Colombo, Milan
Inside front cover: ART+COM, River is…,
Yeongsan River Pavilion, Gwangju, South Korea,
2012. © ART+COM
05 / 2014
2
1
IN THIS ISSUE
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
GUEST-EDITED BY EMPATHIC SPACE:
CHRISTIAN DERIX AND
ÅSMUND IZAKI THE COMPUTATION OF HUMAN-
CENTRIC ARCHITECTURE
In memory of Paul Coates
5 EDITORIAL
Helen Castle
6 ABOUT THE GUEST-EDITORS
Christian Derix and Åsmund Izaki
8 SPOTLIGHT
Visual highlights of the issue
14 INTRODUCTION
Th e Space of People in Computation
Christian Derix
HEURISTIC GENERATION

24 Generative Design Methods and the
Exploration of Worlds of Formal Possibility
Philip Steadman
32
32 Th e Deep Structure of the Picturesque
Paul Coates and Christian Derix
EDITORIAL BOARD 38 Crafting Space: Generative Processes
Will Alsop of Architectural Confi gurations
Denise Bratton Kazuhiro Kojima
Paul Brislin
Mark Burry
André Chaszar 46 Solutions You Cannot Draw
Nigel Coates Markus Braach
Peter Cook
Teddy Cruz
INTERACTIONS IN THE FIELD
Max Fordham
Massimiliano Fuksas
Edwin Heathcote 54 Embracing the Creativity of
Michael Hensel Stigmergy in Social Insects
Anthony Hunt Guy Th eraulaz
Charles Jencks
Bob Maxwell
Brian McGrath 60 Block/Tower: A Vertical Landscape
Jayne Merkel in Midtown Manhattan
Peter Murray Stan Allen and Rafi Segal
Mark Robbins
Deborah Saunt
Patrik Schumacher 66 Programs as Paradigms
Neil Spiller Pablo Miranda Carranza
Leon van Schaik
Michael Weinstock
Ken Yeang
Alejandro Zaera-Polo
3
COGNITIVE CONDITIONS EXPERIENTIAL TYPOLOGIES
74 Spatial Cognition and Architectural 100 Th e Generic City and its Origins
Space: Research Perspectives Bill Hillier
Daniel R Montello
106 Polyvalence: Th e Competence
80 Empathic Imagination: Formal of Form and Space with Regard
and Experiential Projection to Diff erent Interpretations
Juhani Pallasmaa Herman Hertzberger
86 Th e Future is Curved 114 Encoding User Experiences
Olafur Eliasson Åsmund Izaki and Lucy Helme
94 Th e Aura of the Digital FUTURE FORWARD
Jussi Ängeslevä
122 New Curricula: Syntonic Systems
Christian Derix and Åsmund Izaki
130 Near Futures: Associative Archetypes
Christian Derix and Prarthana
Jagannath
136 COUNTERPOINT
How Can Code be Used to Address
Spatiality in Architecture?
Leon van Schaik
142 CONTRIBUTORS
It is necessary to unlearn space
in order to embody space.
— Olafur Eliasson
4
EDITORIAL
Helen Castle
Since the evaporation of the Modernist project, space has been losing ground
in architecture. Whereas ‘space’ as a term in the second half of the 20th century
was constantly on the lips of every architect, echoing Le Corbusier, by the late
1990s and early 2000s it had receded. The onset of computer-aided generative
design had led to new preoccupations with surface and parametricism. Space,
though, did not wholly wane in the practice of architecture. It remained locked
into the working methods and drafted plans of experienced architects, like
Herman Hertzberger (pp 106–13), who projected spatial configurations that
intuitively responded to users’ needs. This issue not only effectively reasserts the
position of ‘space’ in architecture in a highly current computational context, but
reframes its significance in the realisation of work that is ‘human-centric’, or
‘empathic’.
In terms of architectural computation this publication builds on an existing
lineage of work, which is fully described by Guest-Editor Christian Derix
in his introduction (pp 14–23). It picks up the baton from 1960s computing
pioneers, such as Paul Coates and John Frazer, who first experimented with
self-organising systems and a theoretical framework for the autonomy of
space, as well as the ground-breaking work undertaken by Bill Hillier in the
1970s, establishing ‘space syntax’ as a comprehensive method for exploring how
people relate to space in the built environment. Understanding the potential
for an emphasis on the user and the occupation of space for practice, Derix, as
Director at WoodsBagot, and previously Director for Computational Design
at Aedas|R&D (2004–2014), has assimilated his knowledge of the work of the
likes of Paul Coates, who he taught with at the University of East London, in
an approach that applied algorithms in the exploration of human behaviours,
which could be fully utilised in the development of large-scale masterplanning,
major urban schemes and infrastructure projects, as well as in individual
buildings.
Just as the Guest-Editors Christian Derix and Åsmund Izaki acknowledge
their debt in this issue to an earlier generation of computational designers
and thinkers, so do they recognise the work undertaken by others in the field
of cognition, perception and phenomenology. This is most apparent in the
inclusion of articles by the renowned architectural thinker and author Juhani
Pallasmaa (pp 80–5) and artist Olafur Eliasson (pp 86–93). The compatibility
between an ‘empathic’ approach and computation is not, however, quite a
done deal. Could we be leaving too much to code? Could a focus on the
computational aspect of mapping human behaviour lead to architects neglecting
to develop their own spatial consciousness or intelligence? Controversially,
Leon van Schaik, the author of the Counterpoint thinks so (pp 136– 41). 1
Text © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Image
© Illustration by Frances Castle
55
Aedas|R&D Computational Design Aedas|R&D Computational Design Aedas|R&D Computational Design Aedas|R&D Computational Design
Research (CDR), Circulation Research (CDR), Visual risk Research (CDR), Planning Narrative Research (CDR), Visual performance of
resilience analysis, 2010–13 simulation, 2011 Visualisation, 2009–12 the September 11th Memorial Museum,
top: Part of the EU research project, centre left: CDR has developed multiple centre right: Time-based visualisation New York, 2007
Resilient Infrastructure and Building visibility simulations for building volumes, of online articles about the planning of bottom: Visualisation showing each location
Security, in collaboration with the Jill multi-floor interiors and urban spaces. the London 2012 Olympic stadium, in has a value of visual performance that
Dando Institute of Crime Sciences, collaboration with Dr Albena Yaneva of approximates visitors’ legibility of the interior
University College London (UCL). the Manchester Architectural Research space. In collaboration with Davis Brody
Centre (MARC). Bond Architects and Planners, New York.
66
ABOUT THE GUEST-EDITORS
CHRISTIAN DERIX AND ÅSMUND IZAKI
Christian Derix and Åsmund Izaki have developed a unique design strategy using computation as
a vehicle to embed human-centric concerns in spatial systems. With the Computational Design
Research (CDR) group of Aedas|R&D, founded by Derix in 2004, they have created design
simulations for many projects in different contexts, from large professional urban and architectural
projects, to speculative research in academic collaborations, Web-based visualisations and
furniture systems.
Their collaboration started in 2007 on the development of new spatial analysis simulations for the
National September 11th Memorial Museum project in New York. Here, it became evident that they
share a strong interest in spatial qualities and algorithmic design, focusing on the user as occupant
and designer to access phenomena of space through algorithmic processes. Both are architects, with
Derix providing expertise in algorithmic models of self-organisation and spatial cognition, while Izaki
has extensive experience in interactive systems of design. They have integrated their complementary
knowledge for projects based on simulating human perception and user interaction for the analysis and
generation of architectural space. This synergetic set of knowledge and skills has not only provided a
direction for CDR, but also a research focus – user-centric simulation – for the Aedas R&D initiative
as a whole.
They have published their approach and projects through more than 40 academic papers, book
chapters and guest lecturing, leading to a new view of architectural computing that has been adopted
by several architecture schools of universities including ETH Zurich and KTH Stockholm. The work
of CDR has received commendations for spatial simulation at awards such as the 2010 Presidents
Medal for Research in Practice of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the 2011
Italian Compasso d’Oro for the online algorithmic design engine of the VITA Shelving System for
MDFItalia, and the 2012 Centre for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats (CTBUH) Innovation award
for the computer-activated responsive facade of the Al Bahar towers. CDR is now advancing the field
of human-centric computational design for spatial strategies at global design and consulting firm
WoodsBagot, of which Derix is a director.
Christian Derix co-founded Aedas|R&D in London. He studied architecture and computation in
Milan and London, and has taught the subject at various European universities since 2001, including
the University of East London, University College London (UCL), Milan Polytechnic and the
Technical University of Vienna, and as a visiting professor at the Technical University of Munich. He
is currently an associate professor at IE University Madrid, and a visiting professor at the University
of Sheffield. In 2002 he founded the Centre for Evolutionary Computing in Architecture (CECA)
at the University of East London with the late Paul Coates, with whom he taught until 2009. Here
he introduced the use of self-organising neural networks to space planning and developed a series of
algorithmic models to investigate artificial cognition and spatial organisation, including models of
evolutionary computing for masterplanning with multi-criteria optimisation.
Åsmund Izaki is a senior designer at WoodsBagot. He previously worked as a senior designer and
researcher at the Aedas|R&D CDR, during which he developed computational models for urban
planning, architecture and furniture through code, in the form of interactive tools. Projects have
included an interactive interface for the VITA shelving system, and visibility analysis for the National
September 11th Memorial Museum to research modelling perceptual and experiential aspects
of architecture. He holds an MArch from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology
(NTNU), where he specialised in architecture and adaptive systems, before sharpening his expertise
with graduate studies in art and technology at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg.
After finishing his studies he worked with the architecture group servo and the interaction design
office Kram/Weisshaar on projects that have been widely exhibited and published internationally.
He has led a number of courses on topics related to design and technology at Konstfack University
College of Arts, Crafts and Design and at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. 1
Text © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Images: p 6 © Aedas; p 7(t) © Christian
Derix; p 7(b) © Ami Izaki
77
SPOTLIGHT
Stan Allen and Rafi Segal Block/Tower, 119 Third Avenue, Manhattan, New York, 2011
Views of the south (left) and north (right) elevations showing the
spatial arrangement of programmes.
8