Showing posts with label growth. Show all posts

CA Landscapes pt. I

Friday, November 5, 2010 § 2


Two abstract landscapes, exploring the notion of vertical algorithmic growth. A CA is the basic algorithm, and it then gets interpreted into geometry. Those two images are actually early sketches. Hopefully more will follow in that direction.
Also, I am afraid that I drove my pc to its limits with this model counting 7.870.016 polygons. Somehow you always seem to need more computational power...

Sphere Packing vs Sphere Growth

Friday, November 27, 2009 § 2

According to wikipedia, sphere packing “concerns arrangements of non-overlapping identical spheres which fill a space”. A classic problem in mathematics and computational geometry, sphere packing can be regular (where the centers of the spheres form a symmetrical lattice) or aperiodic. While regular packing can be of some interest, aperiodic configurations can yield some extremely complex and interesting results, that are worth studying…



You can find a simple sphere packing algorithm implemented in maxscript here. However, in my way to create the algorithm, I made a small mistake; I forgot the obvious: to check that the created sphere was actually inside the volume that I was trying to pack. Which gave some very interesting result, as seen in the second image, that resemble a ‘sphere growth process’. Mistakes in scripting are usually annoying (especially if you can not find them) but sometimes are the best way to discover new directions. This second version of the script is here. The two versions of the code are almost identical; one conditional less for the ‘growth’ option. The last two images show triangles created between the centers of the spheres.

Protocol Infrastructure

Friday, October 23, 2009 § 1

Protocol Infrastructure attempts to approach the design of infrastructure in an alternative, bottom-up fashion, that is not based on master planning but instead on the development of a protocol that would allow infrastructure to ’self-organize’, adapting at the same time to the conditions that it encounters. The characteristics of such an approach are illustrated through the example of a structure, designed for the San Francisco Bay, which aims to the development of a system that would allow for a settlement to face the rising of the water level because of global warming. The model proposed, instead of following a ‘long term’ plan adapts itself to the situation that it encounters (water level, population needs) and grows in height following an algorithm designed for that reason. Machines are used from the system as the agents that would allow self organization to happen and the means to build the structure. More information here

Voronoi Study, part_03: algorithmic body

Tuesday, August 28, 2007 § 3

In my previous post concerning voronoi diagrams I presented an example where I used program requirements in order to define the initial set of points that will be used in order to create the final voronoi diagram (the problem of deciding on the initial set of points is, I think, one of the most interesting in relation to voronoi diagrams). However, as I wrote before, I find far more intriguing the idea of using an algorithm that can simulate a process of growth for that scope (lets call it a 'growing algorithm'). Therefore I continued my research in that direction by employing a cellular automaton script (same one I used on the space_sound project). So I developed a process, or 'recipe' that can be described by the following steps:
a. a 2d cellular automaton script is executed, with a random or pre-defined initial configuration of cells.
b. every generation of the ca is stacked on top of the previous ones creating this way a 'progression' of active cells.
c. the centers of the active ca cells are used in order to generate the voronoi diagram. The limit of that diagram is defined by the limits of the outer active cells of each generation of the ca.
d. the edges of the voronoi cells are used as the structural system.
e. a smoothed version of the voronoi cells is used in order to define enclosed space.

The above described process is employed in the design of a specific project displayed here (a transportation node + shopping mall downtown St. Louis). For the needs of this project an extra element is added to those of the structure and the enclosed space: a transparent skin wrapped around the composition. Fibercarbon for the structure and ETFE pillows for the skin are proposed as materials.



I think that, independently from the final result, the most interesting part of the project lies in the initial process described in the beginning. A 'growing algorithm' that will help us understand architecture as a growing organism that almost have a life of its own. An idea by no means new (look for example the metabolists or the 'urbican fever' - or fever in urbicand, whichever is the translation in english) but which becomes far more easy to work with through the computer.
More things are to follow on that subject... hopefully...
more information here

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