Daniel Davis

We developed a suite of procedural algorithms for space planning in commercial offices. These algorithms were benchmarked against 13,000 actual offices designed by human architects. The algorithm performed as well as an architect on 77% of offices, and achieved a higher capacity in an additional 6%, all while following a set of space standards. If the algorithm used the space standards the same way as an architect (a more relaxed interpretation), the algorithm achieved a 97% match rate, which… Show more

We developed a suite of procedural algorithms for space planning in commercial offices. These algorithms were benchmarked against 13,000 actual offices designed by human architects. The algorithm performed as well as an architect on 77% of offices, and achieved a higher capacity in an additional 6%, all while following a set of space standards. If the algorithm used the space standards the same way as an architect (a more relaxed interpretation), the algorithm achieved a 97% match rate, which means that the algorithm completed this design task as well as a designer and in a shorter time. The benchmarking of a layout algorithm against thousands of existing designs is a novel contribution of this article, and we argue that it might be a first step toward a more comprehensive method to automate parts of the office layout process. Show less

The Materials Systems team in the Designing the Dynamic workshop developed a novel method for sensing, simulating and representing material responses to external stimuli. The approach of embedding capacitive sensors into material models was developed to improve material performance-based design, and could be generalised to other design explorations. The method was applied during the workshop to verify the potential for sensing and visualising material properties as a contribution to design… Show more

The Materials Systems team in the Designing the Dynamic workshop developed a novel method for sensing, simulating and representing material responses to external stimuli. The approach of embedding capacitive sensors into material models was developed to improve material performance-based design, and could be generalised to other design explorations. The method was applied during the workshop to verify the potential for sensing and visualising material properties as a contribution to design iteration and to establish a material awareness early on in the design process. The outcome is a method for anticipating material behaviour early in the design process using measured data. Show less

The development of new building materials has decisively influenced the progression of architecture through the link between built form and available material systems.The new generation of engineered materials are no exception. However, to fully utilise these materials in the design process, there is a need for designers to understand how these new materials perform. In this paper we propose a method for sensing and representing the response of materials to external stimuli, at the early design… Show more

The development of new building materials has decisively influenced the progression of architecture through the link between built form and available material systems.The new generation of engineered materials are no exception. However, to fully utilise these materials in the design process, there is a need for designers to understand how these new materials perform. In this paper we propose a method for sensing and representing the response of materials to external stimuli, at the early design stage, to help the designer establish a material awareness.We present a novel approach for embedding capacitive sensors into material models in order to improve material performance of designs.The method was applied and tested during two workshops, both discussed in this paper.The outcome is a method for anticipating engineered material behaviour. Show less