CONTENTS Resume.........................................3 Architectural design....................4 What to plant under a windmill Re-metabolizing Tallinn Summer living Open source
Computational Design...............26 Estimation of approximate shapes Creation and clustering of quad panels Build the block
Illustration................................40 Melted reality Through the window Poster proposal
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ALEXANDRA DIMA
COMPETITIONS
CONTACT telephone_07743782783 (+30 6986958416) email_ archalexdima@gmail.com
EDUCATION MSc Architectural Computation Bartlett School of Architecture University College London October 2019- September 2020
International competition Modernism memorial: a funerary monument for the death of Modernism October 2015 International competition Vision Competition, Tallin Architecture Biennale honourable mention June 2017
SKILLS_SOFTWARE Autocad 3ds Max Rhino_grasshopper Sketchup ZBrush
Integrated Master’s in Architecture Aristotle University Thessaloniki October 2012-April 2019
Photoshop Premiere Pro InDesign Illustrator Vray Processing Unity
WORKSHOPS ECOWEEK international conference and sustainable design workshops-November 2015 Akalyptos SKG cooperation for greek pavillion, Venice Architecture Biennale-September 2016
C# scripting in gh/Unity Python/Pytorch Sketch Model
PRACTICE Architecture internship at ARCONS May-September 2018, Lefkada (contact: info@arcons.gr, +30 26450 24687) Graphic design at Evolution June-August 2019, Thessaloniki (contact: +30 231 068 8980)
LANGUAGES
C2
Greek, Native speaker
C2
English, Cambridge ECPE-IELTS
C1
Italian, Diploma di lingua italiana
B2
French, DELF
4 Architectural Design
What to plant under a windmill Interventions on Agios Ioannis beach Diploma Thesis (individual project, Aristotle University, 2019)
Architectural Design
5
Five old windmills, deserted or standing next to doubtful extensions, and a sea with cold water, spiky plants and strong wind. We are in search of the offspring of the “permanent residents” of the beachthe characteristics that can be handed down to the next generation, the “genes” that can travel through time. We are in search of a new breed. For our hypothetical experiment,we need a population of individuals to be mixed and produce new ones. I chose parents that are both diverse and matching: The stone windmill, a machine,a strong warrior- the rare flower, Arenaria leucadia. Those prototypes are broken down to their consistent pieces. We follow this process accepting that part of the character of the whole survives within the individual pieces, being able to subconsciously awaken remembrances and emotions.
The DNA of the machine and plant parts is written down: shape, colour, material, topology, structural importance etc. This record is a tank that will provide the genetic elements for new objects. The algorithm used, receives the whole volume of data and chooses the new genotype. A second group of data is a series of instructions to the system, used in order to express every element of the genotype. The set of instructions was designed based on experimentation on particular objects- the same parameters, generalized on other objects, produce unexpected, even problematic results. In this way, a series of objects that can thrive in the place is made.
6 Architectural Design
Returning to the beach, we observe the people who frequent that place. Life that already exists is inspiring for our experiments to take part in. Archetypes that come across vacation places and promenades: a cafe, an observatory, an outdoor gym, a space for historical information, accommodation space, showers etc The windmills were kept as landmarks, and interventions are developed around them, staying discrete. The proposals are a mixture of digital production and human synthetic judgment and instinct, a hybrid renegotiation of those archetypes.
Architectural Design
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8 Architectural Design
Architectural Design
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10 Architectural Design
Architectural Design
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12 Architectural Design
Re-metabolizing Tallinn Vision Competition - Tallinn Architecture Biennale Honourable mention (Group project , 2017)
Architectural Design
13
The site is located on a peninsula, right next to the city of Tallinn. Besides the considerable biodiversity, this site has a sewage treatment plant, closely interacting with the flora and fauna. The competition, providing all the necessary studies, sought innovative architectural proposals. The wastewater treatment plant could be conceived as a terminal for the city but as an accelerator of a new hybrid system-through the distortion of typical archetypes (deposit, feeder, greenhouse, energy production, compost). We propose “devices� that can be seen as nodes, collecting and transmitting energy and matter. Following the diverse material flows, leftover structures and sediments rest on the devices structures. Under the impact of those agents, the devices change in terms of materiality and shape. As the devices become everchanging assemblies, drones interfere to control their evolution. The distorted archetype of pools that filter the feeding-proper materials and keep the new water storage frost-free, attract birds. Moreover greenhouses manage natural elements and human interventions in a closed environment, to optimize crop production. As a result the interaction between controlled cultivation and external influences is being achieved through the modifications of its outer shell.
14 Architectural Design
Architectural Design
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16 Architectural Design
Summer living Small holiday complex Project during internship (individual project, 2018)
Architectural Design
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This complex is a re-approach to holidaying in tourist places as well as to traditional ways of construction. It is aimed at people who want to combine tranquility with simplicity and at the same time have the opportunity for new acquaintances. There are five small, cabana type, buildings . The main structure is made of stone and wood. They have individual facilities but also co-exist and communicate via the outdoor facilities (swimming pool, dining room, barbecue). The traditional materials of the place harmonize with the landscape and give a sense of effortless spaces.
18 Architectural Design
Architectural Design
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20 Architectural Design
Open source A library for the city and the senses Academic project (group project, Aristotle University, 2016)
Architectural Design
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An open library is a real-to-digital collaboration organization that accepts, translates and generates information. It installs a situation of mutual exchange of knowledge. We constantly receive information-fragmentary, controlled, worn out. The “open source� is proposed as a place of deliberate intertwining of information and emotions, a real-time information storehouse-a reflection the city and people. The library is installed on a typical frame, in which glass surfaces are introduced - a multifaceted irony in the way we organize our cities - embracing people and information. With sound, image and touch sensors, the presence and action of people translates into bright shapes within the surfaces - walls that operate with multi-layered spot LED lights.
22 Architectural Design
Architectural Design
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24 Architectural Design
Architectural Design
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26 Computational Design
Estimation of approximate shapes A Deep Learning exploration for shape design Thesis for MSc Architectural Computation (individual research, UCL, 2020)
Computational Design
27
This research explores the use of two deep learning techniques, known as UNet and GAN, to approximate object ranges that share similar characteristics. Such approximation is useful for sets of objects, on which there is the need to retrieve lost or completely unknown information or to add samples to a known dataset. In both cases there is a known distribution, but samples might not be enough or some of the samples might be damaged. Designers may need to produce extra samples based on existing ones, in order to make a prediction for their design. It is possible that the target artefact already has a parametric representation or solution and the main reason to avoid the existing model is because of time or computational expenses. In early design stages a fast approximation might be more useful to find out if it is worth proceeding with a design, than a slower and more accurate solution. Topology optimization is a case that falls into this category. There are many tools that deal with optimizing material distribution but speeding it up with an approximation based on previous samples can be very helpful to quickly test the behavior of a design solution. The process we use is in the broader category of image-to-image translation.
The networks are fed with pairs of images, of which the first is an annotation of loads, supports and material boundaries and the second is the targeted material distribution. The goal is to train the networks to “guess� the second image from the first only. The GAN (Generative Adversarial Network) serves for an enhanced training. It consists of a generator and a discriminator that compete each other, with the former trying to produce samples that are so close to reality that the latter will eventually not be able to tell apart.
28 Computational Design
Computational Design
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30 Computational Design
Creation and reconstruction of 3d shapes with reference to 2d images or incomplete 3d shapes is a common problem in a lot of domains. 3d topology optimization requires more time and computational power than the 2d one. This makes it useful to explore a way to replace the usual 3d operation with shape prediction based on a respective 2d image. When knowing the loads, supports and boundaries in 3d space we can project them in 2d, run the 2d pipeline which is way faster and from this make a prediction for the 3d shape. An image is a matrix that can be used to store various kinds of information in its pixels. In the 2d study we used 256 * 256 grayscale images. This matrix has 65,536 spots that can be filled with values from 0 to 1. For the 3d implementation, we use this attribute to encode the 3d objects as images which can then be used to train the networks. The difference is that before training we need an encoding step. When the model is trained and ready to use, we also need a step for the inverse procedure, to translate the image output to 3d objects. The object translation in 2d can be perceived as its “barcode�. Instead of running the prediction process in 3d, we can predict this unique barcode and translate it back.
Computational Design
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32 Computational Design
Creation and clustering of quad panels Handling meshes with cylindrical topology and irregular triangulation Academic project (individual project, UCL, 2020)
Computational Design
33
It is a common to be faced with a mess that has irregular triangulation and needs to be split into panels. We addressed this issue by using a sphere packing algorithm to achieve an ordered representation of the mesh. This involves a pipeline of intersecting the existing mesh with multiple spheres in rows and saving the intersection points. Those points served to create panels (we used quad panelization). It is also useful (in terms of production cost and construction convenience) to group the panels. For this part, K-means and Agglomerative clustering were tested to create families of panels based on their similarities. All the functions were integrated in Grasshopper components.
34 Computational Design
The clustering algorithms measure the “distance� of the data in a vector space and group them accordingly. To use the panels as inputs we need to map them in a vector space. To set the weight vectors, we use three of their dimensions : the curvature (calculated with the gaussian curvature method), the ratio of panel width to panel height and one diagonal. For both methods the inputs are the panels, the target number of clusters and the maximum time the solution is going to run.
Computational Design
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36 Computational Design
Build the block A tool for early-stage user involvement in mass housing projects Academic project (individual project, UCL, 2020)
Computational Design
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This project is dealing with the development of a game application that can get future users involved in the early stages of mass-housing building projects. It is a tool that will collect preferences from future buyers-tenants and setting some constraints of fabrication. The results could be used to feed as data for future solutions. The game involves human and “non-human players”. Human players choose where the house will be and how big. They can define a complete aggregation and this could be used as a basis for discussion with the experts or other players. The “non-human players”control the decision possibilities. The game is organized in a grid of nodes. The starter possibilities of neighbors, considering only an individual grid node and its neighborhood only have some very basic constraints regarding vertical circulation and light. The way possibilities are checked for every new node that is chosen, is by starting with all options marked as possible and reject them step by step. 1. It checks the node below-if it is a staircase or light shaft the check ends. If below is not solid, then it has to check around if there is the possibility to overhang (Only allowed to overhang 1 block). 2. It checks if there is enough green . If not, the player should put some. 3. It checks the blocks around. It has to make sure that to put a living unit or a staircase, there has to be an exit-open block. 4. It checks if a possible living unit will have proper access to vertical circulation. If it is far but still acceptable, it will show a message, otherwise it will eliminate this option completely.
38 Computational Design
Computational Design
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Melted reality Re-draw Guggenheim NY (2020)
40 Illustration
Illustration
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Through the window Re-draw Casa da Musica Porto (2019)
42 Illustration
Illustration
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Poster proposal Drama Film Festival (2018)
44 Illustration
