Final project
Final project
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The final project was conducted individually by each student. We are encouraged to select a research or design topic that aligns with our personal area of interest and the theme of this course. For me, learning and working on architecture design for years, I was excited to choose a design project as my final project for this course using the living structure developed by Prof.JIANG.
· Theoretical Foundation
From Christopher Alexander's insights, space is neither lifeless nor neutral but a living structure capable of being more living or less living. As he said, “Beauty is not skin deep, but far deep.”
Based on Christopher Alexander's theory, Prof.JIANG has deepened and established a complete theory of computing livingness.
Jiang, B., & de Rijke, C. (2023). Living Images: A Recursive Approach to Computing the Structural Beauty of Images or the Livingness of Space. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 113(6), 1329–1347.
· 15 properties of living structure
Christopher Alexander's "A Pattern Language" is a seminal work in architecture and design, presenting a collection of patterns that can be used to create functional, beautiful, and livable spaces.
The 15 geometrical and transformational properties that are believed to be universal (Alexander, 2002-2005)
Jiang, B. (2019). Alexander's Wholeness as the Scientific Foundation of Sustainable Urban Design and Planning. ArXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.11755
· Two fundamental laws and two design principles
Scaling law: There is a recurring notion of far more small substructures than large ones across scales (or hierarchical levels) from the smallest to the largest.
Tobler’s law: Substructures on each scale (or each of hierarchical levels) tend to be more or less similar in size.
Differentiation: Large substructures are differentiated or partitioned (like cell division) into small ones in a step-by-step fashion.
Adaptation: substructures are well adapted to each other.
Tobler W. (1970), A computer movie simulating urban growth in the Detroit region, Economic Geography,46, 234–240.
Jiang B. (2015), Geospatial analysis requires a different way of thinking: The problem ofspatial heterogeneity, GeoJournal, 80(1), 1–13.
· Experimental process
The design area is the public living area in the student apartment of room 39, 5F, Building 2B.
There are 8 student rooms in this apartment and the public area includes an entrance, living room, dining area, and water bar. The public area covers about 35 square meters but was rarely used.
Design Area
· Measuring and modeling of space
A combination method including 3D Scanner, iPhone measure, and Sketch Up was used.
Measurement and modeling
· Redesign strategy
Reshaping the structure of the public space and making it a functional, beautiful, and livable space using 15 properties of the living structure.
Connecting these spaces as a wholeness that can generate a sense of living from the inner structure itself.
Current situation SU model and rendering
· Design result
· Levels of scale
· Echoes
Curves and arcs of different scales.
The unified line language makes the space form as a whole.
Echoes in the design
· Not separateness
All of the substructures of the system together form a closely connected and indivisible whole.
Not separateness as a whole
· Roughness， Positive space， The void
· Strong center, Good shape
· Simplicity and inner calm
The inner calm that comes from interacting with natural light creates a sense of peace and belongings.
Rendering of living room with furnitures
· Thick boundaries, Gradients
· Alternating repetition, Contrast
· Effect display
Rendering of entrance area
Rendering of dining area
Rendering of living area
Rendering of living area
Rendering of living area
Rendering of living area with furniture
Rendering of living area with furniture
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