Programmable materials have shown the intangible process software and tangible hardware intertwining in recent decades. The latest developments in hardware and software are empowering advanced manufacturing and physical processes, opening up several of the new possibilities for morphologies and self-forming systems. Motion grammar is achieved through morphological motion based on the programmable material ability of transformation utilizing material-based deformation. This research paper demonstrates the various types of responsive motions by materials to enhance the building skin efficiency achieving a cumulative dynamic adaptive system.

The Dominant structure is to be embedding and encoding the new technology into the materials’ behavior which applying new features and properties towards new integrated skin. The new material intelligence using these computational methods and digital techniques, achieving active matter that allows reaching advanced façade elements. This key factor reflects the ability to encode the natural material. Multiple design possibilities can be driven from the resultant morphologies, adding a new layer of double-curved programmable element. In addition to structural durable layer utilized against the external environmental factors.

Due to the new adaptive techniques for façade design and manufacturing, building skins utilizing technological sensors and high electrical involvement which are not durable and efficient enough because of the high cost of the maintains and the running power. Hence, programmable materials and active matters as a solution were introduced to improve the skin adaptability. For achieving the required design needs, low cost and natural composites were utilized such as timber wood veneer with different types that act as a hygroscopic material. This material has limited types of morphologies and reactions, also the multiple motions lead the material to lose its efficient durability and its function gradually.

The external climate, such as humidity, temperature, light, and other active stimuli, interacts with these material technologies. These reactive, shape-shifting and self-assembling materials have the ability to change shape. This change in type can be seen in a variety of natural systems. Due to different distinct climatic conditions, where the level of humidity and temperature differ from one location to another. This directly affects the programmable material actuation process. Hence, the study will mimic the adaptation process of lizards’ skin to cope with different climates

A biomimetic technique has been utilized to demonstrate the adaptation of lizard skin structures to technical applications. The skin morphology of several moisture harvesting lizards, such as the Texas horned lizard (Phrynosoma Cornutum) and the Australian thorny devil (Moloch Horridus), were studied to see if it had an impact on wettability and water transfer.

As a consequence, the adaptive skin's material and programming techniques evolve. The objective of this study is to develop highly adaptable skin types that provide the optimal level of adaptation and durability. Utilizing multiple mimicking techniques of moisture harvesting lizard skin, study examined the motion factor to achieve a broad range of morphological possibilities and responses under varied environmental stimuli.

This project aims to systematically study the mutually enabling and constraining relationships between parametric façade design, digital fabrication, and material function. It extends existing work in the field by examining how material functional performance aspects can be integrated into a parametric form language to achieve geometric flexibility for architectural components. It specifically explores a façade parametric form language by hybrid production methods combining fibre reinforced concrete and robotically 3D printed formwork. To this end, it develops a preliminary parametric façade form language, followed by a series of material experiment cycles to inform the design of the parametric forms which are not achievable with conventional methods. Anticipated outcomes of this project include a parametric form language, physical prototypes, a geometric façade strategy, and a structural performance database of digitally designed prefabricated façade elements. This project sheds new light on a new method to design digital geometry informed by robotic fabrication constraints and new material properties. The empirical studies of structural performance in this project provide insights into mutually limiting and enhancing relations between material properties and geometric flexibility. The hybrid materiality of fibre reinforced concrete and 3D printed formwork provides a new approach to architectural geometry development.

Architecture-Engineering-Construction-Operation (AECO) industries are the most resource- intensive and wasteful industries with an increasingly negative impact on environment. Built environment is responsible for about 40% of the global CO2 emissions, a fact that has led to countless debates, approaches, and new technologies for the design of our buildings, and especially, the building envelope (Hoces & Oldenhave, 2021). Whereas building industry is characterized as a linear model of construction and throwaway process that follows a “take - make - dispose” pattern, Circular Economy (CE) enables closed-loop material flows, designing out waste, minimizing energy consumption, and reducing carbon emission. Until 2050, AECO aims to get zero emissions, keep products and materials in use while regenerating natural systems through CE. This research proposal particularly for façade design, is aimed to increase standardization and modularity. This research proposal is aimed at an approach to façade design by considering the circular economy principles to decrease the carbon emission and raw material scarcity by keeping material in the closed loop with the help of digitalization in material supply chain. Thus, the façade will be designed and constructed considering its end-of-life like how to recycle, reuse, remanufacture, and refurbishment will work while pursuing the goals of global warming.

Even in present architecture, the age-old theoretical argument of form and function is hard to avoid. ‘Form’ often supersedes ‘function’ to enhance marketability in architectural design. ‘Form’ is closely linked to subjectivity based on producer-outset bias, while ‘function’ looks more objectively towards the user-end needs of the designed product. Unfortunately, this oversight of producer-user design hierarchy in high-rise housing is evident in Singapore. The design preference in a building’s form to its functionality is apparent in existing social housings that adopt architectural styles unsuitable for warm and humid climates. Therefore, the functional solar needs of the occupants are often not well considered when prioritizing aesthetics, such as the abundant use of façade glass as opposed to heat preventive materials.

This research aims to disentangle the designer’s aesthetic subjectivity to the occupants’ objective solar needs in building façades. The context of this research is Singapore’s social housings and using machine intelligence to iterate solutions developed from on-site thermal imaging data. The research hypothesizes that the occupant’s actual solar needs are significantly unrealized when prioritizing the façade’s aesthetic qualities. As such, this thesis leans positively towards the architectural theory of function rather than form and could reiterate that form should follow function in architectural façade designs of social housings in Singapore.

Green facades have already proven many benefits for construction and the environment. However, most researchers consider this a static element, failing to observe the dynamism of the vegetation development on the facade, which brings some uncertainties of how to predict its behavior. Given this, the present work aims to develop a code that simulates the conditions of growth and development of climbing species for the composition of green facades. Therefore, we organized the research into four stages: (1) Literature review; (2) Field experiment to extract botanical data from climbing species; (3) the Algorithmic modeling and (4) Computational simulation of the structural device with the vegetated mass. The study seeks to fill some gaps in scientific knowledge regarding the algorithmic-parametric modeling of green facades and expand information from botanical data for the configuration of this system in other simulations. In addition, we intend to explore the growth and leaf coverage of climbing species in more complex and varied geometric meshes and surfaces, helping to predict the aesthetic composition of these green facades. Finally, we hope to estimate the vegetated mass of the foliage to aid in structural performance simulations.

Augmented Reality (AR) is becoming progressively ubiquitous, while finding affirmation and implementation throughout various fields. We are about to enter a new digital revolution where the real world is merging with the digital, creating experiences that enhance our reality. Accelerating developments in wearable Mixed Reality (MR) hardware devices have the power to extend human abilities by augmenting our needs and tasks.

The project’s main ambition is to identify and expand on the spatial design opportunities and construction related impact from Augmented- and Mixed-Reality technology integration into the architectural design and design implementation. More specifically, the aim is to reflect and develop on practical challenges and the implementation of AR-3D holographic instruction on assembly and fabrication in an architectural context to develop a “best practice guidance” for AR-manuals.

This study will advance studies in collaborative holographic-driven construction, expand opportunities for technology-infused craftsmanship, and reflect on workflows that replace conventional paper drawing-based communication with holographic instruction. The hypothesis this research project postulates and aspires to prove, through the work discussed, is to expand the locally available design solution space for AR 3D holographic instruction for assembly and fabrication.

Today we see a strong potential for an explosion of new design methods taking form through synthetic biology and artificial intelligence. However contemporary design computation is still centered around human and structured by our biases. Can we develop a design technic that could shape a new form of communication between human and non-human, replacing the anthropocentric approach with the design of cyborganic living systems? Biotechnic research project points toward the possibility of developing a design technic, which is contextualized in a new form of material and formal articulation with an aim to impart biological intelligence into inorganic objects and synthetic environments. The project outlines an approach for reading the intelligence of an organic timber structure by the means of machine learning algorithms, as well as rethinks the life cycle of wood, proposing a bioartificial system which is alive in a cybernetic sense. Site-specific bio-fabrication methods, as well as introduction of machine-learning-based design technic suggest the scenarios where cyborganic wooden structure could be artificially grown by the means of intelligent technologies. The research challenges the processes of growth, decay and ontogenesis, introducing a form of cyborganic living object which become a part of synthetic landscape choreography.

This research introduces a novel approach for the design and fabrication of shellular funicular geometries. In the first stage, it provides a method to design and manipulate anticlastic polyhedral geometries using 3D graphic statics (3DGS) thanks to 3d graphs in form and force diagrams, named labyrinths. This is an intuitive method for designing shellular funicular structures as lightweight, efficient structures in the context of 3DGS. Furthermore, the method translates strut-based cellular funicular structures to shell-based (shellular) funicular structures (SFS). Specific subdivision of the force diagram reduces the edge lengths in the form diagram, distributing the internal forces in the structure. This will improve the mechanical performance of the structure as well as the fabrication process. Moreover, translating strut-based funicular structures to shellular funicular structures enables the structures to resist normal and shear forces in their planes, qualifying them for different loading scenarios.

In the next sage, the research proposes a self-folding origami technique to fabricate shellular funicular structures out of a flat sheet of material. After designing the folding pattern of the geometry using a tuck-folding technique, the required forces for folding the pattern to the shellular structure are computed and the folding process is computationally simulated using a physically-based simulation technique. The method uses active materials to replicate the simulated behavior in the real world, saving material, cost, and reducing the need for labor. This research has impacts on different fields in different scales from micro-scale cellular materials and tissue engineering to design and fabrication of buildings’ components in macro-scales.

Historical conservation creates essential benefits for the country that exists, where it holds a valuable tool to revitalize investments preserving the tangible and the intangible history. Natural and human-made disasters have significant impacts on historical buildings, threatening them from being deteriorated. If no rapid consolidations took into consideration traumatic accidents would endanger the existence of precious sites. In this context, Beirut's enormous 4th of August 2020 explosion damaged an estimated 640 historical monuments, many volunteers assess damages for more than a year to prevent the more crucial risk of demolitions.

This research aims to establish a connection between the Artificial Intelligence Model (AIM) and the Restoration procedure using structural representations to optimize the process for better coverage and scientific approach of data specific to the crack disorders to build a comprehensive model consolidation technique.

Despite the current technological improvement, the restoration of the existing monument is a challenging and lengthy process where the actual site situation's reignitions consume enormous time, from assessing the damages to establishing the restoration relying on human resource developments and manual drawings.

Therefore, documenting of the natural environment through AI techniques and Machine Learning (ML), where data recognition response to increasing the coverage area of the studied monument through compacting images into models, complete semantic representations of the studied area, creating a full understanding of the situation, highlighting of the major problems, defining the consolidation approaches, and establishing an entire restoration documentation. Furthermore, the proposed framework is evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively on different case studies to demonstrate the challenging situation using algorithm codes. The gathering of data addresses the more complex scenarios of existing defections, it incorporates them in informative drawings based on the computerized evolutionary algorithms covered by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) umbrella to optimize the reading and the parameters and introduce a depth comprehension of the situations to achieve superior solutions and depth cues.

To achieve Zero-Energy target in buildings it is necessary to consider more than a single building at a time, as well as evaluate beyond energy aspects, but a holistic approach to environmental performance. This research aims at developing an early-stage design assessment for the development of a Zero-Energy Urban Design contemplating indoor and outdoor performance. São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasília are evaluated. To this end, Grasshopper and Rhinocerous3D add-ons are employed, especially the Ladybug Tools as the interface for Radiance and EnergyPlus for environmental analysis and WallaceiX for the optimization process. Floor area ratio, street width, and orientation, besides the typologies, are the parameters evaluated. The proposed approach combines the optimization concept from the urban form Martins (MARTINS; ADOLPHE; BASTOS, 2014) with the typological approach and design goals, as well as the holistic approach from Nathanian (NATANIAN; ALEKSANDROWICZ; AUER, 2019; NATANIAN; AUER, 2020). The three optimization goals are Load Match Index (LMI), Spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA), and Universal Thermal Climate Autonomy (UTCA). As result, it is expected to develop a computational framework as well as guidelines for urban planners. Current results indicate that diversity of solutions enable better environmental performance, which can indicate the potential of performance-based design.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change urges industries to disrupt, to be bold with changes. Architecture, Engineering and Construction need to shift radically too since its impact on the environment is significant. From design to construction a building takes years, and decades to operate, making it a long-lasting machine that has a large impact on Nature and could be thought to regenerate the environment.

The proposal looks for a method of finding the best architectural patterns (veranda, awning, patio etc.) that could be applied in collective housing in Lisbon Metropolitan Zone (AML) and Porto Metropolitan Zone (AMP) built before the introduction of energy-efficient regulations to enhance its performance. It researches regenerative architectural patterns that impact three domains: Energy, Materials and Health for buildings in the need of renovation. The project employs digital simulation and artificial intelligence to revisit vernacular, historical, early-modern and counter-culture architecture in search for solutions for better Indoor Environmental Comfort, lower energy consumption and a positive environmental impact. The proposal aligns with the New European Bauhaus to develop local strategies to renew in a responsible way, considering the whole life cycle and energy efficiency in times of planetary crisis.

The amount of raw materials and waste produced in the construction sector necessitates a shift in design, construction, and deconstruction processes. The goal of this study is to reuse (recovering and remanufacturing) recycled materials such as mismanaged waste polymers and petroleum-based materials to generate a waste-based innovative and high-performance fiber to be used for a novel concept in building components. To put it another way, this study aims to innovate lightweight building components and their structural and fixing systems made of fiber composite filaments by reusing and/or remanufacturing wasted materials available in various application sectors to exploit the total initial technological content with more than one service life. As a result, the research will provide new circular and sustainable designs and productions to save building materials and minimize waste, as well as the mechatronic digital logic for novel fabrication processes based on new structural concepts based on utilizing waste-based yarns. Wastes, according to the study, are tomorrow's resources with a low carbon footprint and can be counted as locally sourced materials. In this research, special attention will be devoted to the future re/usability of the created fiber-based building components at the end of their service life, enhancing the zero-waste strategy and recyclability.

In this study, we review urban modelling as a discipline and discuss the relationship between urban form and generative urbanism theory. Later, we examine several factors that allow highly dense and low-rise urban settings, such as unplanned settlements to be highly adaptive to social, spatial, and environmental change. Following this, we formulate guidelines to generate some of the characteristics of these urban forms. After discussing the use of simulations in the field of urban modelling, we introduce Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEA) as a design strategy for our experiment. With this, the simulation seeks to explore the generation of abstract urban forms and their optimization.

In this study, an urban simulation is used as a tool for generating high-density, low-rise morphologies that are based on generation rules and processes that interpret some of the characteristics of generative urbanism. The model that results from this research initiated its conceptual framework based on observations of self-generated cities in north Africa -such as old towns or other forms of unplanned developments- in which complex urban forms allow for high-density habitat while still being optimized for conflicting environmental and morphological factors and constraints. With this premise, our research seeks to generate urban forms that can adapt in the face of conflicting design objectives and optimize a multitude of outcomes

This research aims to develop a performance-based parametric model of cities to identify areas with the most significant potential for urban transformation given specific attributes related to urbanity. The Latin American context is the genesis of the problem: a region with fewer economic resources than other countries that have already tested parametric urban design, where this model can support compact, more sustainable, and efficient urban development. The problem addressed is how to apply CAAD resources to establish an approach that evaluates the potential for consolidation/transformation in an urban area. By integrating different approaches of space assessment and specific performance parameters, like built density, mixed-use, and walkability, it is possible to model a performance-based predictive urban scenario. Then, a multi-criteria analysis can point out urban areas with more significant potential for transformation in a non-deterministic way. This set of performance indexes can support decision-making at the early stages of urban design. Moreover, the performance indexes can drive designers to more suitable areas. The research makes use of the constructive method and Design Science Research (DSR), covering the following steps: (i) literature review and gap search; (ii) CAAD improvement and learning; (iii) exploration and construction of the artifacts; (iv) model validation; and (v) instantiation validation.

Buddhism has been introduced to China since the Eastern Han Dynasty, and has now become an integral part of the Chinese culture. A large number of Buddhist works such as scriptures, murals paintings, and sculptures form the Chinese religious heritage only accessible in Museums and Archives (Liu 2006).

About 1300 years ago, Sutra-illustrations emerged that transformed text to painting (Karetzky 2000). The aim of our research is that reinterprets these ancient paintings in multi-dimensional a Virtual Environment (VE) that goes beyond the spatial depiction and includes experiences that align with the ritual and spiritual engagement of ancient Chinese religious Sutra (Qureshi et al., 2018).

The reinterpretation process can be summarised as having two components, the site scenes and the site narrative. The scenes refer to the architecture, character, spatial structure, visual hierarchy and perspectives of the Sutra-illustration. We reinterpret the 2D depiction into a 3D virtual environment (Xu et al., 2020) that is true to the particular artistic representation.

Next to the site narrative, we need to embed various scripted interactions to simulate a series of rituals of ancient Chinese religious Sutra. Additionally, we also need to add animations, sounds, and text descriptions described in the Sutra scriptures to allow users to immerse themselves into the narrative and engage with the characters using non-linear gamification techniques (Hamari, 2014).

After completing the project, we will test it and collect and analyse user experiences, their actual interactions and engagements with the Sutra, users' interactions using tracking data: VE movement, visual gaze, and physiological measurements (AMIR) (Homolja et al., 2020).

The research will explore how successful our VE can offer participants immersion that goes beyond the visual stimulation. Here, we will discusses whether the VE could trigger meaningful sensory feelings and evoke a spiritual connection to the Sutra.