Papers by Andrzej Zarzycki
Form-making in architecture: performance and simulation based design approach
Recent developments in digital design have brought new tectonic freedom into architecture. These ... more Recent developments in digital design have brought new tectonic freedom into architecture. These innovative forms break away from the traditional or modernistic framework. In turn, they often relate to contemporary developments in other design disciplines, such as product design. Emerging tectonic trends, combined with research into new material and fabrication technologies, make it possible to purse imaginative designs that were
This paper uses a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) device with multiple building materials to ... more This paper uses a Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) device with multiple building materials to provide guidance for developing an autonomous robotics-friendly environment. The results demonstrate various materials that not only provide missing data, such as for clear glass, but also can provide inaccurate data, a dangerous situation in the context of indoor autonomous mobility. Finally, the paper proposes ideas for how designers can compromise between the materials they would like to use while facilitating the necessary information for an autonomous vehicle. OVERVIEW Recent developments in autonomous navigation for self-driving vehicles have brought to light the issues around infrastructure and technological limitations in the context of the built environment. The role of architects and designers is becoming increasingly important in providing an appropriate interface for the successful integration of people and autonomous agents in buildings and cities. In order to facilitate autonomous navigation, the infrastructure can play a vital role in increasing both the rate of deployment and the safety associated with machines interpreting the world we live in. One of the key instruments used in autonomous navigation is the Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensor, a device that uses the reflection of a laser beam to accurately measure the distance between itself and the object the beam hits. While in most cases this technique provides accurate data, a variety of surfaces can cause errors in these measurements. In the façade of a building or the interior hallways, the materials used in designing spaces can have a drastic effect on the accuracy and ease of sensing the environment. It is therefore in the architects' and designers' interest to understand the relationship between the common building materials and LIDAR functionality.
This paper investigates localization and guidance systems as important future considerations for ... more This paper investigates localization and guidance systems as important future considerations for autonomous mobility within the built environment. Specifically, it looks at embedding magnets within building construction assemblies, using magnetic sensors for autonomous navigation, and understanding the impact construction materials may have on magnetic-field-based localization and guidance systems of autonomous agents.
When considering architectural and urban responses to autonomous mobility, it becomes evident tha... more When considering architectural and urban responses to autonomous mobility, it becomes evident that the future strategies will have to include a significant transformation to the built environment, particularly the ways it operates and interacts with inhabitants. Designers will not only need to rethink formal and functional arrangements but also, and perhaps primarily, consider the environment-buildings and cities-as active and equal actors with adaptive and autonomous behaviors similarly to those people or self-driving cars manifest. This paper discusses initial planning and design strategies for the integration of autonomous vehicles and other forms of autonomous mobility into the built environment. Specifically, it looks into necessary steps required to develop infrastructure to a level of autonomy that can facilitate a next generation of wayfinding and mobility. A growing research area into smaller personal mobility vehicles that would revolutionize elderly and disabled mobility brings to the light the major technical challenges present in current building infrastructure.
This paper discusses and demonstrates an integration of embedded electronic systems utilizing dis... more This paper discusses and demonstrates an integration of embedded electronic systems utilizing distributed sensors and localized actuators to increase the adaptability and environmental performance of a building envelope. It reviews state-of-the-art technologies utilized in other fields that could be adopted into smart building designs. The case studies adopt the Internet of Things (IoT) framework based on machine-to-machine (M2M) communication protocols as a potential solution for embedded building systems. stract here by clicking this paragraph.
BIM in Current and Future Practice, 2015
Despite the myth of the heroic architect, popularized by Ayn Rand 's novel The Fountainhead , who... more Despite the myth of the heroic architect, popularized by Ayn Rand 's novel The Fountainhead , whose Howard Roark-like designs spring entirely from personal inspiration, architects and engineers need information to design buildings. Few people today question the needs of the clients and/or users so at least a rough program of activity spaces is usually embedded within the design process if it doesn 't precede the actual building design. But there is a lot more information that helps architects make decisions during the design process. While it may not be possible to know everything involved in the design and construction processes prior to the completion of a building, there are assumptions that having information is better than not having it, that informed decisions are better than uninformed ones, and that design is a knowledge-based activity. If one does not object to designing with information that includes maximizing building performance, budgeting, and material optimizations, then building information modeling (BIM), almost by defi nition, has the potential to improve the products and processes of architectural design. Building information modeling provides the implied promise of integrating all types of needed data into one fi le or model (perhaps with separate but linked fi les with easy bilateral information transfer). While the fulfi llment of that promise depends, in part, on both the pace of commercial software development and academic researchers, any current lack of a single integrated information model is not a reason to avoid the process. Furthermore, as long as there are competing products for use by architects, the FIGURE 1.2 Parametric variations of the column and space frame connection detail. (Images by George Ricardo Miller. Designed, modeled, and rendered with Autodesk Revit. Grayscale conversion and image processing with Adobe Photoshop and/or Corel PaintShop Pro)
BIM and the Predesign Process: Modeling the Unknown
BIM in Current and Future Practice, 2015
ABSTRACT Many architects and engineers regard BIM as a disruptive force, changing the way buildin... more ABSTRACT Many architects and engineers regard BIM as a disruptive force, changing the way building professionals design, build, and ultimately manage a built structure. With its emphasis on continuing advances in BIM a research, teaching, and practice, Building Information Modeling: BIM in Current and Future Practice encourages readers to transform disruption to opportunity and challenges them to reconsider their preconceptions about BIM. Thought leaders from universities and professional practice composed essays exploring BIM's potential to improve the products and processes of architectural design including the structure and content of the tools themselves. These authors provide insights for assessing the current practice and research directions of BIM and speculate about its future. The twenty-six chapters are thematically grouped in six sections that present complementary and sometimes incompatible positions.
Journal of Architectural Education, 2014
Architectural Science Review, 2015
The discourse within the public realm and, to some extent, the physical shape of the urban spaces... more The discourse within the public realm and, to some extent, the physical shape of the urban spaces are defined by contemporary electronic culture. Electronic devices augment our daily lives and the ways we function within them. Distributed sensory networks connect individual data nodes into an interdependent system-organism that monitors its own behaviours as well as its participants. At the same time, individual users and their mobile devices extend these data networks through location-based and personal content to form user-centred data landscapes. Peer-to-peer user-powered networks allow for direct, yet often anonymous communication that leads to new forms of social participation. They provide unique opportunities for creativity and respond to our new expectations of globally connected, locally situated lives. This new urban dimension is enabled by ubiquitous mobile devices. Always connected, context-aware mobile devices serve as gateways into these multimodal data-infused landscapes. Social networks link individual users and form asynchronous spatially discontinuous community that challenges the conventional definition of the public realm. However, in contrast to past media environments, participants in these emerging e-landscapes are both recipients and agents operating within the single media culture-location continuum. Due to their bidirectional operability, mobile devices serve both as receivers and as originators of data.
This paper discusses applications of new media technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) to vi... more This paper discusses applications of new media technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) to visualization of heritage within urban settings.
A city as defined by aesthetic principles and compositional patterns no longer exists. Form is ou... more A city as defined by aesthetic principles and compositional patterns no longer exists. Form is out and interactions are in. Behavioral patterns stemming from individual preferences redefine what is commonly shared and agreed upon. Now
inhabitants not only live in the city; they author it with their daily activities, personal communications, and consumption patterns forming an intangible layer--the invisible city--of interconnected networks, momentary media presence,
and human-to-object interactions. This new dimension of the city puts in question past urban theories and organizing principles. This paper looks at the legacy of the past theories as well as new upcoming drives that will define urban frameworks in the future. It specifically identifies the emergence of identities, autonomous agents, and interconnected networks as formative elements of future
cities.
Contemporary video games such as Mass Effect or Assassin’s
Creed emerge as a new form of media an... more Contemporary video games such as Mass Effect or Assassin’s
Creed emerge as a new form of media and depart from traditional
games purely seen as problem-solving exercises. They are enjoyed
by a broader audience, similar to those of TV and cinema. At the same
time, they are significantly different from TV and cinema, since they
place the user at the centre of interaction and content creation.
This paper discusses the role of narratives in these new epic games as
the main driver behind their appeal and commercial success.
This paper discusses ways in which emerging interactive augmented reality (AR) technologies are b... more This paper discusses ways in which emerging interactive augmented reality (AR) technologies are being adopted by designers and extended into areas of tourism, education, entertainment and commerce. It discusses, in detail, project development stages and methodologies used to engage design focused students into, often complex, technological issues. The discussion is contextualized through a number of case studies of mobile and marker-based AR applications developed within the university curriculum.
This paper discusses ways emerging interactive technologies are adopted by designers and extended... more This paper discusses ways emerging interactive technologies are adopted by designers and extended into areas of design, education, entertainment, and commerce. It looks, in detail, at various project development stages and methodologies used to engage design focused students into, often complex,
technological issues. The discussion is contextualized through a number of case studies of mobile and marker-based augmented reality (AR) applications developed by students. These applications include an app for a fashion based
social event that allows participants to preview recent collection additions, an info-navigational app for the High Line elevated urban park in New York City, a marker-based maze game, and an interior decorating interface to visualize various furnishing scenarios. While a number of case studies will be discussed
from a developer perspective, the primary focus is on the concept and content development, interface design, and user participation.
This paper looks at two distinct approaches to kinetic façades and smart building assemblies remi... more This paper looks at two distinct approaches to kinetic façades and smart building assemblies reminiscent of designs for the Institut du Monde Arabe and for Hoberman's Simon Center. The first approach uses Arduino microcontroller-guided kinetic components with a distinct assemblage of elements, each performing a dedicated function such as sensor, actuator, or
logical processing unit. The second approach incorporates custom-designed smart materials-shape memory alloys (SMAs)-that not only complement or replace the need for electrically operated sensors or actuators, but also eliminate a microcontroller, since in this arrangement the material itself performs computational functions. The paper will discuss case studies that use physical computing and smart-material models as vehicles to discuss the value of each approach to adaptive design in architecture. Building on these observations, the
paper looks into conceptual aspects of an integrated hybrid system that combines both computation approaches and unique opportunities inherent to these hybrid designs.
This paper discusses the integration of physical and digital models in the context of building te... more This paper discusses the integration of physical and digital models in the context of building technology teaching. It showcases projects that explore the design possibilities of a chosen structural system with the use of parametric and behaviour-based
computational modelling. It uses detailed mock-ups as vehicles to study, optimize, and evaluate the design as well as to provide feedback for student learning and the direction in which future designers may engage computational design. Finally, it investigates digital-to-physical design translations, the importance of which becomes more and more critical in the context of the current, computer-intensive architectural education and professional practice.
Computer-based tools have changed the focus and modes of design thinking in architecture. While o... more Computer-based tools have changed the focus and modes of design thinking in architecture. While often criticized for its overemphasis on formal expressions and its pursuit of the spectacular, digital creativity has begun to take into account a multiplicity of design factors that define architecture.
These factors relate to performance simulation and analysis, constructability, and building information modelling (BIM). This paper discusses the use of physical and digital mock-ups in the context of building technology courses.
It uses these mock-ups as an important vehicle that provides students with a feedback mechanism regarding often digitally idealized creative thinking.
Formal mutations: pursuing unintended consequences
British anthropologist James Burke described the history of our civilization as a constant shapin... more British anthropologist James Burke described the history of our civilization as a constant shaping of tools by people, and consequentially shaping people and the way we think by the tools we create. This dictum is as relevant today as it was in the past and applies particularly well to digitally created art and design. In light of this observation, digital
Designing with constraints parametric BIM
While usually associated with the back-end of the design process (implementation), building infor... more While usually associated with the back-end of the design process (implementation), building information modeling (BIM) could also redefine the way design ideas are generated by bridging formal creativity with design and technological innovation. This is achieved through a close integration of generative tools with parametric capabilities and intelligent database-enriched digital objects.
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Papers by Andrzej Zarzycki
inhabitants not only live in the city; they author it with their daily activities, personal communications, and consumption patterns forming an intangible layer--the invisible city--of interconnected networks, momentary media presence,
and human-to-object interactions. This new dimension of the city puts in question past urban theories and organizing principles. This paper looks at the legacy of the past theories as well as new upcoming drives that will define urban frameworks in the future. It specifically identifies the emergence of identities, autonomous agents, and interconnected networks as formative elements of future
cities.
Creed emerge as a new form of media and depart from traditional
games purely seen as problem-solving exercises. They are enjoyed
by a broader audience, similar to those of TV and cinema. At the same
time, they are significantly different from TV and cinema, since they
place the user at the centre of interaction and content creation.
This paper discusses the role of narratives in these new epic games as
the main driver behind their appeal and commercial success.
technological issues. The discussion is contextualized through a number of case studies of mobile and marker-based augmented reality (AR) applications developed by students. These applications include an app for a fashion based
social event that allows participants to preview recent collection additions, an info-navigational app for the High Line elevated urban park in New York City, a marker-based maze game, and an interior decorating interface to visualize various furnishing scenarios. While a number of case studies will be discussed
from a developer perspective, the primary focus is on the concept and content development, interface design, and user participation.
logical processing unit. The second approach incorporates custom-designed smart materials-shape memory alloys (SMAs)-that not only complement or replace the need for electrically operated sensors or actuators, but also eliminate a microcontroller, since in this arrangement the material itself performs computational functions. The paper will discuss case studies that use physical computing and smart-material models as vehicles to discuss the value of each approach to adaptive design in architecture. Building on these observations, the
paper looks into conceptual aspects of an integrated hybrid system that combines both computation approaches and unique opportunities inherent to these hybrid designs.
computational modelling. It uses detailed mock-ups as vehicles to study, optimize, and evaluate the design as well as to provide feedback for student learning and the direction in which future designers may engage computational design. Finally, it investigates digital-to-physical design translations, the importance of which becomes more and more critical in the context of the current, computer-intensive architectural education and professional practice.
These factors relate to performance simulation and analysis, constructability, and building information modelling (BIM). This paper discusses the use of physical and digital mock-ups in the context of building technology courses.
It uses these mock-ups as an important vehicle that provides students with a feedback mechanism regarding often digitally idealized creative thinking.