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This study proposes a DfMA (Design for Manufacture and Assembly) based on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and uses Iranian-Islamic Muqarnas as the main case study due to their geometric modularity. In Islamic architecture, different geographic regions are known to have used various design and construction methods of “Muqarnas”, a type of decorated dome.

The paper presents a study on parametric analysis of the Iranian-Islamic Muqarnas and analyses its components, geometric relations and construction methods that should be considered when constructing one. This study aims to use the Muqarnas analysis as a driver to generate a DfMA basis on the UAVs and parametric fabrication. In Islamic architecture, different geographic regions use various design and construction methods of Muqarnas. There are four main parameters of the Muqarnas that define their classification; first, their three-dimensional shape, that provides volume. Second, the size of their modules is variable. Third, their own specific generative process-algorithm, and finally, the two-dimensional pattern plan that is used as a basis in the design. Thus, the authors present a global analytical study that drives a generative system to construct Muqarnas, through a careful balance of the four parameters.

This study thus presents a global analytical study that drives a generative system to construct Muqarnas, through a careful balance of four specifications. The paper reports the result of using a parametric tool, Grasshopper and parametric plugins, for creating a generative system of several types of Muqarnas. This synthetic translation aims at expanding our understanding of parametric analysis and synthesis of traditional architecture, advancing our understanding towards using parametric synthesis, with the scope to fabricate and assemble modules towards UAV-based fabrication of Muqarnas. To do so, the authors are taking advantage of their inherent repetition and recursion.

In the first step, this paper reviews studies on traditional Muqarnas (both Iranian and non-Iranian) and relevant parametric approaches. In the second step, the study aims to create a general generative system for Muqarnas. The creation of a generative system for Muqarnas is driven towards the creation of three-dimensional fabrication of their components so that these are assembled automatically using a swarm of UAVs. This particular drive imposes specific constraints in the parametric system, as the assembly of the final components, the authors posit, can only take place in a pick and place fashion.

Algorithmic and computational thinking are necessary skills for designers in an increasingly digital world. Parametric design, a method to construct designs based on algorithmic logic and rules, has become widely used in architecture practice and incorporated in the curricula of architecture schools. However, there are few studies proposing strategies for teaching parametric design into architecture students, tackling software literacy while promoting the development of algorithmic thinking.

A descriptive study and a prescriptive study are conducted. The descriptive study reviews the literature on parametric design education. The prescriptive study is centered on proposing the incomplete recipe as instructional material and a new approach to teaching parametric design.

The literature on parametric design education has mostly focused on curricular discussions, descriptions of case studies or studio-long approaches; day-to-day instructional methods, however, are rarely discussed. A pedagogical strategy to teach parametric design is introduced: the incomplete recipe. The instructional method proposed provides students with incomplete recipes for parametric scripts that are increasingly pared down as the students become expert users.

The article contributes to the existing literature by proposing the incomplete recipe as a strategy for teaching parametric design. The recipe as a pedagogical tool provides a means for both software skill acquisition and the development of algorithmic thinking.

This study aims to present an architectural application of 4D-printed climate-adaptive kinetic architecture and parametric façade design.

This work investigates experimental prototyping of a reversibly self-shaping façade, by integrating the parametric design approach, smart material and 4D-printing techniques. Thermo-responsive building skin modules of two-way shape memory composite (TWSMC) was designed and fabricated, combining the shape memory alloy fibers (SMFs) and 3D-printed shape memory polymer matrices (SMPMs). For geometry design, deformation of the TWSMC was simulated with a dimension-reduced mathematical model, and an optimal arrangement of three different types of TWSMC modules were designed and fabricated into a physical scale model.

Model-based experiments show robust workability and formal reversibility of the developed façade. Potential utility of this module for adaptive building design and construction is discussed based on the results. Findings help better understand the shape memory phenomena and presented design-inclusive technology will benefit architectural communities of smart climate-adaptive building.

Two-way reversibility of 4D-printed composites is a topic of active research in material science but has not been clearly addressed in the practical context of architectural design, due to technical barriers. This research is the first architectural presentation of the whole design procedure, simulation and fabrication of the 4D-printed and parametrically movable façade.

The purpose of this research is to test the effectiveness of integrating Grasshopper 3D and measuring attractiveness by a categorical based evaluation technique (M-MACBETH) for building energy simulation analysis within a virtual environment. Set of energy retrofitting solutions is evaluated against performance-based criteria (energy consumption, weight and carbon footprint), and considering the preservation of the cultural value of the building, its architectural and spatial configuration.

This research addresses the building energy performance analysis before and after the design of retrofitting solutions in extreme climate environments (2030–2100). The proposed model integrates data obtained from an advanced parametric tool (Grasshopper) and a multi-criteria decision analysis (M-MACBETH) to score different energy retrofitting solutions against energy consumption, weight, carbon footprint and impact on architectural configuration. The proposed model is tested for predicting the performance of a traditional timber-framed dwelling in a historic parish in Lisbon. The performance of distinct solutions is compared in digitally simulated climate conditions (design scenarios) considering different criteria weights.

This study shows the importance of conducting building energy simulation linking physical and digital environments and then, identifying a set of evaluation criteria in the analysed context. Architects, environmental engineers and urban planners should use computational environment in the development design phase to identify design solutions and compare their expected impact on the building configuration and performance-based behaviour.

The unavailability of local weather data (EnergyPlus Weather File (EPW) file), the high time-resource effort, and the number/type of the energy retrofit measures tested in this research limit the scope of this study. In energy simulation procedures, the baseline generally covers a period of thirty, ten or five years. In this research, due to the fact that weather data is unavailable in the format required in the simulation process (.EPW file), the input data in the baseline is the average climatic data from EnergyPlus (2022). Additionally, this workflow is time-consuming due to the low interoperability of the software. Grasshopper requires a high-skilled analyst to obtain accurate results. To calculate the values for the energy consumption, i.e. the values of energy per day of simulation, all the values given per hour are manually summed. The values of weight are obtained by calculating the amount of material required (whose dimensions are provided by Grasshopper), while the amount of carbon footprint is calculated per kg of material. Then this set of data is introduced into M-MACBETH. Another relevant limitation is related to the techniques proposed for retrofitting this case study, all based on wood-fibre boards.

The proposed method for energy simulation and climate change adaptation can be applied to other historic buildings considering different evaluation criteria and context-based priorities.

Context-based adaptation measures of the built environment are necessary for the coming years due to the projected extreme temperature changes following the 2015 Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda. Built environments include historical sites that represent irreplaceable cultural legacies and factors of the community's identity to be preserved over time.

This study shows the importance of conducting building energy simulation using physical and digital environments. Computational environment should be used during the development design phase by architects, engineers and urban planners to rank design solutions against a set of performance criteria and compare the expected impact on the building configuration and performance-based behaviour. This study integrates Grasshopper 3D and M-MACBETH.

Highly sophisticated digital technologies have distanced architects and designers from intimate and immediate hand-drawing practices. Meanwhile the changes they rapidly bring come with undetected changes in cultural and social norms regarding the built environment. The growing dependence on computers calls for a more holistic, socially inclusive and place-responsive design practice. This paper aims to shed light on what we are losing in the design process as we rapidly transition to communicate architecture using digital media. The authors contemplate the paradigms in which the human body and physical objects still play an important role in today's design environment.

The paper looks at current trends in developing and establishing “computer imaging” within architectural education, and the architectural profession through parametric design and the area of sustainability. In order to reveal novel and hybrid ways of architectural image-making, it also looks into art forms that already experiment with bodily practices in design by taking an artisanal animation project as a case study.

The renewed longing for craft, haptic environments, tactile experiences and hand-crafted artifacts and artworks that engage the senses can be exemplified with the success of the documentary Last Dance on the Main, an animated film on the endangered layers of human presence in one of Montreal's downtown neighborhoods. The open possibilities for creative hybridizations between the handmade and the digital in architecture practice and education are exposed.

The influence of film on the perception and consequent design of cities is well documented. There is little literature, however, on how the materiality and process of artisanal film animation can provide alternative, if not additional, insights on how to communicate various aspects of the built environment, particularly those rooted in the human body. Furthermore, handmade film explores a broader understanding of sustainability, which includes considerations for social and cultural contexts.

The paper aims to research the applications of topological geometry to the architectural concept design process and their combination with the modern digital technology to find novel architectural spaces and forms which are dynamic, easily adaptable to the context and surroundings.

The article uses the method of studying the existing literature on topological geometry and architectural design theory including design thinking, architectural design methods and architectural compositions to analyze and compare them with architectural practices and suggest new topological design tools and methods. Moreover, the paper tests the proposals with a number of preliminary design research experiments. In addition, graphic design software, parametric design, building information modeling (BIM) and digital development trends in architecture were explored and experienced to reveal the application potential of topological design thinking and methods in the trend of architectural digitization.

The paper has analyzed, synthesized and systematized the basic theories of topological geometry in order to clarify their applications in the architectural concept design process. On that basis, the paper proposes a novel topological design thinking and method for finding rich diversified architectural ideas and forms based on original invariant design constraints. Finally, the paper clarifies the combination as well as the mutual, motivating relationship between topological geometry and modern digital technologies when applied to architectural design.

The research contributes a novel design thinking and method based on topological geometry combined with modern digital technology to the architectural design theory. It will be a valuable tool capable of suggesting architects how to think and innovate in architecture in the era of industrial revolution 4.0.

The paper aims to present a framework for discussing ethics and computational design.

The main propositions of computational design are presented, discussed according to different authors and contrasted with cybernetic principles.

The paper finds that with algorithmic and parametric procedures, architects are using computation to reach a hitherto unknown ease of modelling multiple iterations of a design, so they can expand their possible design scenarios and cope with the uncertainties of ill-defined tasks. However, this strategy faces an ethical limitation because they fail to extend this openness to the final segment of the design chain, the user in the act of dwelling.

The paper brings a cybernetic perspective for discussing the often-overlooked ethical implications of computational strategies in design.

This paper aims to compare designers’ cognitive behaviors in geometry-based modeling environments (GMEs) and parametric design environments (PDEs).

This study used Rhinoceros as the geometric and Grasshopper as the parametric design tool in an experimental setting. Designers’ cognitive behaviors were investigated by using the retrospective protocol analysis method with a content-oriented approach.

The results indicated that the participants performed more cognitive actions per minute in the PDE because of the extra algorithmic space that such environments include. On the other hand, the students viewed their designs more and focused more on product–user relation in the geometric modeling environment. While the students followed a top-down process and produced less number of topologically different design alternatives with the parametric design tool, they had more goal setting activities and higher number of alternative designs in the geometric modeling environment.

This study indicates that cognitive behaviors of designers in GMEs and PDEs differ significantly and these differences entail further attention from researchers and educators.

The purpose of this paper is to find optimal solutions for conceptual design automation, which can be integrated with Building Information Modelling (BIM) support for construction automation. Problems relating ostensibly to failures in computational support for the conceptual design stage are well-documented in extant literature. These failures are multifarious and significant, with several deficiencies being acknowledged in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. Whilst acknowledging this, extant literature has highlighted the importance of computational design in the AEC industry; and failures in this area include the need to strengthen the congruent links and support mechanisms in order to exploit the opportunities presented by new computational design methods. Given this, it is postulated that the application of generative design could enhance the design experience by assisting designers with the iterative generation of alternatives and parameterisation (change management) processes. Moreover, as BIM applications are increasingly providing comprehensive support for modelling and management, then additional synergies could be examined for further exploitation.

This paper focusses on the potential for developing an interactive BIM environment that purposefully adopts generative design as a method of computational design for the early design stages. This research facilitates the automation of the conceptual architectural design process, using BIM as the central conduit for enhancing the integration of the whole building design process (including design interfaces). This approach is designed to improve designers’ cognition and collaboration during the conceptual architectural design process.

This paper evaluates the existing methods and decision support mechanisms, and it introduces the potential of combining different concepts into a single environment (generative design/BIM).

This research is novel, in that it critically appraises virtual generative workspaces using BIM as the central conduit. The outcome and intervention of this research forms a theoretical basis for the development of a “proof of concept” prototype, which actively engages generative design into a single dynamic BIM environment to support the early conceptual design process.