Block Party Phase II Booklet by Bhavatarini Kumaravel

BLOCK PARTY NAHMAD BHOOSHAN STUDIO 2017-19

Architectural Association School of Architecture Design Research Laboratory Tutored by Shajay Bhooshan, Alicia Nahmad Vazquez, Theodore Spyropoulos Submitted by Taeyoon Kim, Atahan Topรงu, Bhavatarini Kumaravel MArch Thesis Phase II Book Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

GAME RESEARCH

BLOCK RESEARCH

URBAN RESEARCH

109

FABRICATION RESEARCH

133

ARCHITECTURAL MANIFESTATION

197

APPENDIX

217

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.3

THE DRL DESIGN RESEARCH AGENDA STUDIO BRIEF RESEARCH BACKGROUND THESIS STATEMENT

GAME PRECEDENTS THE SPATIAL VERSION USER LEVEL GAMEPLAY LEVERAGING AUGMENTED REALITY

3.1 VARIABLES CONSIDERED 3.2 GAMEPLAY ITERATIONS

4.1 A STUDY OF BARCELONA 4.2 FRAMEWORKS 4.3 PSEUDOCODE APPLICATION

5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6

PRECEDENT STUDIES BRICK GEOMETRY EVOLUTION MATERIAL RESEARCH CASTING PROCEDURE METHODS OF ASSEMBLY TENSION MEMBERS

6.1 GAME TO ARCHITECTURE 6.2 DESIGN OPTIONS

7.1 LONDONERS' VIEW ON CO-HOUSING 7.2 FINAL JURY COMMENTS 7.3 BIBLIOGRAPHY

9 9 10 13 19

24 56 64 70

76 79

111 120 128

134 139 150 154 164 190

198 200

218 220 228 5

INTRODUCTION 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5

THE DRL DESIGN RESEARCH AGENDA STUDIO BRIEF RESEARCH BACKGROUND THESIS STATEMENT

9 9 10 13 19

1.1 THE DRL The Design Research Laboratory (DRL) is a 16-month post-professional design programme, leading to an MArch (Architecture & Urbanism) degree. For over a decade, the DRL has been organised as an open-source design studio dedicated to a systematic exploration of new design tools, systems and discourses, targeting design innovations in architecture and urbanism. The DRL actively investigates and develops design skills with which to capture, control and shape a continuous flow of information across the distributed electronic networks of today’s rapidly-evolving digital design disciplines. Learning in the studio is project-based and includes the development of comprehensive, year-long design projects, supported by design workshops and seminars, applying new forms of associative logic towards the conception and materialization of comprehensive design proposals. Design work is pursued by collective self-organised design teams within three parallel design studios, addressing an overall design research agenda through shared information- based diagrams, data, models and scripts. The collaborative structure of the DRL design studio enables design teams to address the programme’s design research agenda through a sustained body of design work, which is regularly evaluated by student design teams, tutors and invited critics, and is channelled towards the development of recursive, research-based design methodologies and comprehensive design outcomes.1

1.2 DESIGN RESEARCH AGENDA

1 Intro | AA DRL | Architecture and Urbanism MArch (DRL) – AA School. Accessed September 6, 2018. http://drl. aaschool.ac.uk/about/. 2 “Graduate School.” In AA Prospectus 2017-18, by Architectural Association School of Architecture, C12. London: AA Print Studio.

A day in the AADRL studio.

FIGURE 1.1.0.1 (left)

Constructing Agency, explores expanded relatioahips of architecture by considering the future of living, work and culture. The aim of the research is to expand the field of possibilities by exploiting behaviour as a conceptual tool to synthesise the digital and material worlds. Advanced computational development is utilised in the pursuit of architectural systems that are adaptive, generative and behavioural. Using the latest in advanced printing, making and computing tools, the lab is developing work that challenges today’s design orthodoxies. Architectures that are mobile, transformative, kinetic and robotic are all part of the AADRL agenda, which aims to expand the discipline and push the limits of design within the larger cultural and technological realm. Theodore Spyropoulos’ studio explores how behaviour-based design methods can be used to reconsider cultural projects for today. Agent-based Parametric Semiology, Patrik Schumacher’s studio, contributes to the ‘semiological project’ which promises to upgrade architecture’s communicative capacity within the work environment. Shajay Bhooshan’s studio, House.Occupant.Science.Tech.data (HOSTd), explores robotic fabrication while enabling mass-customisation strategies that can compete with contemporary co-living models in highly productive cities. The promise of mass-customisation integrated with new models of housing now allows for the generation of a vibrant community fabric.2 9

1.3 STUDIO BRIEF

NAHMAD BHOOSHAN STUDIO

The three-year research agenda of the studio, starting from January 2017, is motivated by the following observations regarding contemporary design, fabrication technologies and trends in contemporary living. 1. Digital design and fabrication technologies is maturing with significant progress being made by researchers in the fields of computational architectural design3, computational geometry4, structural design5, robotic manufacture6 etc. 2. Social, economic and political conditions in large, high-productivity cities such as Tokyo, London, New York etc. have evolved7 such that the market conditions are now suitable8 to engender a demand for mass customised housing.9 The two observations together yield the premise of the research agenda: Developing real-estate solutions for contemporary living in high-productivity cities are a prime avenue for application of the maturing domain of digital design and fabrication. In other words, the promise made by seminal design research and polemic publications on Mass customisation and housing such as Negotiate my boundary10 and the generation of a vibrant community fabric11, can now indeed be realised. Thomsen et al. 2015 Adriaenssens et al. 2016 5 Anon 2015 6 Reinhardt et al. 2016 7 The guardian 2016; jon earle & irene pereyra n.d.; IKEA 2017 8 Bardakci & Whitelock 2003 9 Chong et al. 2009; Gann 1996 10 Steele 2006 11 Autopoesis of residential community (Schumacher 2002) 3

Bricks casted at Boston as part of the Studio trip

FIGURE 1.3.0.1 (right) 10

1.4 RESEARCH BACKGROUND London houses has been built by bricks over centuries. London’s outdated, and congested homes could be rebuilt, without destroying the original material identity of the city. In the context of London, our dry stacked, corbelled brick types are capable to offer more flexibility and result in socio-economically robust model of housing as a result of the game play. Our housing research which is based on game approach community building, questions and tries to provoke the fact of current housing problems which has been occurred due to a natural result of current monolithic construction strategy with conventional London stock bricks.

1.4.1 LONDON HOUSING

Talkington, B. E., President, V., & Plowman, D. (2016)

London brick houses - Bedford Square

FIGURE 1.4.0.1 (left)

London housing bubbles

FIGURE 1.4.1.1 (right)

London has a very rich history extends over 2000 years. The city has been one of the most significant financial capital throughout its history. Therefore, it has been always an intriguing for immigrants who wants to benefit from the opportunities of a rich cosmopolitan city. This high demand in city also reflected with multiple housing crisis . The city of London has experienced three major housing bubbles since 70s, and has been in shortage of housing for a long time (Fig. 1.4.1.1). On 16th of May, 2016, The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has exposed the extent of the capital’s housing crisis mentioning that the overpriced housing was driving the population out of the city12. London is the city where the research is grounded in terms of its social, economic and architectural aspects. For most of today’s cities including London fail to reflect the needs or desires of the 13

Annual Trend in Household Tenure, London 1961 to 2016. Source: Strategy, H. (2017).

FIGURE 1.4.1.2 (left, first)

Ten-year change in Population in Inner and Outer London, from 1961-1971 to 2005-2015. Source: Strategy, H. (2017).

FIGURE 1.4.1.3 (left, second)

Satisfaction with Accommodation and Tenure, London 2012/13 to 14/15. Source: Strategy, H. (2017).

FIGURE 1.4.1.4 (left, third)

Residential Density in London. Source: Data _ Urban Age. (2018.). LSE Cities

FIGURE 1.4.1.5 (left, fourth) 14

inhabitants and are callous to the social changes due to their outdated formula, besides a top-down prescription to urban housing has also failed to resolve the problems arising from high demand of housing. Although, new sorts of housing concepts have been executed to be a solution as a modern way of living such as co-living and social condenser proposals as some radical innovative housing ideas of 20th century. Many of these trials also came up short in offering a sustainable and healthy community development. Particularly in London, as a natural result of high cost of accommodation, the city flats subdivide in an unhealthy manner within a caged framework, resulting in tiny rooms of poor quality today without room for adjustments. Correspondingly, some socio-economic problems in housing have increased as dissatisfaction factors for inhabitants especially during last decades. To illustrate the main reason, Fig. 1.4.1.2 shows below that the density of population inner London increasing, despite having not sufficient buildable land area available for new inhabitation (Fig. 1.4.1.3.). As another problem that cause dissatisfaction, has appeared in current tenure system. Fig. 1.4.1.4 demonstrates that whereas, owning is decreasing as a way of accomadation in London, people who rent their flats are increasing exponentially. However, the level of satisfaction in renting tenure is not at a desired point for Londoners (Fig. 1.4.1.5.) due to the current high demand in renting (Fig. 1.4.1.6.) which cause insecurity of the tenure of current tenants whereas giving more comfort to landlords in contracts and agreements. Housing tenure. Source: Strategy, H. (2017).

FIGURE 1.4.1.6 (right)

1.4.2 LONDON VISTAS

View Management Plans are protected by planning policies in the City’s Local Development Framework (LDF) Core Strategy and the Mayor’s London Plan who has view management plan based some following principles. To illustrate, within London Panorama views, proposed development has to provide an appropriate setting for strategically Important Landmarks through not crowding the axis of protected vistas of the city. Likewise, management of river prospects and specific buildings or squares have to be appreciated within their wider London context. The ability to enhance or preserve some specific buildings, in conjunction with the surrounding environment, including distant buildings within views. (Fig 1.4.4.1) To illustrate, In Fig 1.4.4.1 And Fig 1.4.4.2 shows the cases for St. Paul’s Cathedral and The Monument which are two significant landmarks of London. In the first case, viewing axis and panoramic views are shown to be arranged according to the St. Pauls. Likewise, in the case of The Monument, a view policy area applied as shown below in Figure 8. To make The Monument to be seen from the specific locations.

Rees. Peter Wynne, E. P. (2012).

London Panorama Source: Rees. Peter Wynne, E. P. (2012).

FIGURE 1.4.4.1 (left, first from top)

London Monument views Source: Rees. Peter Wynne, E. P. (2012).

FIGURE 1.4.4.2 (left, second from top) Centraal Wonen De Hilversum Meent, Hilversum, Netherlands. Source: Rees. Peter Wynne, E. P. (2012).

FIGURE 1.4.4.3 (right, top)

Windsong co-housing community, Langley, Canada Source: Rees. Peter Wynne, E. P. (2012).

FIGURE 1.4.4.4 (right, middle)

Narkomfin, Moscow. Source: Rees. Peter Wynne, E. P. (2012).

FIGURE 1.4.4.5 (right, bottom) 16

1.4.3 CO-HOUSING Co-housing as a modern way of living where similar-minded individuals can join together usually with shared communal spaces and private bedrooms to help each other afford in expensive markets. Co-housing since from the first examples back in Denmark to our time, has changed, evolved and diversed. Throughout years, different kinds of schemes emerged in all over the world according to local needs and social-economical backgrounds. To illustrate, Centraal Wonen De Hilversum Meent in Netherlands (1970–77) was composed as Interconnected clusters which are based on Private dwellings clustered into small groups with some shared facilities (Fig 1.4.4.3). Each clusters with 4 – 5 private units share a garden, besides may share kitchen/dining/living room and a laundry room. The whole community shares some facilities such as common house, a library, a sauna, a workshop, gym, guestrooms and youth centre. Another example is from Canada. Between 1994 -1998, Wingsong co-housing Community was built by individual residential units around covered shared circulation, under a single roof. Residents share a kitchen, laundry room, children’s play room, guest room, studio, vegetable garden and a parking garage.

1.4.4 SOCIAL CONDENSER Soviet “Social Condenser” practice in architecture emerged in 1932. The central idea of Social condenser was grounded on that architecture can influence social behaviour of its inhabitants. With the affect of political situation of the and place, the intention of the social condenser was to influence the design of communal areas with an aim of breaking down perceived social hierarchies to create socially equitable spaces and a community. The Narkomfin Building in Moscow / Russia was the most important example of social-condenser practice as collective living. As a difference from the other co-housing examples, the scheme of the Narkomfin was collective facilities with private ‘sleeping cells’. Laundry, gymnasium, library, central kitchen/dining room were the spaces which meant to be collectively shared by inhabitants. (Fig 1.4.4.4) Although, this attempt is regarded as one of the most vivid Soviet experiment on transition through new living standards for people, can be arguable today since all “equally designed” housing units having a lack of identity of people as in shown in axonometric drawing in Fig 1.4.4.5.

1.5 THESIS STATEMENT Inspired by Shajay Bhooshan, Alicia Nahmad Vasquez, Theodore Spyropoulos, and Aldo Van Eyck, we research ways to re-establish the connection between urban planning and housing which has been lost in modern cities for decades, if not centuries. We propose a co-living system where users negotiate their boundaries through game. The dynamic user interactions shape the house, which shape each block, and block by block reshape the entire city. Home becomes a micro-city, and city becomes a huge house. A user can enter the game to generate and manipulate his/her own surrounding. The user gets to make his/her own decisions about what to share, who to share with, or not to share at all. The users will get to make decisions for the composition of their own house as well as negotiate their boundary within the network, both physically and socially. These units accumulate to form an entire block. Hence, the block is no longer a static entity, but one which keeps evolving dynamically, growing or shrinking according to the input of the users. This process will bridge the gap between mass customisation of the block and the user, making each block unique and dynamic. Historically, top-down prescription to urban housing has resulted in dry, monotonous masterplans which treat all individuals as equal variables for calculation and are callous to the social changes. Hence, most of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cities including London fails to reflect the needs or wants of the inhabitants, with the outdated formulas of the past. Without room for adjustments, the city subdivides in an unhealthy manner within a caged framework, resulting in tiny rooms of poor quality. The habitants of the city stay impotent, unable to alter their environment due to regulations and laws forbidding them to do so. As a response, we tried to experiment and find out how much of the design decisions could be made bottom-up, in order to restore and empower the habitants of the city in making their own decisions regarding their own houses. Through our simulations in the game, we discovered that a complete bottom-up approach without any rules or regulations results in individuals pursuing self-interests which harm the overall benefit of the community. Where as with a certain amount of restriction and rules imposed, both the individuals and the community could benefit from sharing spaces. Extending this framework, the house to urban block relationship is re-defined in a way that units of individuals or families come together to form a community, which will shape the block, and ultimately reshape the city. Ultimately, we try to discover a healthy balance of top-down regulation and bottom-up approach. In order to make this vision feasible, we are researching masonry construction with self-registration characteristics. These brick units can be assembled by mobile robot fabrication units or by human labour. By having bricks which can corbel and drystack, 19

the whole structure can be assembled with little to no formwork on site, thus saving time, effort, material involved in construction, and labour cost. We propose a game based approach to enable a flexible and responsive connection between the social dynamics of the users and the actual architecture. Furthermore, gamification of the urban housing can make community building more fun and engaging for all the parties involved. The game is developed in such a way that the users can participate through their SNS network account. This helps the users take advantage of his/her network of friends, and enable the system to suggest a list of compatible flatmates. Each player chooses their interests and preferences, which are reflected in the clustering of the small communities that will share the spaces. Multiple players can simultaneously play and observe how their community is built virtually via augmented reality game, making the experience more interactive, participatory, and informative. With the information of their neighboursâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; preferences in plain sight, users can interact better with each other, and build more compatible community groups. The players will be able to overlay the results of their gameplay onto the reality before the physical construction takes place, and make informed decisions based on environmental factors of the site. AR enables players to project the potential outcome of their gameplay onto the real site. By doing so, it brings these visions closer to reality. By enabling AR on multiple mobile devices, players can share the content being displayed and interact simultaneously while the gameplay is going on - instead of being cut off from reality with goggles and headphones. As players (inhabitants) engage with the system, community will evolve out of gameplay. The social dynamics is married with the physical from house-scale to block scale. Machine Learning is utilised to have a clear insight into how the structures and blocks can be reconfigured to better suit the inhabitantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs. With the analysis data of t-SNE, the users will have a better understanding of their community and be able to find compatible flatmates easily while having visual clarity of how their communal areas should be programmed. T-SNE is a technique to explore the clusterability of subjects in multidimensional space by calculating feature similarity and dimensionality reduction. We use this as a brief generator to help us make sense of community preferences and connect it directly to design. This will also help the residents to locate and group with a cluster which they prefer, allowing them to take full advantage of communal areas and shared spaces in our co-living system.

A brick cast at Autodesk Build Space, Boston, MA.

FIGURE 1.5.0.1 (left)

All in all, we are pursuing new methods to visualise and explore how urban housing situation in London can be improved. These methods are AR visualisation of gameplay connected with social dynamics of the inhabitants, while adopting machine learning to provide insight for the players - which becomes part of the design process and as a feedback device. We are using these methods at an urban scale in order to explore how urban planning itself can be rethought, while looking for answers to improve the housing crisis of London. 21

GAME RESEARCH 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.3

GAME PRECEDENTS THE SPATIAL VERSION USER LEVEL GAMEPLAY LEVERAGING AUGMENTED REALITY

24 56 64 70

2.1 GAME PRECEDENTS 2.1.1 PRECEDENT RESEARCH We are trying to explore gamification as a strategy of urbanism in order to solve the housing crisis of London. The city has experienced three major housing bubbles since the 70s, and has been in shortage of housing for a long time. On 16th of May, 2016, The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has exposed the extent of the capitalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s housing crisis mentioning that the overpriced housing was driving the population out of the city. We recognise that London housing crisis cannot be dealt in a brute physical manner, where we simply supply more houses. The demand for property in London is global while the supply is local. Hence, social, cultural, economic aspects need to be considered in unison â&#x20AC;&#x2020;in order to resolve the issue. In response to this failure, we propose game based approach, which enables a more responsive and accessible system. We anticipate that it will satisfy a greater portion of the public, and enable the users to have greater control over their own housing. With greater accessibility and ease of control, users will gain a better control of the parameters of their own environment. Many games have been searched, examined and developed to find a game that could respond demands of game-based urban planning research. In this regard some, games are based on attack/defence mechanisms whereas, some games target to enhance sharing and social negotiations between users. Besides, some games can achieve powerful user network pattern in a sense. On the other hand, the common thing among games that all games be set on some simple rules which lead a different kind of patterns. The games are based on attack/defence mechanisms encourage competitive/hostile playing attitude, and naturally generates a certain amount of void/open spaces. This was also interpreted as spaces which require privacy. On the other hand, the games are based on sharing/trading lead players to make some tactical decisions in order to achieve the target in a limited amount of spaces.

Game case studies chosen.

FIGURE 2.1.1.1 (right, top) Explorations through board games.

FIGURE 2.1.1.2 (right, bottom) 24

Go Chess Monopoly Board Game

Scrabble StudioMoniker - Hexagons Connect 4 Othello

In Between

Chain Reaction CityVille Facebook Sims

Video Game

Minecraft Sim City Age of Empires

Study 1

Study 1.5 (+Age)

Study 3 (Profile + Age)

B K T L B K T L GB

Board Game

Study 3.5 (+Deformed Grid)

Study 3.5.5 (+Scrabble factor)

K G

B T

B K T L B K T L GB

Study 4 Hedgehog (+Attack & Defense Mechanism + Edge Conditions)

Study 5 Hexagons (+Attack & Defense +Different Weighting)

In Between

Chain Reaction

Video Game

Procedural Cave Generation

THE ‘GO’ GAME We played a simple version of the ‘Go’ game where a player gets to place a circular piece in one of the grids each turn. When a piece is surrounded by other pieces on all four sides, it is killed. This simple rule led to the formation of diagonal grids as the game went on. In the second version of this game, we included the aspect of age in the pieces - when they reach the age of four cycles, they die of old age. This stopped the diagonal pattern from being formed. We related the game to the aspect of ‘overcrowding’ in the urban environment and buildings perishing with age. KILLED CENTRAL

CONNECTIONS

AGE

An illustration depicting the working mechanics of the game.

FIGURE 2.1.1.3 (left, middle)

Diagonal pattern from the gameplay

FIGURE 2.1.1.4 (left, bottom) 26

SCRABBLE GAME In this game, we reinterpreted the game of scrabble so that it relates more to the spatial requirements of housing. This is because rooms in a house always have to stay connected, like letters in a word, while certain spaces (letters) can be shared with other households (words) like Scrabble. Each letter represents a space in a house. The game rewards players who share spaces with other playersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; entries. Points were assigned to each space (letter) and the player with the most points is declared the winner. Players play the game until all the letters in their possession are exhausted.

B K Bedroom: 10

Toilet: 8

Kitchen: 6

Living space: 4

B Garden: 2

POINTS

An illustration depicting one cycle of the Scrabble game with three players and the table of assigned points for each space.

FIGURE 2.1.1.5 (right, middle)

The result of a gameplay between three players.

FIGURE 2.1.1.6 (right, bottom)

THE HEXAGON GAME The game includes both the creation of the gameboard and operating the pieces. The board is assembled out of triangles, squares and hexagons. The hexagons act as bases from which each players’ coins spawn. The goal of the game is to conquer the board. The construction of the board proves to be very strategic for the player. The game hence was played in two ways - 1. The board was first built and the coins were spawned, 2. The board and the coins were simultaeously laid down each turn. This related more to the real world decisions where plots are bought and then occupied in the manner of strategic investments.2

2 “Board Game Cut-ups - Hexagons”, Studio Moniker, accessed Sept 8, 2018, https://vimeo.com/274850746

The original game depiction from Studio Moniker.

FIGURE 2.1.1.7 (left, middle) A result of the gameplay between 3 players.

FIGURE 2.1.1.8 (left, bottom) 28

RULES OF GAMEPLAY 1 Initially, players are to build the board according to their strategies. 2 All players have one base to start. All players start with 6 game pieces each. 3 Reinforcement pieces are collected in every 3 turns according to the points of conquered spaces. 4 Each player can make one move each turn. Players can only occupy another adjacent cell with their pieces if it is directly connected to the cell(s) that they are already occupying. In order to move the pieces to another cell, players should have at least two pieces occupying the Square spaces, or one in a Triangle or Hexagon Space.

Building the board

FIGURE 2.1.1.9 (right, top)

5 To conquer opponentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cells, occupy their triangle with 2 pieces, or a square with 3 pieces - basically outnumbering your opponentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; pieces. Once taken over, the opponent will have to move out of that cell. 29

GAMEPLAY ILLUSTRATION

Turn 1 beginning with three players spawning 6 of their coins in their respective hexagonal bases, in the built board.

TURN 1 FIGURE 2.1.1.10 (left, top)

Players begin to disperse their respective coins on the board, trying to conquer other playersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; bases.

TURN 3 FIGURE 2.1.1.20 (left, bottom) 30

3 pts.

1,5 pts.

1 pts.

0 pts.

Players begin to get reinforcement pieces, i.e. more players spawned from their hexagonal bases.

TURN 6 FIGURE 2.1.1.21 (right, top)

Players get to choose the type of their reinforcement. While green and blue choose to reinforce with more pieces, red lays down an additional hexagonal cell to expand to.

TURN 7 FIGURE 2.1.1.22 (right, bottom)

Single orb

Double orb TYPES OF ORBS

Corner cell 2 neighbours

Edge cell 3 neighbours

Inner cell 4 neighbours

Exploding into other player cells

TYPES OF EXPLOSIONS 32

Triple orb

CHAIN REACTION We investigated in game precedents that had simple rules but lead to complex organizations on play. We studied both board games and online games, that involved both simultaneous and turn-based interactions. Among those we explored, we identified the mobile game called Chain reaction to be the most promising because, through a set of simple local state changes it resulted in unpredictable global behaviour. The game has a regular rectangular grid. It is a turn based game where two to eight players can play at a time. At each turn, a player places a sphere in any of the cells in the grid. The sphere is colored uniquely for each player. A player is allowed to place a sphere in an empty cell, or a cell that contains his/her spheres and not in other players' cells. Each cell has a specific amount of spheres it can hold. Beyond this threshold, it explodes its spheres to its neighboring cells. This threshold value equates to one less that the number of neighbours a cell has. This leads to a corner cell having a threshold of 1, a edge cell 2 and an inner cell 3. When a cell explodes into it's adjacent cells, it turns the spheres in the adjacent cells into the color of the exploding cell's spheres. Thus finally the player with the most spheres conquers the board and wins. The game is constantly in search of the state of equilibrium, trying to maintain all of its cells within their threshold. This leads to multiple explosions and unpredicted global behaviour. We found this to highly applicable to a housing situation, where when a house becomes overcrowded, it needs to expand to accommodate more users and how that leads to different patterns of development and global organization.

Chain Reaction â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Apps on Google Play. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2018, from https://play.google.com/store/ apps/details?id=com.BuddyMattEnt. ChainReaction&hl=en_GB

Chain Reaction Classic on the App Store. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2018, from https://itunes.apple. com/gb/app/chain-reaction-classic/ id945592570?mt=8

Chain reaction rules and actions

FIGURE 2.1.1.23 (left)

These images are screenshots of the final stages of a game between two players showing how results can constantly change and how one player who seemingly captures the entire board could lose.

FIGURE 2.1.1.24 (right, bottom)

PRIVATE

Player Red:

PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC PUBLIC

-public ic - PUBLIC 2 Public - PUBLIC 2 Public

Player Red:

-public ic - 2 Public - 2 Public

SEMI-PUBLIC

PUBLIC

8 private - 4 Semi-public - 2 Public

PRIV.

SE-PRV.

PRIV.

SE-PRV.

SE-PRV. SE-PRV. PRIV.

SE-PRV.

SE-PRV. SE-PRV. PRIV.

SE-PRV.

PRIV.

PUB.

SE-PRV.

PRIV.

PUB.

SE-PRV.

PRIV.

PUB.

PRIV.

PUB.

PRIV. PRIV. SE-PRV. SE-PRV.

PRIV. SE-PRV. SE-PRV. SE-PRV. PUB. SE-PRV. SE-PRV. PRIV.

PRIV. SE-PRV.

SE-PRV. PUB. SE-PRV. SE-PRV. PRIV.

PRIV. SE-PRV. PRIV.

SE-PRV. PRIV.

PRIV.

SE-PRV.

SE-PRV. PRIV.

PRIV.

SE-PRV. PRIV.

PRIV.

SE-PRV.

SE-PRV. PRIV.

2.1.2 APPLYING CHAIN REACTION TO ARCHITECTURE A SPATIAL ENVISIONING At each turn, a player places one of his/ her spaces in a cell. The rules of explosion and conquering are similar to the original game.

FIGURE 2.1.1.25 (left)

The pattern evolved out of the game is spatially perceived by converting the orbs into their appropriate spatial categories.

FIGURE 2.1.1.26 (right, top)

As a direct translation of the game into architecture, the orbs were replaced with spaces. Single orbs were translatd to private spaces, double orbs to semi-public and triple orbs to public spaces. At the beginning of the game, each player is given a specific set of spaces - in this instance, each player has 8 private spaces, 4 semi-public spaces and 2 public spaces in the beginning. When there is an explosion, exploding cell becomes an open space that can no longer be inhabited by a playerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s move unless inhabited by neighbouring explosions. The pattern of spatial assemblies and open spaces formed relationships and certain patterns emerged out of gameplay. 35

Case 1: -Dots are exploded by adding fourth

Case 2: -Dots are exploded by adding fourth. -Conquers the opponent dots.

Case 3:

-Dots are exploded by adding fourth -Conquers the opponent dots. -Starts to colonize since some of oppo dots are ready to explode too.

Case 4:

-Dots are exploded by adding fourth -Reds cannot conquer the opponent d which have a wall in that side.

Case 5: -Dots are exploded by adding fourth -Greens conquer the opponent dots.

Case 6:

-Dots are exploded by adding fourth -Reds conquer the opponent dot with wall since the attack is performed an o side without a wall.

WALLS AGAINST EXPLOSION The previous gamification experiment had a major shortcoming in the aspect that the cells didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a mechanism to prevent incoming explosion. This contradicted with the idea of privacy included in the translation of the orbs as private, semi-private and public spaces. Hence, the idea of walls, that was researched in the game of Hedgehog is tried here. Along with a set of spaces a player is given in the beginning, a set of walls are also given. The player needs to use them in a tactical manner to better colonize the grid. The game also had features for trade-offs where players between themselves could trade one space or wall for another. However, the exchanges were arbitrary without a fixed value being set to the elements. Also, the fixed number of spaces at the playersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; disposal led to the grid being incomplete, leaving no observable pattern. Surprisingly, there is more order when there are no walls.

EXPLODING 3D The game, when played out on a three-dimensional grid, allowed for explosion along the vertical dimension. This was particularly relevant when considering the implication of the game in an architectural scale, since a building needs to expand vertically as well. The original gameplay, in a two-dimensional grid needed to be revised to proceed in 3D.

Considering two different scenarios where the game is played without walls and with walls, leads to different patterns of evolution and explosion.

FIGURE 2.1.2.1

Chain reaction can be envisioned along a three dimensional grid by explosions occuring in the vertical dimension as well.

FIGURE 2.1.2.2

2.1.3 CODIFYING THE GAME CODING THE ORIGINAL GAME For us to be able to improve on building the game and to understand the patterns it generates, it was essential to first have a codified version of the original game of Chain Reaction. The game engine Unity3D and its C# scripting support was suitable when trying to combine the game rules as scripts to mesh objects as spheres. The elements in the game are split in three levels and each level has one or multiple scripts associated with it, that give each level a specific behaviour. The sketch on the top-right demonstrates the initial ideas behind the codification of the game. The three levels include the game board, the grid units contained in the game board and the sphere unit accommodated in a grid unit. The game board controls the player based game-play maintaining the turns and also maintains how the chain reaction occurs by conduction regular counts on the number of spheres in each cell. The grid units recognize click and pass information to the game board to check for explosions. They maintain the number of spheres they hold and periodically inform the sphere unit they enclose to update their mesh and colour.

The spheres can be converted into spatial mesh objects with the floor color denoting the inhabiting player. On explosion, the spaces enclose a green open space in the centre.

FIGURE 2.1.3.1 (left, bottom)

The game when coded in Unity3D, had three main levels of object classes - the Game Board, the Grid Unit and the Sphere. Each of these objects have behaviour scripts attached to operate the game.

FIGURE 2.1.3.2 (right, top)

The game has four main behaviour scripts - the Game Board Controller script, the Player Controller script, the Grid Unit script and the Space Occupant Manager script.

FIGURE 2.1.3.3 (right, bottom) 38

SPHERES TO SPACES To have a more accurate representation of the game in a spatial sense, spheres are replaced by spatial units with walls denoting the subdivisions. The rules of the game play remain the same however, one major alteration is made. The idea that an incoming exploding space when coming in contact with another player’s space, changes the ownership of the space being hit, is flawed from seen from a real world perspective, where conquering spaces and rendering a player homeless is brutal. Hence, the concept of shared grids in incorporated. When one player’s space explodes into another place’s space, both players co-exist in that cell. This concept of co-existence requires two new updates in the coding level of the game function. Each grid unit needs to maintain a list of the players occupying it and the list needs to be in correspondence to which side of the grid is occupied by which player. The C# class Dictionary proves to be an efficient data structure to store the Player ID tagged by the side in the cell. Thus, each grid unit has a dictionary of its occupants. This occupant information is passed on to the Space Occupant Manager script in the enclosed spatial unit to update its floor colors. Another update is the orientation in which the space unit is instantiated on an incoming explosion. Normally, a spatial unit can be involed in two ways - by a click and by an explosion. A click doesn’t specify a side of instantiation, but an explosion has a specific side of explosion. Hence, the spatial unit invoked needs to understand the side of instationtion to know in which degree of rotation it must be instantiated.

Spaces when exploding onto other spaces create shared grids in which different players can co-exist together in the same cell.

FIGURE 2.1.3.4 (left, bottom)

Upon explosion, the dictionary classes of the neighbouring cells accommodate the exploding spaces in the appropriate side.

FIGURE 2.1.3.5 (right) 40

If the side of instantiation contradicts with an already occupied side, another side of the next priority is occupied. This is evident in the cell towards the right where the pink player is accommodate at the right instead of left.

FIGURE 2.1.3.6 (left)

This experiment concerns critically populating four adjacent cells with four players. The image suggests how the dictionary classes of the cells are initially empty.

FIGURE 2.1.3.7 (up)

When the four adjacent cells are critically populated, one click on any of these cells, begins a continuous chain reaction that causes multiple explosions at the same time. This hangs up the game play.

FIGURE 2.1.3.8 (pg 44)

Beginning of the chain reaction.

FIGURE 2.1.3.9 (pg 45)

Each cell on the verge of explosion registers its address with the Explosion Scheduler. Based on the order, the scheduler checks if the grid is ready to explode and triggers the explosion one by one.

MULTIPLE INCOMING EXPLOSIONS The coded version of the game held good when dealing with simple explosions, but when there where situations when critically-massed cells were next to one another and an explosion was invoked, the game crashed because there were multiple incoing explosions into a single cell, with players much exceeding the maximum amount of players that could be accommodated in a cell. To overcome this issue, a new script called an Explosion Scheduler is added to the game board. SImilar to a Print task manager, this script maintains a list of the explosions incurred in a grid and executes them one-by-one thereby avoiding multiple explosions. This implementation also required the inclusion of the concept of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Spill players.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; It was observed that during continuous chain reactions, there were occurrences when a cell that has only four sides needed to accommodate about six players. In such conditions, the dictionary data structure was insufficient to hold their information. Thus each grid unit was given an extra Array list to hold Spill players when they occurred and later explode them into their neighbouring cells in the order of the sides priority (left - right)

FIGURE 2.1.3.10 (pg 46)

The final outcome of the chain reaction.

FIGURE 2.1.3.11 (pg 47)

2.1.4 EMULATING THE REAL WORLD INCLUDING COSTS With the game being able to accommodate multiple players and infinite chain reaction, inclusions of the real worls spatial planning customs were tried. The first of it was costs. As the illustration demonstrates, when a grid is free of cost, inhabitants will only want to sprawl and occupy as many grids as possible without the need to subdivide and share. On the other hand, if the cells are all priced arbitrarily, a situation of overcrowding occurs. Thus to maintain a healthy living condition with the cost situation, the concepts of rules and rewards are important. The rule that a cell can only accommodate a certain number of inhabitants beyond which explosion occurs and the reward that an explosion can award the occupants with a private open garden space in the centre fosters players to try out subdivisions and sharing.

The three grids in the illustration demonstrate how the game play changes when there are no costs, when there are only costs, and when there are cost, rules and rewards involved.

FIGURE 2.1.4.1 (left)

PRICING THE GRID If all the cells in the grid are priced equally, the moves made by players wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be well thought out. Also, in reality, not every plot of land and not every property is priced the same. In the context of the game, if explosion is considered the reward, it is obvious that the cells with low critical masses have higher chances of explosion, thereby higher advantage. Hence if the price of the cell is made to be inversely proportional to the critical mass, a balance of cost and reward can be obtained.

A cellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s price is determined by dividing a base cost by the number of face-to-face explodable neighbours it has.

FIGURE 2.1.4.2 (right)

SCORING

At each stage of the game, the residential space a player holds and the area of garden space each player shares is calculated. These help determine the efficieny of the player’s move.

FIGURE 2.1.4.3 (left)

At the end of the game when an infinite chain reaction begins, the scores are calculated as thus - Player 1: 788.69; Player 2: 690.03; Player 3: 1008.55 and Player 4: 655.14.

FIGURE 2.1.4.4 (up)

The code is changed to incorporate spill players in the vertical dimension. It is tested by two players inhabiting four adjacents cells in the grid. One cell in the grid is found to contain one spill player (blue) who gets accommodates in the top floor of the structure.

FIGURE 2.1.4.5 (pg 52-53)

The rewards of the game are only evident when the players are awarded with scores. A Score calculator script is added to the game board to maintain this. The main algorithm behind the calculation of the scores is: Score = (Spatial spread + Garden space) x Money remaining The game play is such that the players start with a specific amount of money. In order to build on an unoccupied cell, a player needs to buy the cell. Since there is no bank in the game, the money spent by one player is distributed to the other players. Also, a player can only invoke a space in an occupied cell only if there is at least one of its spaces in that cell. However, this doesn’t invoke a cost. Also, when a cell is conquered by explosion, it doesn’t cost the player. Since the grids are shared, the grid being conquered can no longer be the finishing point of the game. Also, the sharing system makes sure that the players end up with the same number of spaces. So the winner is decided by how efficient he has spent his money in having the most space and most garden space access. 51

GOING 3D With the costs and scores resolved, the vertical explosion of the grid and the game going 3D is studied. Rather than directly instantiating a grid in the other floors, it is important for spaces on the top floors being instantiated by explosion. To passively invoke the three dimensional version of the game, the data of the Spill players in the game setup is utilized. The spill players often lead the grid to enter an infinite chain reaction. To break this and to stabilize the spatial planning, the spill players are accommodated in a floor higher than the one of explosion. Thus, a vertical instantiation is done and further explosion is carried out.

INCLUDING NON-BUILDABLE GRIDS To bring the game more closer to reality, it is important to have grids that are already built on, or grids that cannot be built on. Thus, to have an existing built setup on the game board, the game play is split into two modes - Build mode and Play mode. The build mode allows players to set the scene, i.e., the built condition, on which the game is played. Once the built grids are created, the game is tarted by click on the Play button. The costs of the cells are decided based the number of sides it can explode into. Thus, rather than the corner, edge and inner cell conditions, the prices vary more organically along the grid leading to better patterns being evolved.

IMPLICATIONS The ability of the game to engender global level changes by means of local level rules and interactions has wider implications when considered on an urban level than on a building level. The ability of the game to accommodate the strategic moves of multiple different players one grid can be exploited to build on the thesis of engendering shared and dense living communities through gamification in urban environments.

Non-Buildable grids declared.

FIGURE 2.1.4.6 (left, bottom) The build mode gets executed first where the existing structures in the scene is created. Then the play mode begins where the buildable grids get priced. The build mode requires the grid units to have an extra characteristic of Buildability. Coded as a boolean, its values are set in the build mode and are utilized in the Play mode.

FIGURE 2.1.4.7 (right) 54

2.2 THE SPATIAL VERSION With insights from Chain reaction, we tried to develop a game that has spatial implications.

2.2.1 GAME GRID To play the game out in a context of housing, the grid is first decided upon. It is a three dimensional grid based on a primitive shape. We have narrowed down the grid types to three - a rectangular grid, a triangular grid and a hexagonal grid.

RECTANGULAR GRID + COMPUTATIONAL UNIT

TRIANGULAR GRID GRID + COMPUTATIONAL UNIT

HEXAGONAL GRID GRID + COMPUTATIONAL UNIT

2.2.2 COMPUTATIONAL UNITS Each cell in the grid is a computational unit that can accommodate one or more spatial units. The size and configuration of the spatial units are decided based on Neufert standards. 56

Computational Grids

FIGURE 2.2.1.1 (left) Computational Spatial Units

FIGURE 2.2.2.1 (right)

TRIANGULAR SPATIAL CATALOGUE

HEXAGONAL SPATIAL CATALOGUE

RECTANGULAR SPATIAL CATALOGUE

2.2.3 SEQUENCE OF GAMEPLAY The gameplay proceeds in four steps. First, a suitable grid needs to be located in the block. Next, a cell needs to be built on it. The player who builds this cell is assigned to be the owner of this cell. Many players can collectively build and own cells too. After building the cell, a space can be created in it. Spaces can be chosen from the appropriate spatial catalogue. Finally, the human avatars of the current player are connected to the spaces created.

2.2.4 COST CALCULATION The last three steps of the gameplay incurs costs. First, when building a cell, a small portion of the cost goes towards purchasing the grid from its owner, and the larger goes towards its construction. A grid is owned by the household directly beneath it. This is due to the fact that the cell structure of the lower floors enables the grid to be available on the upper floor. The grids in the ground floor belong to the entire community of house owners in the block. The second step where the space is screated involves the cost of the space. FInally the last step where the occupant is connected to the space, a monthly rent is incurred if the occupant doesn't own the space and shares it with someone else. Otherwise, if the occupant is the owner, no rent is incurred. 58

Sequence of gameplay

FIGURE 2.2.3.1 (left) Costs incurred during gameplay

FIGURE 2.2.4.1 (right, top) Grid Ownership

FIGURE 2.2.4.1 (right, top)

2.2.5 SATISFACTION SCORES The whole objective of the game is to keep the inhabitants satisfied. This is measured with the satisfaction score. When a human gets connected to a space his satisfaction score gets updated. We have classified spaces into two categories based on their need in a residential setup - primary and secondary. Primary spaces include bedroom, restroom and kitchen spaces. Each of these spaces contribute 20% each to the satisfaction score and these needs must be satisfied for each member of the household. Hence each member needs to have a minimum satisfaction score of 20%. Every space other than these are secondary and they contribute 10% each to the satisfaction score if the primary needs are satusfied. The average of the members' satisfaction scores leads to the household's satisfaction score and the average of satisfaction scores of all households leads to the block satisfaction score. 60

Satisfaction scores

FIGURE 2.2.5.1 (left)

Consider a master bedroom. It can accommodate two persons.

FIGURE 2.2.5.2 (right, first from top) A man is connected to the bedroom.

FIGURE 2.2.5.3 (right, second from top)

A woman is connected to the bedroom.

FIGURE 2.2.5.4 (right, third from top)

SPATIAL CAPACITY Satisfaction score is a factor of the total occupied percentage of the space connected to. Each space has a unique number of people it can accommodate. This is referred to as the spatial capactiy. With every person connected to the space, its occupied percentage increases, with the exception being babies. If the occupied percentage exceeds 100%, the space is considered to be overcrowded and all the satisfaction scores of all people connected to the space becomes zero. In this situation, the space needs to be expanded to accommodate the extra person. 61

A baby is connected to the bedroom. The occupied percentage is unaffected.

FIGURE 2.2.5.5 (left, first from top)

COMMUNAL SPATIAL CAPACITY The spatial capacity of individual spaces can be increased by making the spaces open to sharing and connected them as an open communal space. This is because, when an open space is created from two closed spaces, the effective area of usage increases. This system also motivates sharing. Thus, when two spaces get connected the total spatial capacity of the the resultant communal space gets increased by 1. We illustrate this with an example of two kitchens combining to form a larger communal kitchen. 62

The baby grows to become a young boy. The occupied percentage now exceeds 100%. The satisfaction scores of the man, woman and boy becomes null.

FIGURE 2.2.5.6 (left, second from top) A single bedroom is created adjacent to the master bedroom and the boy is connected to the new single bedroom. Now the satisfaction scores of all three persons are back to 20% each.

FIGURE 2.2.5.7 (left, third from top)

2.3 USER-LEVEL GAMEPLAY The game interface facilitates users to log in to the game, enter their details, connect with other players and build their homes and communities. The initial sections of the game gather information about the household, and later the home building begins.

2.3.1 SNS CONNECTION The goal of the game being building houses along with building the community, it is important to take into account the interrelationships existing among people. Rather than explicitly collecting them, it is easier to set up a Social Network login for the game. Most social networks and Web domains offer Login APIs which can be used, and user profiles and data can be accessed at their permission. We chose Facebook because, it is the most famous social network at the moment, and it has facilities to access the userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s connections. Also, the personsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; interests and friendsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; compatibilities can be used to identify their housing and community preferences.

The flow chart showing how data can be mined out of a social network connection

FIGURE 2.3.1.1 (left) 64

The start screen of the App featuring the Facebook login button

FIGURE 2.3.1.2 (right, top)

The app requesting access to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;facebook. comâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for the Sign-in

FIGURE 2.3.1.3 (right, middle)

The redirected Facebook sign in page to connect to the Block party app

FIGURE 2.3.1.4 (right, bottom)

The welcome screen of the App, using the username got from the userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Facebook profile

FIGURE 2.3.1.5 (left, top)

The family creating screen, with the main user preloaded with details from the userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Facebook profile

FIGURE 2.3.1.6 (left, middle)

Additional members added and the profiles updated

FIGURE 2.3.1.7 (left, bottom) 66

2.3.2 CREATING THE HOUSEHOLD From the Facebook profile, the user’s name, date of birth, gender and friends’ list are collected. The first section following the login collects the household details of the user. The primary member would be the user who logged in and he/she is allowed to add more members. Occupation of the users are loosely classified into three categories - Employed, Student and Stay at Home. Users are given avatars to associate themselves with and they change with their age group and gender.

2.3.3 FINDING USER INTERESTS Since the game dwells on the creation of shared spaces between inhabitants, by means of matching interests, we have framed the interface to ask of the users’ interests right after they finalize their household setup. However, the interests that we inquire about cannot be arbitrary, and need to have spatial implications. Referring the book ‘Living Closer’ by Studio Weave, we came across several case studies of co-housing setups in the UK and the various shared social spaces they offered. We analysed the personal interests that lead upto the development and functioning of those social spaces. Rather than explicitly offering these social spaces, by a top-down planning, it is better if they are created by the users themselves by mutual sharing. For that to happen, it is important that users with similar interests get together. More than just grouping them with their already existing friends and acquaintances, the game needs to have the sufficient intelligence to suggest users with the same interests and sharing preferences. Hence, we plan on deploying machine learning algorithms, to compute and locate users with similar interests. Since, this would involve trying to group users with similar interests, we use clustering algorithms like Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and t-distributed Stochastic Neighbour Embedding (t-SNE) clustering.

The screen letting the users to connect their respective avatars to the interest bubbles

FIGURE 2.3.3.1 (right)

READING

LIBRARY

UTILITY

LAUNDRY

FITNESS

GYMNASIUM

CHILD IN THE HOUSEHOLD

CHILD CARE

HEALTH & RELAXATION

SAUNA

WORK

WORKSHOP

WORK

PLAY

CHILDREN’S PLAY AREA

FITNESS N’ PLAY

GARDENING

VEGETABLE GARDEN

GARDEN

FITNESS & RELAXATION

YOGA SPACE

ENTERTAINMENT

WORK

WORK SPACE

FOOD

ENTERTAINMENT

MUSIC STUDIO

ART & CRAFTS

CRAFTS ROOM

ENTERTAINMENT

HOME THEATRE

UTILITY

STORAGE SPACE

FOOD & COOKING

PANTRY

PET IN THE HOUSEHOLD

PET/ANIMAL CARE

ELDER IN THE HOUSEHOLD

ELDERLY CARE

FOOD & COOKING

CAFE

Each social space is condensed to its basic need or interest backing which is then linked to its interest category. Spaces that are an outcome of utility such as Laundry spaces are left out since they do not invoke any personal interest of their own. The interests are grouped under five categories of Work, FItness nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; play, Garden, Entertainment and Food. The values of these interest categories are what will be used to compute the clusters in the machine learning framework. The game interface allows the user to connect all avatars to his/her personal interest bubbles.

2.3.4 CHOOSING SITES After collecting the details, the game interface proceeds to locate the household in the locality of their choice. By using the open source WRLD plugin for Unity3D, we could bring in the entire city of London in the game in 3D. Users could navigate through the city and choose the block they'd prefer to build their house in.

Social spaces stemming from the interests of the users.

FIGURE 2.3.3.2 (left)

The app screen where the user gets to choose the block of choice.

FIGURE 2.3.4.1 (right)

2.4 LEVERAGING AUGMENTED REALITY Augmented reality is a simulated environment that overlays Computer Generated Imagery onto the Real world footage, through a compatible deviceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s camera. The advantage of AR over other forms of Artificial reality applications is that, it blends more into the real world. We have used the ARKIT plugin released by Apple for iPad and iPhone devices. Unity Engine also offers support through their Shared Spheres framework, where one of the users hosts the AR environment and others join it. This is particularly useful when many users want to co-build their houses.

2.4.1 CITY SCALE The WRLD plugin that was used to bring London into the app to choose the block, also supports ARKIT. Hence in AR compatible devices, the city can be overlayed on a table-top, panned, zoomed and blocks chosen from.

2.4.2 BLOCK SCALE The block is the scale in which the game is played. The grid is available on the block scale and the units are created on them. We tried to bring the block scale into AR as well. To relate it more to the physical world, we built a physical model of the site located at Jeffrey street, Camden, at 1:750 scale and super imposed the AR game onto it. To position the AR game grid in relation to the physical model, we have to anchor the grid to the physical object. Here we first used the feature of Image Anchor available in ARKIT version 1.5. This detects a preset image from the camera imagery and achors the virtual game grid onto it. The image anchor we used was the Team logo we had on the bottom rght corner of the physical model.

Using the ARKIT in iPhone 6S to detect a plan and overlay the map of London on it.

FIGURE 2.4.2.1 (right, up)

The Shared Spheres framework, that lets users connect into a shared AR environment. Here, the green spheres are by User 1 and the blue spheres are by User 2, in the same shared environment.

FIGURE 2.4.2.2 (right, middle)

A screenshot showing the WRLD map built for iPad and displayed using Augmented reality

FIGURE 2.4.2.3 (right, bottom)

A photograph showing the AR environment where the map of London lies against the real world environment

FIGURE 2.4.2.4 (left, bottom) Block level gameplay in AR

FIGURE 2.4.2.5 (pg 72-73) 70

BLOCK RESEARCH 3.1 VARIABLES CONSIDERED 3.2 GAMEPLAY ITERATIONS

76 79

3.1 VARIABLES CONSIDERED Block level iterations are conducted on the site at Jeffrey Street, Camden. At every iteration we assume an initial set of rules, frame a set of households and play the game out. We then analyse the outcomes and fine tune the rules that we used to make the iteration. This is how we find the right balance of the top-down rule system and bottom-up community building in the game space. The variables in the gameplay include the kind of households considered for the players, the type of grid and the imposed layout or rule. These variables are changed and compared to the outcomes.

45.50 m

35.80 m

AREA - 1587.99 sqm

Chosen site for Gameplay iterations Jeffrey street, Camden, London.

FIGURE 3.1.0.1 (left, up) The dimensions of the site

FIGURE 3.1.0.2 (left, bottom) Types of households Source: ONS, UK.

FIGURE 3.1.1.1 (right) 76

3.1.1 HOUSEHOLD TYPES To carry out the iterations ten different household types were frames under three main categories based on their sizes. These were derived from the Household statistics published by the Office for National Statistics, UK.

3.1.2 GRID TYPES The iterations are carried out in two grid types. The first type has a rectangular grid, with cells of size 1m x 1m. This grid can accommodate computational units of 5 sizes - 1m x 1m, 2m x 2m, 3m x 3m, 4m x 4m and 5m x 5m. The second grid type has a triangular grid on the ground floor and a hexagonal grid on the upper floors. For each of the grid types, we tried different grid layouts and rules and weighed their results against each other. 77

3.2 GAMEPLAY ITERATIONS With the variables declared, the game is played out in the Unity3D editor. During the gameplay, the game stores information such the list of families, their profiles, number of spaces each family holds, their relative positions and the cost transactions between each of them.

3.2.1 COST TRANSACTIONS The cost transactions in the game including all cell building, space building and monthly rents. All these transactions are recorded during the gameplay and exported as a csv file. The csv file is transcribed into a chord diagram, where the transactions towards the communal investment are represented in black and transactions between the families are represented in color. The width of the arcs are relative to one another and to the whole revenue during the state in time.

3.2.2 DENSITY

Block layouts

FIGURE 3.2.0.1 (left) Cost diagram

FIGURE 3.2.1.1 (right)

There are three methods to measure density - The first, most common method is to measure the residential density over a area in a city. This measurement doesn't apply to smaller sites, hence the first method is not used to cross-compare the iterations. The second method includes calculating the density of dwellings per site area. Here a dwelling refers to one household. The third method involves calculating the density of habitable rooms per site area. We use the last two methods to calculate and compare density. 79

3.2.3 ITERATION 1 The first iteration was carried out with 25 household and 61 members. It had no top-down frameworks. The rules of the game were purely cost based and satisfaction driven. All players were free to build in whatever grid they chose. The objective that every player achieves a minimum average satisfaction score of 60% was maintained. At the end of the gameplay, the major observations were that the circulation spaces were not continuous. Especially, the private units tend to block out the public circulation spaces. Also, the module health values, that depict the every cell's access to natural light and ventilation was low. Specialized communal spaces like gyms and work areas weren't formed.

Stages of Iteration 1

FIGURE 3.2.3.1 (right) 81

Stages of Iteration 1

FIGURE 3.2.3.2 (left) Final stage of Iteration 1

FIGURE 3.2.3.3 (right, top) Illustration of the Iteration 1 outcome. Green represents the open garden spaces, brown, the circulation spaces, white living spaces and grey, the private units with no public circulation corridors.

FIGURE 3.2.3.3 (right, bottom) 82

3.2.4 ITERATION 2 To improve the module health and to ensure that all cells receive natural light and ventilation, we devised the garden rule. By means of this, every cell, when surrounded on two sides by built spaces, gets a garden on its third side. A garden cannot be converted into a built unit. Similarly, when a garden gets surrounded on two sides by built units grows into the third side. This way the gardens grow too. This iteration was carried out with the same set of 25 households from the first iteration. The outcome however demonstrated scattered living units that needed to be circulated through gardens. Also, the density and built volume in the block was very low. Hence, the rule was discarded.

Garden rule.

FIGURE 3.2.4.1 (left)

GARDEN CREATED 84

GARDEN GROWS

Stages of Iteration 2.

FIGURE 3.2.4.2 (right)

Stages of Iteration 2

FIGURE 3.2.4.3 (left) Final stage of Iteration 2

FIGURE 3.2.4.4 (right, top) Illustration of the Iteration 2 outcome. Green represents the open garden spaces, brown, the circulation spaces, white living spaces and grey, the private units with no public circulation corridors.

FIGURE 3.2.4.5 (right, bottom) 86

3.2.5 BLOCK LAYOUTS The previous iterations never demonstrated a communal area getting formed. So we tried frame a block layout that would have grids dediicated form communal areas. These grids will not be allowed to be converted into living spaces. We have made two gameplays with two different block layout. The first is a courtyard block, with corners dedicated to communal and circulation spaces. The second layout is derived from the block framework that will be discussed in the next chaper of this report. It is a row housing block with a communal garden in the centre and corners dedicated to communal and staircase areas.

Courtyard block layout.

FIGURE 3.2.5.1 (left, top) Row house block layout derived from the block rule.

FIGURE 3.2.5.2 (left, bottom) 88

3.2.6 ITERATION 3 The gameplay was made with 41 familes with a total of 109 members. Costs were calculated at every step. This iteration has a timescale of 2 years. By the end of 2 years we were able to achieve two storeys. We identified different clustering patterns varying with the household types. Also, we generated a chord diagram to visualize the cost transactions between the families at every month. We observed that as the households share and interact more with each other, the ratio of the communal investment/cost reduces and more profit is returned to each household.

Stages of Iteration 3 - Layout 1

FIGURE 3.2.6.1 (right)

Stages of Iteration 3 - Layout 1

FIGURE 3.2.6.2 (left)

Final stage of Iteration 3 - Layout 1

FIGURE 3.2.6.3 (right, top)

Illustration of the Iteration 3 - Layout 1 ground floor outcome. Green represents the open garden spaces, brown, the circulation spaces, white living spaces and violet, communal areas.

FIGURE 3.2.6.4 (right, bottom) 90

SCENARIO 1

Illustration of the Iteration 3 - Layout 1 - first floor outcome. Green represents the open garden spaces, brown, the circulation spaces, white living spaces and violet, communal areas.

FIGURE 3.2.6.5 (left, up) Legend to the 4 scenarios.

FIGURE 3.2.6.6 (left, down) Scenario 1 - It consists of 7 single member households. It is identified that single member households are connected with thin circulation spaces, and have their communal spaces in the designated corners.

SCENARIO 2

FIGURE 3.2.6.7 (right, first from the top)

Scenario 2 - It consists of 4 multi member households. Multi member households tend to have bigger circulation spaces in the centre to connect all their units, which then get converted into communal spaces.

FIGURE 3.2.6.8 (second, first from the top)

Scenario 3 - It consists of 12 single member households - most likely students and young working professionals. They have a communal kitchen and shower in the corner.

SCENARIO 3

FIGURE 3.2.6.9 (right, third from the top)

Scenario 4 - It consists of 7 multi member households. Al living units are connected by a large communal space in the centre, that grows with households entering the game.

FIGURE 3.2.6.10 (right, fourth from the top)

The chord diagram representing the transactions between the families. It includes all cell building, space creating and monthly rents over the 2 year period. The black colour represents the investment of the residents as a community, while other colours represent each household.

FIGURE 3.2.6.11 (pg 94 - 97)

SCENARIO 4 93

Stages of Iteration 3 - Layout 2 This iteration had 33 families with a otal of 78 members. By the end of two years, we identified, the overall block satisfaction was 88% proving, on an average every person in the block was connected to atleast two communal spaces

FIGURE 3.2.6.12

Stages of Iteration 4 - Square Grid with a rowh house layout

FIGURE 3.2.6.13

100

101

Stages of Iteration 5 - Square Grid with no layout

FIGURE 3.2.6.14

102

103

Stages of Iteration 5 - Square Grid with U Block layout

FIGURE 3.2.6.15

104

105

Outcomes of gameplay

FIGURE 3.2.6.16

Density scores

FIGURE 3.2.6.17 106

107

URBAN RESEARCH 4.1 A STUDY OF BARCELONA 4.2 FRAMEWORKS 4.3 PSEUDOCODE APPLICATION

111 120 128

109

110

4.1 A STUDY OF BARCELONA El Raval, an old city, was enclosed by giant city walls until the expansion in the 1850’s (figure 3.1.1.4). With Industrial Revolution, the city started to trade more. As the city became prosperous, existing residents wanted to expand their units while more people flooded into the city. The density of the city skyrocketed with the increasing demand. El Raval became the popular area for factories and high-rise tenement blocks very soon.1 By the time, as El Raval was getting denser and unhealthy living conditions were appearing in streets such as insufficient sunlight, air ventilation. (figure 3.1.1.2) In fact, big arches were firstly placed on streets randomly to serve as bearing structure for further constructions of apartments to answer the demand of growing. (figure 3.1.1.3) 1859, Ildefons Cerdà approached urban planning from a data-driven statistical perspective2. The city wall was demolished to allow the gridal expansion of Cerdà’s l’Eixample which was four times bigger than of El Raval. (figure 3.1.1.1) Cerdà’s plan was the first example of urban planning which was carefully designed scientifically. Data-driven design applied to calculate the optimal distances between neighbouring hospitals, schools, markets & civic administrative nodes. He considered about the professions which are needed by the population. Likewise, he calculated the volume of atmospheric air needed per person3.

1 “Barcelona Urban Development and Change.” Barcelona Field Studies Centre, geographyfieldwork.com/ BarcelonaUrbanDetail.htm. 2

Burry, Mark 2013.

Bausells, 2016.

An example plan by Cerda

FIGURE 4.1.0.1 (left, top) Neighborhood in El Raval

FIGURE 4.1.0.2 (left, bottom) A street in El Raval

FIGURE 4.1.0.3 (left, bottom) The city plan of El Raval

FIGURE 4.1.0.4 (right) 111

Cerda’s gridal urban blocks initially were designed as not only being simple island blocks but, serving as open public areas through serials of connected interways between blocks (figure 3.1.1.5). Moreover, different configurations could be foreseen for the further urban development which is based on various scenarios in mass articulations. Figure 6 demonstrates that, in the scope of Cerda’s interway idea, which is crucial for his plan as serving to the public, providing enough ventilation and sun light penetration. The further mass development had to be referencing those interways. That explains that Cerda ‘s plan could be disrupted without a control in detail, but foreseeing the further block configuration to offer some visionary possibilities (figure 3.1.1.6). In general, despite of some of the problems appeared to apply his plan, the autonomous block development demonstrates that Cerda’s urban plan for Barcelona was a basic armature which allows self-propelled, self-organised development in a sense4. 112

Burry, Mark 2013.

Basic island vs Cerda’s

FIGURE 4.1.0.5 (left, top) Different block configurations

FIGURE 4.1.0.6 (right)

113

The interways were designed to provide good quality of air ventilation between blocks, to enable residents to access sufficient sunlight and having a clear view. They also were to serve as a garden to create a feeling of peaceful sub-urban life in the city, besides working as safe path ways for pedestrians. (figure 3.1.1.7) Although many construction works did not follow Cerda’s building laws through suffering from lack of regulations, Cerda was strict about his building laws about his plan. For him, buildings cannot use than 50% of the block’s surface, and could only use two of the block to allow space for gardens. Likewise, there was a 20 m height and 15 to 20 m depth limit as well5. Further developments of the urban blocks caused a big amount of shrinkage in open interways and gardens. Likewise, uncontrolled development led different articulations and patterns in the urban grid through ignoring Cerda’s regulations (figure 3.1.1.8) and (figure 3.1.1.9). Although the Plan Cerda remained the official Development Plan for Barcelona, by the time after Cerda’s urban plan, some makeups were applied to urban plan of Barcelona. 5 major makeups after Cerdà: • 1907 - International competition - Léon Jaussely = Proposals for grand intersections, corniches and generous avenues.

• 1937 - Le Corbusier - the Place Macià = Larger blocks.

• 1980s - Orcol Bohigas et al = Necklace of tiny interventions strung throughout the inner city and outer suburbs. • 1992 - Olympic Games hosted by Barcelona = Stimulus for rethinking the city’s overall infrastructure. An inner and an outer ring road constructed with one part running invisibly beneath the city’s long-lasting zones of activity. • Recent - Metro Line 9 (Longest underground tunnel) = Wraps around the city, while the high-speed train line connects Madrid to Paris via subterranean Barcelona. 114

“Plan Cerda.” Barcelona, historyofbarcelona.weebly.com/plan-cerda.html.

Interways of blocks

FIGURE 4.1.0.7 (left, top) Transformation in blocks

FIGURE 4.1.0.8 (right)

115

Although Cerda’s plan was disrupted and not implemented well, grid structure of the city and chamfered corners in urban blocks are evidence of Cerda’s big impact on Barcelona city plan. Chamfered corners of Cerda’s urban plan were more conducive to imprompt for encounters and gatherings in a better way than right-angled corners6. Furthermore, the chamfered corners to enhance the economical perspective of the city by enabling high-value corner shops all around streets. Those shops are happily exposed more attention by inhabitants of the city, yet this geometrical difference enables some different values for properties in the gridal city. By the time, apart from his plan, blocks gradually developed for more profit. Central spaces grew in height with rooftop extensions, which transformed the city centre into a light-industrial space (figure 3.1.1.10). Blocks started to include small businesses, residences and rooftop extensions. These unplanned additions on Cerda’s plan led from the need of complex and dynamic social environment of modern cities. In this context, Mark Burry asserts that we still plan the city as a 2D construct which is outdated for today’s cities. In this regard, we must contribute positively to urban design through advanced computation as being a development of Cerda’s data-driven design strategies for the urban living back in time7.

Burry, Mark 2013.

Transformation of blocks

FIGURE 4.1.0.9 (left)

Transformation of blocks from public to private

FIGURE 4.1.0.10 (right) 116

117

BARCELONA SUPERBLOCKS On the base of Cerda’s Eixample, a new approach for the Barcelona urban area was designed to limit car access in the city. “Superblcoks” is a solid solution as being a ambitious place which desire to decrease overall traffic by 21% in city of Barcelona. As the core idea of the Eixample of Cerda, city needs breathe for the public health reasons. Superblocks will be particularly selected in the grid to enhance the overall level of environmental conditions of the city instead of focusing in one region (figure 12.). Such as in the figure 11. a superblock will be composed by nine existing blocks of the grid. “..car, scooter, lorry and bus traffic will then be restricted to just the roads in the superblock perimeters, and they will only be allowed in the streets in between if they are residents or providing local businesses, and at a greatly reduced speed of 10km/h (typically the speed limit across the city is 50km/h, and 30km/h in specific areas).”8 Superblock idea could be use in the Urban Gamification research as being a reward or penalty system for the Chain Reaction game.

Bausells 2016

Superblocks consist of nine blocks

FIGURE 4.1.0.11 (left, top)

Superblocks placement in example

FIGURE 4.1.0.12 (right) 118

119

4.2 FRAMEWORK We have looked at Cerda’s L’eixample extensively to analyse what makes this urban fabric flexible and so successful. By extracting a simple set of rules, we translate the process of creating these block presets into a parametric process. Existing regulations and conditions in London’s urban planning, such as the 13 vistas of Central London, have been researched and implemented in the process. After analysing Barcelona and London, a set of simple rules were extracted. The pseudocode diagram is a summary of the process that each block is processed through. First, each block’s corners are reserved for communal space, including commercial activity. The revenue generated from the rent of the commercial spaces are then returned to the residents as services or monetary reward. Possible programs of the blocks include; Community Gym, Café, We-work (shared rental office), Meet-up hosting places, Pub, Playground for children, Games hub ( Arcade / board games... etc.), Conference space, Garage-like workshop space for start-up companies and freelance artists/designers to prototype, Dance-halls, Indoor Boulder climbing, Childcare centre, Petcare centre / Pet-owners' café, Mall / Supermarket, Photographers’ studio space or black room, Architects / Architecture students’ workshop space much like Digital Prototyping Lab at the AA School of Architecture, Recording studios for musicians, Studio / Exhibition space for artists, Boxing / Kickboxing Gym, Pool/Darts/Ping-pong & Bar space for recreation, Study rooms, Tea room, Storage, Theatre, Cinema, Shared kitchen (cooking classes or utilized by residents), Restaurant, Community barbeque and gathering space, Community urban farming, Community garden, Reconfigurable-large-volume spaces that can be rented out for whatever occasion/purpose, Community's Instagram exhibition gallery, A space for hosting local market, Internet cafes, VR/AR rooms and more. To guide and ease the residents through this process, t-SNE data analysis is used to collect data from the residents and visualise what programs the communal areas should house. Hence the program of these communal areas are parametric, and the residents are the flexible parameters that shift the outcome. This framework enables the communal areas to stay relevant to the group of residents that will benefit from these communal spaces.

The Barcelona model. Source: http://projectivecities.aaschool. ac.uk/portfolio/yuwei-wang-barcelona-block-city/

FIGURE 4.2.0.1 (left)

The pseudocode for the Block Framework

FIGURE 4.2.0.2(right) 120

Corners of the block are Social Condensers

Any adjacent block open? ( Plaza / Park ... etc. )

Yes

Open towards that block

Is the block in the way of London's vista?

Yes

Cut open and clear the way for the vista

Is the block central? ( < Zone 1 )

Yes

High-rise & high density block

Are the surrounding blocks all closed off? ( 1 mile radius )

Yes

Turn into public space

Centre courtyard block

121

t-SNE cluster of 10,000 data points with 5 interest variables.

FIGURE 4.2.0.3 122

123

Next steps include the block’s neighbour conditions. If the block is next to a public space block (parks, plazas etc.), then the block building mass has to open up towards that block(illustrated in the pseudocode diagram). Then it is checked if the block is in the way of London’s 13 vistas in the city. If it is, then the block preset volume has to be cut to make way for the vista. Then it is checked to see whether it is within zone 1 of London or not. If it is, then it becomes an extreme density, high-rise block. Outside Central London, each block is checked to see if all of the surrounding blocks are closed off (disconnected courtyard type) blocks in 1 mile radius. If they are, then the block turns into a public space, which will trigger adjacent neighbouring blocks to open up to it, and give the neighbourhood a public space. If other blocks already satisfy these conditions, then the block becomes a courtyard block typology. After applying all of these rules, the block is then assessed in inter-connectivity among its neighbours. Each block must be connected with inter-ways to at least one neighbour. If it isn’t then inter-way with the width of at least eight meters is established. When applying these set of rules to the Camden town neighbourhood as illustrated in the renders, the blocks’ original openings, connectivity, and their environmental factors (canals, railways and such) are considered and reflected. The public buildings which will be untouched (church, schools, train stations, tube stations, community centres and such) are taken into consideration. The height of the maximum building volumes will be lowered to match the elevation of the public buildings, so that public buildings are not surrounded by giant building masses that block the view. Finally, a 45 degree sunlight rule is applied, so that if any portion of the building volume is in the way of another volume’s sunlight trajectory, it is subtracted. The results are as depicted in figures 5.2.0.2 to 5.2.0.6.

124

Original layout of neighbourhood around 4-5 Jeffreys street (Zone 2). Blue buildings represent public buildings which will remain untouched.

FIGURE 4.2.0.4 (right, top)

Beginning with the courtyard blocks, each extruded height reflects adjacency to a public space block (parks, plazas etc.). The further away the block is from a park, the lower the building masses become. The corners are chamfered to allow social activity to take place amongst blocks. Certain groups of blocks can be designated as superblocks like Barcelona, to enable these corners to be utilised further for social activities among blocks.

FIGURE 4.2.0.5 (right, bottom) The blocks open up to the parks.

FIGURE 4.1.0.6 (pg 100, top) Then inter-connectivity with the neighbour blocks are checked.

FIGURE 4.1.0.7 (pg 100, bottom)

This is the final outcome after applying the set of rules. Note that height of the volume masses have been adjusted according to its conditions.

FIGURE 4.1.0.8 (pg 101, up)

125

126

127

4.3 PSEUDOCODE APPLICATION

This is a model to illustrate the application of the set of rules in the Camden town neighbourhood, as mentioned previously. The acrylic layers above show the original planning layout of the existing conditions, and the 1 mile radius from the parks.

FIGURE 4.3.0.1 128

129

The block pseudocode applied to a neighborhood in Camden. These are the four options generated.

FIGURE 4.3.0.1 130

The block pseudocode applied to a neighborhood in Southwark. These are the four options generated.

FIGURE 4.3.0.1

FABRICATION RESEARCH 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6

PRECEDENT STUDIES BRICK GEOMETRY EVOLUTION MATERIAL RESEARCH CASTING PROCEDURE METHODS OF ASSEMBLY TENSION MEMBERS

134 139 150 154 164 190

133

5.1 PRECEDENT STUDIES 5.1.1 MASONRY CONSTRUCTION WITH DRONES A research project from UCL in collaboration with MIT explored the potential of construction by drones. Masonry Construction with Drones, is a project where the researchers made an attempt to redefine the brick, the beam, columns and the whole construction process with drone assembly in mind. While the feasibility of drone construction is low at this point, due to their sensitivity to weather conditions and other environmental factors, their approach to modifying the brick geometry to better suit transportation by the drones inspired us to rethink what a brick is. We began by trying to improve what these bricks could to and tried to build structures which could actually function as load bearing parts of a house. Our version of these bricks were cast and tested in Boston, at Autodesk BUILD Space.

Custom built drone is manually controlled to stack customised bricks. The drone is equipped with suction device to grip onto the bricks. Source : Latteur P., Goessens S., J.S. Breton, J. Leplat, Ma Z., Mueller C., Drone-based Additive Manufacturing of Architectural Structures. IASS Congress, Amsterdam, August 2015

FIGURE 5.1.1.1 (left)

The brick which was identified to be the most compatible with drones. Sturcture assembly and simulation of load bearing. Source : Latteur P., Goessens S., J.S. Breton, J. Leplat, Ma Z., Mueller C., Drone-based Additive Manufacturing of Architectural Structures. IASS Congress, Amsterdam, August 2015

FIGURE 5.1.1.2 (right, top)

Drone compatible brick design by Caitlin Meuller. This particular geometry, which is optimised for corbelling, inspired us to attempt various geometries which could be assembled in different ways to maximise structural strength. Source : Latteur P., Goessens S., J.S. Breton, J. Leplat, Ma Z., Mueller C., Drone-based Additive Manufacturing of Architectural Structures. IASS Congress, Amsterdam, August 2015

FIGURE 5.1.1.3 (right, bottom) 134

135

5.1.2 GRAMAZIO KOHLER RESEARCH, ETH

This was a 1:1 scale prototypical building structure made out of Styrofoam blocks in a four day workshop. All of the bricks are uniquely shaped and hot wire cut. The constraints of hot wire cutting method, together with the flow of forces and stability issues were considered. While our goal is not to create each unit a unique piece in assembly, this project gives us an insight to how assembly can be pushed to the limit with the constraints of fabrication. Combined with the research papers regarding flow of forces in polyhedra from the Block Research Group at ETH, we wish to achieve bricks which can function like the components of funicular shell structures. Packaged in a compact, modified freight container, R-O-B takes advantage of prefabrication with on site construction, utilising short transport routes. It allows for flexibility of fabrication methods and material, making full use of the versatility of the robotic arm. Although this project is almost a decade old, it stays relevant and provides a perspective into the automated construction and prefabrication. This project shows as a real-life example of how mobile fabrication units can be deployed to sites to construct structures using robotic arm assembly. Hadrian X can be seen as an extension of this idea, and our project shares this construction method.

Smart Geomery Workshop, Explicit bricks, Barcelona 2018. Here they construct a structure out of styrofoam blocks. Source : http://gramaziokohler. arch.ethz.ch/web

FIGURE 5.1.2.1 (left, top)

A mobile fabrication unit, which can be deployed to sites. R-O-B, 2007-2008. Source : http://gramaziokohler.arch. ethz.ch/web

FIGURE 5.1.2.2 (right, top)

22 meter long public installation. Pike Loop, Manhattan, New York, 2009. Source : http://gramaziokohler.arch. ethz.ch/web

FIGURE 5.1.2.3 (right, bottom) 136

137

BRICK

UNIT

SOCIAL CONDENSOR/ CIRCULATION

COMMUNITY

BLOCK

LONDON

The brick is the beginning point of our system. The bricks assemble to create units, which create the community spaces, and together with social condenser spaces and circulation volumes create blocks.

FIGURE 5.2.0.1 138

5.2 BRICK GEOMETRY EVOLUTION Having studied the Caitlin-Mueller bricks from the research project by UCL and MIT, we began to investigate how we can create a brick that can be stacked using a robotic arm or a drone. The error tolerance of both methods are more than 5mm, and so we had to introduce slopes into the geometry. This is so that even when the robotic arm places the brick slightly off the coordinate, it will slide into place and stack properly. The brick was also designed for corbelling, allowing more flexibility in assembly.

After the brick design was finished, we designed the mould. We CNC cut the mould out of hard wood using the DPL facilities at the DRL studio. We chose wood as the first material for the mould in the hope that moulds could be reused multiple times for casting. After our first cast, we quickly found out that is not the case. Reusing moulds was a bigger challenge than we had thought.

The initial brick was designed in this process to enable diagonal corbelling and vertical stacking at the same time, while having tolerance for errors of the robotic arm

FIGURE 5.2.0.2 (right, top)

After designing the brick, we designed the first mould for the brick. We introduced notches and grooves to make it easier to take apart after casting, as well as securing that the mould pieces assemble with precision.

FIGURE 5.2.0.3 (right,bottom)

139

We took the wooden mould to Boston, where we assembled the pieces and cast our very first brick. The mixture contained EPS particles to lighten the weight, but it destroyed details, and the de-moulding process was more difficult than we had anticipated. The mould took some damage in the process, and we quickly shifted to the idea of creating multiple moulds in a quick and easy manner. The mixture would also have to change a lot in order to bring out the details of the brickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s geometry, which was quite intricate. After the brick design was finished, we designed the mould. We CNC cut the mould out of hard wood using the DPL facilities at the DRL studio. We chose wood as the first material for the mould in the hope that moulds could be reused multiple times for casting. After our first cast, we quickly found out that is not the case. Reusing moulds was a bigger challenge than we had thought. 140

From 3D printing to Casting. The first mould was CNC cut out of wood in London, and then assembled in Boston. We cast our first brick and learned many lessons from our failure.

FIGURE 5.2.0.4 (left, top)

First proposal was to build an arch using bricks that had variants in slope angle

FIGURE 5.2.0.5

141

Second proposal, which we executed in Boston, was to build a cubic volume using the brick geometry we cast. No mortar is used.

FIGURE 5.2.0.6 142

COATED WITH PLASTIC

PAPER BRICK

Third proposal was to use build a volume using bricks that could be attached or detached usiing heat. The plastic coating on the outside is used as adhesive.

FIGURE 5.2.0.7

143

Initial set of brick prototypes designed

FIGURE 5.2.0.8 144

145

The second version of the bricks that we have cast, here at DRL in London, came from the inspiration of the geometry of the mosque architecture in Turkey. While the corbelling mechanism is similar to the previous brick, it stacks in a hexagonal pattern which enables a better efficiency in forming a structure.

Second version of the brick casted and assembled in London

FIGURE 5.2.0.9 (right)

While studying further into vaults and compression-only structures, we are exploring the possibility of merging the capabilities of RhinoVAULT and Diesteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s double curvature masonry structure to produce mortar-free assemblies, which can be made with bricks that are repeated throughout the whole structure. To redefine the brick for the automated construction is our goal. 146

Initial study into creating compression-only structure using bricks with limited variation. The study continues with the help of RhinoVAULT, a plugin developed by the Block Research Group at ETH.

FIGURE 5.2.0.10 (left)

147

BRICK A 148

BRICK B

BRICK C

BRICK D

STACKED VERTICAL

CORBELLING 149

5.3 MATERIAL RESEARCH Due to the intricate geometry of brick, the mould is to be designed in a way that makes the demoulding process easy and repeatable. Likewise, the material study also played a crucial role in achieving the desired geometry as designed digitally. Through iterations an optimal mixture was found. The mixture in the chart n the right was liquid enough to give the shape of brick geometry. 7 different mixtures were tested with different ratios of cement, sand, nylon fibre and water. It has been seen that all these mixtures have a direct impact on bricks strength, colour, texture and geometry. Likewise, evaluation criteria of the mixtures were based on the physical features on the resultant bricks. By including superplasticizers and nylon fibres as ingredients of the mixture, we avoided cracks being formed in the bricks during curing. During the exploration of bricks that can be assembled by robots, another aim was to make bricks light enough for the robot to pick and place with ease. First iterations of casting bricks resulted in excessively heavy bricks that were hard to be picked up by the robot. Therefore, lighter bricks in same shape and volume were sought in further iterations. In this regard, lightweight foam block material was added into the mould during casting process. This method resulted in an effective 20-30 percent decrease in the brick weight. We tested some fabrication techniques to find out the optimum process of producing these components such as paper folded moulds, CNC milled moulds and rubber moulds. Currently, we found out that paper moulds are more efficient in terms of production rate, cost and enabling flexibility in brick geometries.

Material samples

FIGURE 5.3.0.1 (left) 150

Material mixture ratios and results

FIGURE 5.3.0.2

151

152

Bricks catalogue

FIGURE 5.3.0.3 153

5.4 CASTING PROCEDURE 5.4.1 CNC MILLED MOULD Foamboard was used to produce moulds as they were cost effective. Using a low cost material was crucial to the aspect of mass production of bricks. Also, it was important to choose a soft foamboard to make the demoulding process easy.

CREATING A TOOL PATH Autodesk Fusion 360 was used to the define most convenient tool path of CNC machine in terms of time efficiency and quality. The tool path design has played an important role in defining sharp edges and complex geometry of brick. In this context, Fusion CAM proved most helpful due to its great extent of work flows and cleaning strategies for milling. Pocket Cleaning and Parallel Cleaning were two of these strategies that have been used intensely in the milling process.

POCKET CLEANING Pocket Cleaning was used as a conventional roughing strategy for clearing large quantities of material quickly and effectively. The stock is cleared layer by layer with smooth offset contours maintaining climb milling throughout the operation.

PARALLEL CLEANING Parallel Cleaning was used as a finishing strategy in which the passes are parallel in the XY plane and follow the surface in the Z-direction. We were able to control the angle and stepover in horizontal direction to give exact shape to our moulds.

CNC CUTTING The generated tool path was uploaded in the Shopbot milling machine and the milling process is initiated. Two types of tips were used for two different types of cleaning. Pocket cleaning uses a thicker tip and Parallel cleaning uses a thinner tip.

CNC moulds out of foam

FIGURE 5.4.1.1 (right, top) Shopbot at work

FIGURE 5.4.1.2 (right, bottom) Pocket Cleaning Procedure in Fusion 360

FIGURE 5.4.1.3 (pg 156)

Parallel Cleaning Procedure in Fusion 360

FIGURE 5.4.1.4 (pg 157)

Bottom part of the mould after Pocket Cleaning

FIGURE 5.4.1.5 (pg 158, top)

Bottom part of the mould after Parallel Cleaning

FIGURE 5.4.1.5 (pg 159, bottom) The tip for Pocket Cleaning

FIGURE 5.4.1.6 (pg 160, top) The tip for Parallel Cleaning

FIGURE 5.4.1.7 (pg 161, bottom) 154

155

156

157

158

POCKET CLEANING TIP

PARALLEL CLEANING TIP

159

5.4.2 PAPER MOULD

Different types paper moulds were tested to reach reliability in brick geometries. At the end of multiple tests with different paper and sheet types, polypropylene sheet moulds covered with resin gave the most reliable results in relation to the shape of the created bricks. Also, these moulds can be reused. That brought the cost of production almost long the same level as london stock bricks in the market.

CARDBOARD PAPER

SOLID WHITE PAPER

Unfolded paper mould

FIGURE 5.4.2.1 (left, top) Mould and de-moulding

POLYPROPYLENE PAPER 160

FIGURE 5.4.2.2 (left, bottom)

Cost calculation

FIGURE 5.4.2.3 (right) 161

5.4.3 RUBBER MOULD

Rubber mould was an another test we performed to produce bricks. Despite high costs of the silicon rubber material, the mould offered re-usability and easy labor in casting and demoulding. On the other hand this production technique was not seemigly convenient enough when compared to the paper mould technique due to its high cost of production.

5.4.4 CASTING TECHNIQUES The mould is composed of two pieces - a top and a bottom part. Therefore, casting ought to be done from where there is a flat surface in the brick. In the initial iterations of casting brick type 0.0, concrete was casted from four holes on the top part of mould. For the mould of brick type 2.0, the same technique of pouring concrete from three holes on the top part of mould was employed. Moreover, after discovery of the paper mould, the casting technique was improved by opening a bigger hole on one of a flat surfaces. Therefore, the casting process became more time efficient and less laborious.

Rubber mould

FIGURE 5.4.3.1 (left, top) Casting techniques

FIGURE 5.4.4.1 (right) 162

BRICK TYPE 0.0

BRICK TYPE 2.0 MOULD TYPE 1

BRICK TYPE 2.0 MOULD TYPE 2 163

5.5 METHODS OF ASSEMBLY 5.5.1 CORBELLING TECHNIQUES

The conventional principle / definition of corbelling is that each extrusion cannot exceed half of the unit and the whole extrusion cannot exceed the entire thickness of the wall. We put this concept to the test, and tried to see how far we could take it â&#x20AC;&#x201C; without mortar or adhesive.

One aspect we looked into had to do had to do with how these units could be accumulated. Through trial and error, then analyzing the successful outcomes, we found out that the angle and distance between the units played a fundamental role in how they can be stacked. 164

The basic principle / definition of brick corbelling

FIGURE 5.5.1.1 (left, top)

Mathematical relationship between the two units from our first brick prototype(Boston).

FIGURE 5.5.1.2 (left, bottom)

This the mathematical relationship between the units for our Brick 0.0 units. The diagonal angle (between A and X in the diagram) measured at approximately 45 degrees. The planar angle (between the two Xs) measured at exactly 45 degrees. The height difference (Z) between the two units was 0.95 times the horizontal distance (X) between the two. Through trial and error, we found out that when we increase this diagonal angle to above 70 degrees so the height difference (Z) becomes more than three times the horizontal distance (X), stacking becomes more successful and stable, with the weight travel becoming more efficient through compression.

This is the mathematical relationship between the two units in our brick type 2.0 and 2.1, and also evident in 1.0 and 1.1. As mentioned, the vertical angle is increased to be above 70 degrees, and Z distance is exactly three times the Y distance.

Mathematical relationship between the two units of our brick 2.0(London).

FIGURE 5.5.1.3 (right, top)

Parametric algorithm which utilizes the principle learnt from previous prototypes. This algorithm helps generate different shape/size/height of dry-stacking bricks.

FIGURE 5.5.1.4 (right, bottom)

Based on this finding, we extracted the successful parameters behind dry-stacking units, and made it into an algorithm. This algorithm enables the user to adjust the given parameters (base geometry, distance X, distance Y, base angle, height Z, vertical angle between 70 to 90 degrees, and rotation angle between the units) to generate iterations of bricks that enable successful dry-stacking. 165

5.5.2 ROBOTIC ASSEMBLY We attempted to leverage the potential of industrial robotic arms to assemble our brick system. Hence our brick design and gripper studies were focussed on facilitiating easier robotic pick and place.

GRIPPER DESIGN We started with simple grips coupled with bricks that have grooves for the gripper. We made a simple gripper using a linear actuator or a servo motor controlled by Arduino board. At this phase, we explored gripper design and brick geometry in conjunction.

Initial gripper studies and bricks in association

FIGURE 5.5.2.1 (left) 166

Robotic assembly speculation

FIGURE 5.5.2.2

167

ROBOTIC SETUP At the Autodesk BUILD Space, Boston, we used the ABB IRB 4600 and at the AA Digital Prototyping Lab, we use the KUKA KR30. We use pneumatic grippers to lift the bricks.

KUKA KR30 With a payload of 30kg, and reach of up to 3,102 millimeters and flexible mounting position (floor, ceiling, wall or inclined position), the six-axis robot is a true automation professional.1 Available as a pair in the Digital Prototyping Laboratory of the AA School of Architecture, KUKA KR30 provides the main experimentation tool for us to test the limits and constraints of brick assembly using robotic arms. The G-codes for assembly are generated using Grasshopper add-on Robots, which is a open-source software developed by UCL. Schools including the AA and ETH are utilising this add-on, adding to the robot arm library of the program.

1 KUKA company website - https:// www.kuka.com/en-gb/products/robotics-systems/industrial-robots/kr-30# Dimensions and reach of KUKA KR30, Source: www.kuka.com

FIGURE 5.5.2.3 (left, top)

Robot Cell at AA School of Architecture Digital Prototyping Lab, Source: www. aaschool.ac.uk

FIGURE 5.5.2.4 (left, bottom) 168

MHL2-20D GRIPPER At DPL, in combination with the KUKA KR30 robotic arm, we are using MHL2-20D pneumatic gripper, manufactured by SMC pneumatics. MHL air grippers are designed for applications that require a wide travel range of gripper fingers. The MHL is ideal for gripping many different sized parts. Finger motion is synchronized by a rackand-pinion mechanism. The double piston construction creates a compact gripper with large holding force.2

2 ‘SMC Pneumatics‘ www.smcpneumatics.com Picture and Drawing of SMC MHL2-20D gripper, Source : https://www.smcpneumatics.com/MHL2-20D-Y7PSAPC.html

FIGURE 5.5.2.5 (right)

169

ABB IRB 4600 The ABB IRB 4600 has Semi-shelf capability. It can reach up to 1.73 m vertically. It has flexible mounting possibilities, and can be mounted in various ways, on the floor, semi-shelf, tilted or even hanging. Payload of 60kg. The ABB IRB4600 was our initial starting point at Autodesk Boston BUILD Space, where we tested different brick assemblies and simple brick feed mechanisms for the robot. The pneumatic gripper was provided from the Autodesk, and we had an opportunity to develop our first set of grippers which could grip and hold onto our initial prototype bricks, which were quite heavy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 5kg to 7kg.

ABB IRB 4600 reach diagram

FIGURE 5.5.2.6 (left, top) ABB IRB 4600 specifications from the ABB website - https://new.abb.com/ products/robotics/industrial-robots/ irb-4600

FIGURE 5.5.2.7 (left, bottom) 170

PZN-PLUS 160-1 GRIPPER At Autodesk BUILD Space, we had used pneumatic gripper PZNplus 160-1, manufactured by Schunk. This gripper is an universal 3-Finger Centric Gripper with high gripping force and maximum moments due to multi-tooth guidance.

The gripper drawings and specifications Source: https://schunk.com/us_en/gripping-systems/product/2076-0303314pzn-plus-160-1/

FIGURE 5.5.2.8 (right)

171

The pictures of the gripper Source: https://schunk.com/us_en/gripping-systems/product/2076-0303314pzn-plus-160-1/

FIGURE 5.5.2.9 (left, top)

Photograph of the gripper being attached to the Robotic Arm by Autodesk Staff.

FIGURE 5.5.2.10 (left, bottom)

The first set of gripper fingers designed. They perfprmed well with the 3D printed plastic bricks, but werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t strong enough to pick up the bricks casted out of concrete.

FIGURE 5.5.2.11 (right, first)

The gripper fingers were edesigned to grab and lift concrete bricks. The centric gripper was used like a parallel gripper by designing two of the fingers such that they come close together and grab one end of the brick, while the other finger grabs another. It was successful in lifting the bricks, however, the margin for error was quite limited.

FIGURE 5.5.2.12 (right, second) 172

GRIPPER 1

GRIPPER 2

173

SOFTWARE FRAMEWORK At Autodesk BUILD Space, we used a grasshopper algorithm version of Ex-machina, a plugin developed by the resident researcher Jose Luis GarcĂa del Castillo. Ex-machina acts as a bridge between the rhino platform and the RobotStudio software, translating the travel path into appropriate data input according to the model of the robotic arm. It also enables a feedback loop from the RobotStudio software, so that travel path can be adjusted accordingly. Here, we prepare an algorithm in Grasshopper to pick-up the brick from the brick-feed shelf and place it at a designated coordinate. Then we feed the prepared data through Ex-machina to RobotStudio, where we simulate the whole routine and check for errors. Once the travel path is confirmed, we transfer the data to the computation component of the ABB IRB4600, and execute it in real-life.

The grasshopper sketch to convert the brick pick and drop locations to the machine actions and the RAPID code using Ex-Machina for grasshopper.

FIGURE 5.5.2.13 (right)

The robot actions derived out of the Ex-Machina grashopper plugin which will get converted to the RAPID code to be processed by the robot.

FIGURE 5.5.2.14 (left)

Ex-Machina plugin for grasshopper is used to specify the various actions and generate the RAPID Code.

FIGURE 5.5.2.15 (pg 58, top)

The Machina Bridge App links the RAPID code from the Grasshopper interface to the Controller in ABB RobotStudio software.

FIGURE 5.5.2.16 (pg 58, middle)

When the connection between grasshopper and RobotStudio is established, the actions can be sent to RobotStudio to initiate a simulation. It helps to identify errors in the code before executing the code in the actual robot.

FIGURE 5.5.2.17 (pg 58, bottom)

Once the code is checked to be error free, the code is sent to the FlexPendant of the robot through a LAN connection and it is executed.

FIGURE 5.5.2.18 (pg 59) 174

175

176

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ASSEMBLY PROCESS The Assembly process mainly consists of the robot picking up bricks and assembling them in place. To make sure the brick assembly is stable after each turn of pick and place, the order of assembly is crucial. Hence, the brick place locations are sequenced in this order and fed into the grasshopper logic. The order of stacking comes down to the idea of corbelling. Two bricks in the lower level, placed adjacent to one another can hold a third brick stacked diagonally on top of them. We tested out these corbelling conditions by manually stacking the bricks, then testing out with the robot in jog mode and then embedded the order in the grasshopper logic. At every iteration, the logic was first tested virtually with a RobotStudio simulation for errors, before implementeing them in reality.

Gripper version 1 engaged and picking up the 3D printed brick.

FIGURE 5.5.2.19 (left, top)

Gripper version 2 engaged and picking up the cast concrete brick.

FIGURE 5.5.2.20 (left, bottom)

Brick corbelling tested with three 3D printed bricks.

FIGURE 5.5.2.21 (right, top)

Vertical brick stacking tested with three 3D printed bricks.

FIGURE 5.5.2.22 (right, middle) Brick corbelling tested with five cast concrete bricks.

FIGURE 5.5.2.23 (right, bottom) 178

179

BRICK CONVEYOR Initially, the assembly experiments consisted on unique pickup locations for each brick. This works well in brick assemblies with a few bricks, but to scale up this process to larger assemblies, the pick-up location needs to be the same for all the bricks. To facilitate this, we designed a conveyor system. It is a ramp sloped at an angle of 24 degrees. Additional bricks can be loaded from the top end and they slide into position to the front end as the bricks in front get picked by the robot. As a prototype, we made a small conveyor of length 703 millimeters, that can hold a maximum of four bricks. The grasshopper script was adjusted to have a singular pick up location, from the the front end of the conveyor ramp.

Conveyor ramp tested digitally.

FIGURE 5.5.2.24 (left) 180

5.5.3 MANUAL ASSEMBLY

Conveyor ramp feeder logic embeddd in the RAPID code and tested with the robot.

FIGURE 5.5.3.1 (top)

Brick 2.0 corbelling pattern.

FIGURE 5.5.3.2 (bottom)

The brick 2.0 was designed to be assembled quickly and manually. Due to its straightforward way of assembling, a stacking strategy with minimum use of blueprints or drawings is evolved. This also brings affordability in design in terms of time and low labor cost. Images below demonstrates the process of manual assembly of bricks to create a hexagonal slab with the corbelling technique as in the image. Likewise, the second series of image shows the manual assembly process of hexagonal enclosure without using any scaffolding. 181

Physically testing corbelling behaviour in cast bricks.

FIGURE 5.5.3.3 (left)

Physically testing corbelling behaviour in cast bricks.

FIGURE 5.5.3.4 (right) 182

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5.5.4 DIGITAL ASSEMBLY First series of iteration stacking was made in Rhino digital software. The digital assembly process of brick is sequenced as “design of brick”, “testing of digital stacking” and correspondingly “exploring various geometries”. This feedback loop is obtained from digital assembly process contributes geometric capability of our dry stacking bricks. Images below demonstrates some different digital assembly strategies that results with various structures such as columns, slabs, cantilevers.. etc. In the first example, hexagonal brick 2.0 are evenly distributed on top of bricks below them to create hexagonal slab to carry upper floors. Likewise, same strategy is used in laying of hexagonal brick 2.1 with a result of triangular slab as in the second example. Moreover, the third image is an example of how brick 2.0 can be layered as building cantilevers. In the example five, it is shown that if brick 2.0 is laid as rotating 60 degree in each layer, bricks naturally creates a spiral which becomes a part of curvy wall.

EXAMPLE 1

EXAMPLE 2 Digital assembly examples.

FIGURE 5.5.4.1 (left, right) 184

EXAMPLE 3

EXAMPLE 4

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Column Type

FIGURE 5.5.4.2

Wall Type

FIGURE 5.5.4.3

Truss Type

FIGURE 5.5.4.4 186

Column + Corbelling

FIGURE 5.5.4.5

Vault type 1

FIGURE 5.5.4.6

Big Corbelling

FIGURE 5.5.4.7 187

Vault Type 2

FIGURE 5.5.4.8

Vault Type 3

FIGURE 5.5.4.9

Column + Corbelling Type

FIGURE 5.5.4.10 188

Floor - Stairs and Roof Type 1

FIGURE 5.5.4.11

Vault type 1 + Vault type 2

FIGURE 5.5.4.12

V Column + Corbelling

FIGURE 5.5.4.13

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5.6 TENSION MEMBERS

The idea of utilizing tension cable during fabrication process was implemented. This idea was derived from the fabrication process often used by the late Dieste. He often used what he called pre-tension tendons, which would hold the shell structure together and apply tension before they could be finalized in form with concrete, mortar and outer layer of bricks. By implementing this fabrication method, people can build structures without any formwork, with very little to no planning in advance. The tension cables would group together a set of masonry units at the bottom, which act as the anchor weight. Then another set of bricks piled on top of this would also be fastened with the tension cable, and so they can be held mid-air without formwork. Once this process is repeated and the structure is finished, the overall structure is held together firmly by the tension cable running through the entire structure, increasing its structural performance and its resistance to seismic load. 190

Tension cable running through the structure to enable construction/assembly without formwork.

FIGURE 5.6.0.1 (left, top)

This model was inspired by Calatravaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tension study model, and was used to understand and test how our structure could be assembled using tension cable.

FIGURE 5.6.0.2vv(right)

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ARCHITECTURAL MANIFESTATION 6.1 GAME TO ARCHITECTURE 6.2 DESIGN OPTIONS

198 200

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6.1 GAME TO ARCHITECTURE After the game is played, the game units are translated into rooms and shared areas. Then they are organized into their respective sharing groups with better circulation and access, Each group node becomes a unit volume, and arches become the bay for each unit, allowing stacking and hanging of unit structures.Like this each floor is built, and the shared volume in the corner of the block becomes the communal volume of space.

Sequence of transition from gameplay to architecture.

FIGURE 6.1.0.1 198

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6.2 DESIGN OPTIONS 6.2.1 CONSTRUCTION PROCESS First, at grid intervals, the structural bases are constructed as anchor weights. By drystacking the flatbricks, each arch bay is constructed according to unit volume.Then column structures using corbelling method are constructed for structural strength and enhanced load capacity.When the upper living units are hung from the arches, while the lower units are stacked on top of them, it enables structural independency of living units â&#x20AC;&#x201C; allowing any of them 200

Sequence of transition from gameplay to architecture.

FIGURE 6.1.0.1

Sequence of on-site construction

FIGURE 6.2.1.1

201

Sequence of on-site construction

FIGURE 6.2.1.1 202

to be removed or added without affecting the other.This enables a flexible response to the gameplay result which can constantly shift boundaries over years.

6.2.2 HOUSING UNITS Each living module unit is assembled to reflect the spatial programme and sharing choices of the players. Bedrooms, bathrooms, and living rooms are installed into a bigger timber frame with detachable terraces.These frames come together to reflect the sharing choices between the players

Exploded axonometric views of the dwelling units.

FIGURE 6.2.2.1

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6.2.3 t-SNE PROGRAMMING FOR THE COMMUNAL AREAS The communal area is programmed according to the user profile information in the game system. t-SNE machine learning algorithm clusters data and provides dimensionality. We utilize this information to determine what kind of shared programmes are demanded by the residents.

t-SNE clusters defining the programme of the communal spaces.

FIGURE 6.2.3.1

Evolved design options

FIGURE 6.2.3.2 (pg 205-207) 204

OPTION I - PERSPECTIVE S C A L E 1 : 200

O P T I O N II - P E R S P E C T I V E S C A L E 1 : 200

205

O P T I O N III - P E R S P E C T I V E S C A L E 1 : 200

O P T I O N IV - P E R S P E C T I V E S C A L E 1 : 200

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DOME OPTION - PERSPECTIVE S C A L E 1 : 100

CIRCULATION S C A L E 1 : 100

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SCALE Design options for the dwelling units

FIGURE 6.2.3.3 208

ITS

E 1 : 100

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Rendershot of the building

FIGURE 6.2.3.4 210

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Rendershot of the building

FIGURE 6.2.3.5 212

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APPENDIX 7.1 LONDONERS' VIEW ON CO-HOUSING 7.2 FINAL JURY COMMENTS 7.3 BIBLIOGRAPHY

218 220 228

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7.1 LONDONERS' VIEW ON CO-HOUSING We collected interviews with people in London and learnt their insights on the housing situation in London and how they perceive co-housing in general. The answers formed the connecting dots for our thesis. The interviews were collected by Itzu Wang, Salih Ege Savci, Huiyuan Leland Li, Chenyun Tong and Luna Wang and final edits were made by Itzu Wang.

Screenshots from the interviews obtained from the people of London regarding co-housing in the city.

FIGURE 7.1.0.1 218

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7.2 FINAL JURY COMMENTS 7.2.1 FINAL JURY PANEL Melike Altinisik: Melike Altinisik is the Founder and Design Principal of Melike Altinisk Architects - MAA. She is an award-winning architect, designer and educator, who is dedicated to develop an innovative approach towards architecture, urbanism and design. Her work aims to develop the relational thinking capabilities of the architecture in its relation with design technologies. Her work includes prize winning projects such as Istanbul Camlica TV and Radio Tower(Istanbul, Turkey - Under Construction). Prior to forming her practice in Istanbul, she has worked in London as a Lead Architect with Zaha Hadid Architects (2006-2013). She received a Master of Architecture and Urbanism from the Architectural Association Design Research Laboratory, AADRL (2006) in London and a Bachelor or Architecture from the Istanbul Technical University, ITU (2003) in Istanbul with High Honours. Ross Lovegrove: Ross Lovegrove is a designer and visionary who's work is considered to be at the very apex of stimulating a profound change in the physicality of the three dimensional world. Inspired by logic and beauty of nature, his designs possess a trinity between technology, material science and inteligent organiz form, creatinf what many industrial leaders see as the new aesthetic expression for the 21st century. There is always embedded a deeply human and resourceful approach in his designs, which project an optimism, an innovative vitality in everything he touches from cameras to cars to trains, aviation and architecture. Claudia Pasquero: Claudia Pasquero graduated from Turin Polytechnic in 2000, and consequently completed the AA EE Master Programme. She is the co-founder of ecoLogicStudio and has working experience as an architect in international offices such as Ushida Findlay Partnership and Erick Van Egerat Architects. She took part in the London and Venice Architectural Biennales with an installation called STEM and is co-director of Fibrous Structures Project. She has been teching and lecturing internationally including East London University, Turin Polytechnic, The Kingston University (London), UDLA (Puebla, Mexico City), IAAC (Barcelona), ITU (Istanbul), Bilgi University (Istanbul) and the Architecture Association (London). Robert R Neumayr: Rober R Neumayr studied architecture in Vienna and Paris and received a MSc in architecture from the Technical University Vienna completing MArch ar AADRL. After working with Will Alsop, ocean.uk and Zaha Hadid Architects in London and Vienna, he co-founded his practice unsquare.org. He is currently a lecturer at the Institute of Applied Arts in Vienna, coordinating a research group on Agent Based Semiology. Charles Walker: Charles Walker is Director at Zaha Hadid Architects in London. Previously, he was Associate Director at Ove Arup and Partners, where he founded with then Vice Chairman Cecil Balmond, in 200, the Advanced Geometry Unit, specialising in geometrically complex structures. Prior to that he was Director at boutique engineers Atelier One Ltd. He studied architecture at the University 220

of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada and then obtained a post graduate degree in structural engineering studies in London at the Imperial College Science, Technology and Medicine. Charles is Head of Programme in Architecture at the Royal College of Arts in London, since 2012. Prior to this he has been teaching at the Architecture Association School of Architecture, from 2003 to 2010. In 2011 Charles was Visiting International Professor in Emerging technologies at TU Munich. Philippe Morel: Philippe Morel is an architect and theorist and cofounder of E2CT Architecture and Design Research (2000). He is Associate Professor at the ENSA Paris-Malaquais where he directs the Digital Knowledge programme. He has previously taught at the Berlage Institute and at the AA (AADRL). He has a long lasting interest in the elaboration of a Theory of Computational Architecture and work as part of E2CT is a part of the permanent collections at the FRAC Centre and Centre Pompidou. He was written extensively, including the book Empiricism and Objectivity Architecture Investigations with Mathematica (2003-2004), subtitled A Coded Theory for Computational Architecture, exhibited at ScriptedByPurpose (Philadelphia, Sept. 2007), which is to be considered the first architecture theory book entirely written in code. Asbjorn Sondergaard: Asbjorn Sondergaard is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Odico Formwork Robotics, an advanced technology company focused at industrial scale development and application of architecture robotics. Odico has pioneered several breakthrough technologies in construction automation, working with international offices such as Zaha Hadid Architects. Studio Olafur Eliasson, Bjarke Ingels Group and 3XN Architects to apply its technologies in innovative construction projects in Dubai, Denmark, norway and London within a period of four years since its founding. The first Danish robotic company to become publicly held. Odico completed its IPO on NASDAQ first North in July, 2018, paving the way for large scale industrilisation of its robotic manufacturing concept. As an architecture researcher working in the field of digital fabrication in its relation to architecture design Asbjorn Sondergaard is exploring the coupling of structural optimisation through topology optimisation and realisation of high-performance structures using robotic fabrication. Moritz Dorstelmann: Moritz Dorstelmann is managing partner of FibR GmbH (www.fibr.tech), a specialist company for computational design and robotic fabrication of bespoken fibre composite structures, wgich enables the xploration of a novel design and construction repertoire for expressive high-performance lightweight structures. His work on digital fabrication technology provides societal relevant solutions for resource efficient manufacturing and architecture construction and explores integrative computational design methods as interface and catalyst for interdisciplinary collaboration. He is a registered architect. After graduation with distinction from the master class of Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna he then developed the underlying digital design and fabrication strategies of his work during seven years of research at the the university of Stuttgart, the Technical University of Munich and Harvard University. 221

7.2.2 THE CONVERSATION Moritz Dorstelmann: Before we move to the architectural manifestation, the larger societal question would be “Do we want to sacrifice social mixture and conflict for the better sake of the better look of local community?” And to this point I understand it is currently not working, because someone would not just begin talking with somebody next door, and be meeting them in the afternoon and so on. So this doesn’t work in the current model. But the current regulations aim for social mixture. And what you are also proposing is more continuous communities, which therefore actually create more continual local community. So when we use this to generate the communities, the other democratic institutions strong enough to not only excel better but also in social exchanges (…) to generate this search in purpose (…) I’m really realising myself that when the more far right-wing parties get stronger in Germany, that this working for the poor will not be realised, because some people I know, like Patrik, is not aware of all the social double in proposals like this. And I don’t think this is even enhanced with the model you are proposing. So this is the larger social question. Do we want to have better local communities and then a larger segregation at society level. Taeyoon Kim: Well, we are not proposing for the sole homogeneity of the local community, and certainly not one where it starts to become an isolated group that hangs out by themselves so to speak. But what we were planning to generate was more of an urban model close to Barcelona, where people can basically come out in the evening, and enjoy their social gatherings in the local community, which helps them blend together, and become better blended as a larger, whole community. Robert Neumayr: There’s a natural tendency of segregation in the urban space, in order to look at a segregation model that over time, without somebody or some kind of engine driving people to cluster and connect and make it heterogenous, that people over time segregate (…) that happens over time. You are kind of pre-empting this by setting up an engine that starts it in the first place, it is a segregation acceleration engine. I am saying that in the most neutral way, I am not really for or against that. But it is okay thinking of that kind of research as well. Because the question obviously means that, the model what’s describing it, at some point, that will happen in that community any way will be my hunch. Ross Lovegrove: I think community is community. When you first presented, I thought it is really clear, the focus clearly is on expanding density and expanding spatial perception (…). I got very drawn to the kind of very linear cell relation of your architecture. That, that for me I find very interesting. But I think you kind of lost it by trying to relate it to the sort of London brick condition. I think that goes completely against your idea of spatial expansion, because this just is using too much mass. I mean I don’t find the result connected to 222

the concept, unless on the same point, this is the perfect project to go against its urban environment to be incredibly thin - a new level of thinness and transparency - and that by definition will attract whoever it is it needs to attract. The most interesting voice that you collected is the old lady who accepted the fact that she lived in the row houses and is fine with her own way. I don’t think you have embraced enough the demographic ‘people’ ratio. There are needs, people who need loneliness, people who need to co-work, I think someone needs to put them all together rather than separating them. Patrik Schumacher: I think, you really are sort of re-creating the Eco-Chamber phenomena (…) But I think it is very important to be relativized, because in the absence of this, what we have is just individual isolation, and before we had all these Eco-chamfer, we had very little (community mix) and I think this is a very powerful and very strong model, which I think is building on the social media dating style processes and we have to have the architecture match that up. We are also currently breaking up the current model of prescriptive family units and make private spaces smaller, (…) and that’s starting to become a model. And, I’m saying the brick, in theory particularly with the no-mortar tiling leads to some flexibility and openness. You should show also, previous models that were criticized, and what was said about it being too much mass, what was cast and talked about and later show some modularity model which (…) you can either start by kind of smaller individual modules (…) that you got this larger model which kind of has this shoe-boxes, that hasn’t been critically discussed. The other thing which is quite disappointing maybe is, when you end up privileging top-down planning (…) you end up with these two row houses and when you talked about pre-planning the corners into a communal space, it lacked (…) In a whole system that comes out of gameplay, when I talk about bottom-up building, one would expect a more porous sponge-like building with smaller communal spaces which closely link multiple spaces, not one outer big space. I think there is something that you have to reflect on the, let’s say, algorithmic transformation of evaluation that I find problematic, but overall I think this is a brilliant agenda, I think you’ve put a lot of (effort) with developing the game, the characters, their requirements, the evaluation matrix, the build-up. The question I had was when you run these scenarios, is it you, yourself who takes turn generate twenty different characters (…) or is it an algorithmic self-play, how have you done that? Bhavatarini Kumaravel: As for the iterations, it is more like selfplay, we had ten kinds of household types which we took from the metrics of England, and for each of the iterations we had specific proportions that we brought from London, like 30 percent of couples or 40 percent of singles, and for each, I personally setup characters for each player and by logic I decided where they would situate themselves, if say he is a college student, he would situate himself close to college students. 223

Patrik Schumacher: You tried to take perspective of each player, and you made them move round and round. Fair enough. Robert Neumayr: I think that the spaces that you end up, the information lies in the final design process, whereas I think one might have expected (…) what would have been possibly a combinatorial outcome out of this. I think this is interesting in a way, when I came here in first, I kind of knew Shajay is doing housing, and in the introduction, about technology, and when I was seeing this (the bricks), I was kind of wondering, what kind of scale that would be right? It could be an object or it could be any scale. It took me a while for me to realize, that is (…) going to end up being the capital of this column, which I find to be interesting and surprising at the same time. Only I think, that it is very interesting for you to set up this as a concept of living, and the way you setup the game is also very interesting and I think when you presented I think it looked in one perspective, to take the first part of the research for its own merit, because I think that has really a lot of potential, when you are showing these kind of configurations whether with hexagons or triangles, I think one could easily relate that really kicking off as a concept of housing (…) it necessarily needs to be combined with the material research which I think (…) won’t stop exploring different shapes and sizes, which I’m sure you have done that and you ended up with this, which I also really interesting, but I’m not really convinced that the point is being to get really together to form one design proposal. Patrik Schumacher: It’s usually working from form to program and now you started with program then form. And if you start and don’t know if they are going to match, and they don’t match then…basically you’re fucked. Shajay Bhooshan: First I’d like to congratulate you on the game aspects of it. Significantly more evolved from what we expected at the beginning in terms of working out the software and the various technological aspects including app interface, Facebook, social algorithms and so on. In any way that is indeed your significant contribution from our perspective and what we will take over to the next year. It’s definitely that. But in terms of architecture side I still think that it was a valid effort to match off the game design and some kind of spatial and architectural language – because without which it is just an app, and it cannot be played spatially. So I believe with a few more iterations we could have worked in the stacking aspect with the framed arches and come up with a more (…) integration of the corbeled stone and brick architecture with stacking and the modular aspects of the rudimentary world that your game suggests. I agree with Patrik that’s the part where it’s falling short. But again (…) I think it is a significant progress and contribution to our studio, and I would like to thank you on that. Asbjorn Sondergaard: So, I think I would comment on the tectonic system that you are talking about and there appears to be a confu224

sion going on between your simulation model and the way it has been embodied and materialized. I am thinking that maybe I think we need to be rethinking that or getting that it in a different way. (It) could be to emphazize things on the energy use, that is to reconfigure your system after its being built, (…) you are considering a continuously evolving system, right, that will be bigger and bigger and probably and you had a lot of data going into the system, I saw that there is a top-down formation or linear formation of the spatial configuration once it’s there, and if you applied the same idea in the investigation of how the physical systems can be rebuilt, I think that would have possibly resulted in a coherence between them. But that said, I am also intrigued by the sort of, Gothic implementation of this modular system, I am fascinated by that. But I am thinking you need to do some of the investigation there in terms of reconfiguration, that would probably go in line of the construction processes in particular, what sort of construction processes could facilitate that. As for reconfiguration, there are macro robotic systems to consider in that area and we found that (…) in scenarios where you exchange modules, you can imagine, let’s say, smaller units that are constantly in a high mobile (state), rebuilding these modules. One of the essence here is that, we have, let’s say, a lot of analysis on how reconfigurability of a system can be operated. Maybe that would be something (…). Other than that I agree with Shajay and the rest of the panel, that this is a very stingy model, and that I subscribe to that idea that this could increase satisfaction but in the neighbourhood, can also create a very stronger division in the society, I think there are some possibilities that you might end up improving the current situation. Ross Lovegrove: I was just thinking that your spatialization is interesting, you know, when you (Asbjorn) mentioned macro, I was thinking about the micro and you know the fact that space has a value and you played that example of couple, they have a child and the space grows. You know, you don’t need to grow by a metre, you know, you could grow by a very micro level expansion. You know space has a value, and when you are sharing, you’ve got economics and which means when you selling or buying space, that is more interesting – the fact that you can sell space, at a very micro level – that would influence the way in which the architecture has to be adaptive. You’ve got all the ingredients, the cellular level, the non-mortar units which, I don’t know, for me, is not just about drawing columns. It is not so much into the gravitation of the material. I think that’s what I’m saying, if you take a board game, you wouldn’t buy Monopoly that is made out of concrete. So you know, that’s the relationship that I’m trying to open up to you (…) The end result even though I like it, if you plainly ask me where this building is located, I wouldn’t say Camden. Moritz Dorstelmann: I liked the idea if you think that model of the configuration on this micro scale, if you (...) detach it completely from the (...) idea it is kind of a membrane structure that can expand and, its definitely happening real time, that could be quite amazing.. its less heatable than any of the space we are discussing here 225

but imagine some of is home some of its not home, you would think its start breathing, breathing up, maybe you pay more while you at home and it (...) again. If two are equal then they start negation. Obviously you can (...) circulation space it could be radically breathing Then they could talk about occupancy, that might be interesting but then the big question is how can that be materialise it forever. It has a lot of particular strategy leave outside and that could be quite strong. Patrik Schumacher: You don’t necessarily need to work to emphasize the physical boundaries and private enclosures – I think the strength is in the co-living, shared space condition in which you – it’s a bit like in an open office where you have de-territorialized occupancy. You still occupy – you might even book or you might even pay for personal table per day – so this is a way you can actually allocate sharing and not exclude the temporary occupancy. To manage that and have open texture of stasis indoor and outdoor to some extent – furnished with furniture and all but mostly it’s just about occupancy and allocation, which relies on more of a semiological way of how you indicate it to be occupied. I just don’t think that this idea of an open sponge like texture which shows on some of these models when you actually decide to distribute the void spaces more. And then there’s the circulation problem. That wasn’t convincing to me. I think the mixing in of private and shared spaces, when you zoom out, it can be seen that you thought too much about the private spaces and there was 50% that was already traditional private space and 10% shared, but that could be re-programmed. When these kind of container forms started to emerge, your model of geometric cells should be where you run this game on an open skeleton of cells, exoskeleton or where this could be applied to – that’s more to me the vision of your project. And that geometry could be spatialized. And also it would be in cross-sections. Theodore Spyropoulos: Just in my perspective anyway, I think a lot of the things you guys have set up as a brief have a lot of possibilities and potential, but I think realistically speaking, you shield away from actually using architecture to really provoke a kind of radical way of sort of instrumentalising that. I think the Project still sits for me at the high point when you are sort of using the game and the logic, and the thinking behind it. But I think you guys need to somehow look at the way that you are choosing to materialise it in a much more kind of a constructive way of thinking about this because all the comments meet to the certain idea of architecture being an adaptive model, but I think about how to creatively not only transform and reconfigure but also rethink actually how we use space on the daily kind of active way, real time. I think the gameplay sets up an argument for that, but it cannot become just a plain tool. It has to be something that materialises every day, something that people can really just creatively play with, and I think you have the intuition for that. But the parts of the Project that I wish you would push more forward is actually taking that game literally, almost like this Lightweight intervention of a space framing strategy marrying that with a kind of (….) with the standard of more heavy 226

approach of the fix and the finite and really starting to find a way of creatively finding this kind of territory and I think that could be pushed forward Metabolist attitude and all of this kind of things in a much more contemporary way. I have tried to encourage you to do that but, I think at the heart you have been resistant for reasons I have no idea. But I will put it to you this way. I think that the brief and the set-up is basically what you design, and I think that like a lot of these projects that you sort of put out there, are half-baked. And I think realistically speaking, I can only encourage you to sort of continue those things. Once you discover these things, these things should become things that obsessively pre-occupy you to try and find ways of pushing these things forward. One of these things I’m really interested is the coming to a conclusion today which is a new beginning for you guys to think about how some of these tools and things can actually influence the practice today. But I can only say that you have to somehow take some risk in where architecture in your project resides. And I think these final renderings… for me personally, I would kill them and start … meaning like…. Every time that we do these things they always become these kinds of bastard children… and it’s only one we sort of creatively kind of continuously re-work them, we really sort of discover something super novel. I think you have that possibility, we always felt that, and I think we still do. and I can only sort of tolerate you should continue the project because I don’t think it’s at the point where you feel that the architecture as its manifestation actually does justice to a lot of the ideas you have. I’m not going to say that always as a critique. I’m going you say that as challenge for you guys to sort of continue and sort of make balance things actually as provoking as the game. Can you build that plan simulation in a way that the architecture somehow really adapts in that form. And it’s kind of an amazing really contemporary way of you thinking all of this. And that is the challenge. the Challenge is not to work to practice as it is. Because to be honest with you the that thesis is not interesting at all. You need to be sort of provoking the next generation of ideas. And you tentatively sort of played around with that when it came to the building. And I’m just saying make your game the building, literally.

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7.3 BIBLIOGRAPHY 01 THESIS Intro | AA DRL | Architecture and Urbanism MArch (DRL) – AA School. Accessed September 6, 2018. http://drl.aaschool.ac.uk/about/. “Graduate School.” In AA Prospectus 2017-18, by Architectural Association School of Architecture, C12. London: AA Print Studio. Thomsen et al. 2015 Adriaenssens et al. 2016 Anon 2015 Reinhardt et al. 2016 The guardian 2016; jon earle & irene pereyra n.d.; IKEA 2017 Bardakci & Whitelock 2003 Chong et al. 2009; Gann 1996 Steele 2006 Autopoesis of residential community, (Schumacher 2002) Talkington, B. E., President, V., & Plowman, D. (2016) Strategy, H. (2017) Data _ Urban Age. (2018.). LSE Cities Rees. Peter Wynne, E. P. (2012)

GAME RESEARCH Board Game Cut-ups - Hexagons”, Studio Moniker, accessed Sept 8, 2018, https://vimeo.com/274850746 Chain Reaction – Apps on Google Play. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2018, from https://play.google.com/store/apps/ details?id=com.BuddyMattEnt.ChainReaction&hl=en_ GB Chain Reaction Classic on the App Store. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2018, from https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ chain-reaction-classic/id945592570?mt=8

URBAN RESEARCH “Barcelona Urban Development and Change.” Barcelona Field Studies Centre, geographyfieldwork.com/BarcelonaUrbanDetail.htm.

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Burry, Mark 2013. Bausells, 2016. “Plan Cerda.” Barcelona, historyofbarcelona.weebly. com/plan-cerda.html.

FABRICATION RESEARCH Latteur P., Goessens S., J.S. Breton, J. Leplat, Ma Z., Mueller C., Drone-based Additive Manufacturing of Architectural Structures. IASS Congress, Amsterdam, August 2015 http://gramaziokohler.arch.ethz.ch/web

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