Design concept
Design concepts in architecture: the porosity paradigm
Sotirios D. Kotsopoulos
129 Franklin Street, # 203, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA; e-mail: skots@alum.mit.edu
Abstract: Presented is a paradigm of how a design concept can be converted into a system of production rules to generate designs. The rules are expressed by the means of shape grammar formalism. The paradigm demonstrates how porosity a concept transferred from biology, medicine and organic chemistry was implemented by architect Steven Holl and his team in designing the
350-unit student residence Simmons Hall at MIT. In the presentation, spatial algebras, rule schemata and shape rules are used to capture Holl’s version of porosity.
1 Introduction
“I depend entirely on concept diagrams, I consider them my secret weapon. They allow me to move afresh from one project to the next, from one site to the next.”
(Holl, 2002, page 73).
Steven Holl one of the most influential contemporary American architects, acknowledges his dependence on open-ended conceptual frames rather than on the existing building morphologies or typologies. The notion of a “concept” suggested by Holl coincides with the notion of “design concept” that is used in this paper. Presented is a paradigm of how a design concept set forth at the early stage of the design process can take generative expression: it can be converted into a system of production rules to produce architectural designs. The production rules are expressed by the means of shape grammar formalism.
The presented paradigm demonstrates how porosity a concept transferred from medicine, biology and organic chemistry, was implemented by architect Holl and his team in designing the 350-unit student residence Simmons Hall at MIT. In this presentation, spatial algebras, rule schemata and shape rules are used to capture Holl’s tectonic-urban version of porosity by capturing the actions performed during the implementation of
Simmons Hall. It is
Sotirios D. Kotsopoulos
129 Franklin Street, # 203, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA; e-mail: skots@alum.mit.edu
Abstract: Presented is a paradigm of how a design concept can be converted into a system of production rules to generate designs. The rules are expressed by the means of shape grammar formalism. The paradigm demonstrates how porosity a concept transferred from biology, medicine and organic chemistry was implemented by architect Steven Holl and his team in designing the
350-unit student residence Simmons Hall at MIT. In the presentation, spatial algebras, rule schemata and shape rules are used to capture Holl’s version of porosity.
1 Introduction
“I depend entirely on concept diagrams, I consider them my secret weapon. They allow me to move afresh from one project to the next, from one site to the next.”
(Holl, 2002, page 73).
Steven Holl one of the most influential contemporary American architects, acknowledges his dependence on open-ended conceptual frames rather than on the existing building morphologies or typologies. The notion of a “concept” suggested by Holl coincides with the notion of “design concept” that is used in this paper. Presented is a paradigm of how a design concept set forth at the early stage of the design process can take generative expression: it can be converted into a system of production rules to produce architectural designs. The production rules are expressed by the means of shape grammar formalism.
The presented paradigm demonstrates how porosity a concept transferred from medicine, biology and organic chemistry, was implemented by architect Holl and his team in designing the 350-unit student residence Simmons Hall at MIT. In this presentation, spatial algebras, rule schemata and shape rules are used to capture Holl’s tectonic-urban version of porosity by capturing the actions performed during the implementation of
Simmons Hall. It is
References: Gero, J. S. (1998). Concept formation in design, Knowledge-Based Systems 10 (7-8): 429-435 Holl, S. (2002). Idea and Phenomena, Lars Muller Publishers, p. 73 Holl, S Knight, T. (2005). Creativity . Rules. In Proceedings of HI '05 Sixth International Roundtable Conference on Computational and Cognitive Models of Creative Design, Schön, D. A. (1990). Educating the Reflective Practitioner. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco Schön, D Stiny, G. (2006). Shape: Talking about seeing and doing. The MIT Press, Massachusetts Ullman, D