Synthesis of Intelligence and Embodiment

Nicholas Negroponte’s quest to impart intelligence to machines has led architectural research to be focused on building quasi-living environments. At present these Quasi-Living environments are presently artificial but they behave like living entities which modify themselves in the surrounding landscape, they … Read More

Democratizing the production of architecture

Architecture is a pervasive presence in our lives. In fact, buildings are so ubiquitous that the general terms for position in English, ‘inside’ and ‘outside’, place us in constant reference to which side of architecture we are located (Zizek 2010), … Read More

To what extent can virtual reality and machines stimulate empathy?

Empathy plays crucial role in human society. We empathize with others when we share our personal experience with them. According to Adam Smith (1759), a man is aware of others in order to gain empathy from them, and by performing based on … Read More

Architectural evolutionary system based on Genetic Algorithms

Introduction:

Genetic Algorithms (GAs), a computational technique of evolution, recently have been used in architecture to solve the complicated functional and formal problems. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the advantages of GAs as an architectural design tool … Read More

Artificial Intelligence and Evolutionary Machines

How can high-level artificial intelligence emerge in architecture machines, which enable them to learn and evolve by themselves? Can we make use of machine intelligence to help us optimizing design solutions, or creating robust architecture machines that perform complex … Read More

The architecture of the ear and the design of soundscapes.

Title Image: Alvin Lucier – I am sitting in a room.

This literature review will be looking at Murray R. Schafer`s concept of soundscapes in relation to softness in architecture. I will, in relation to the text “Sound and … Read More

Optimal States of Consciousness for Immersion

Title Image: Baribican’s Rain Room – It’s raining, but you won’t get wet

Is immersion a unique or complex experience? Can immersive experiences appear in only specific space? If a person’s skills which can solve specific tasks in an environment … Read More

Adaptive Architecture & Spatial Management

Introduction

Architecture should be a “living, evolving thing.” John Frazer, a designer, educator and researcher, proposes it in the book ‘An Evolutionary Architecture (1995)’. For the traditional architecture, the building is an immutable entity space for human habitation. It is … Read More

Body Building

Architecture is defined by its users. This statement can raise many questions. One could be the relation defined between the architecture and the user and its definition. What is the connection between them? Is it only the user … Read More

Spatial Relations to The Mind

“The extended mind” claims that our environment is a part of mind, supposes a dynamic interaction system between individuals and environment (Clark and Chalmers, 1998). It is a common belief now that the mind is the activity of the brain. … Read More

Inside Out

Title image:Transient from Pablo Gnecco

The main method of non-verbal interaction between individuals and the environment is re-channeling, namely the ability of collecting the data from the subject and turn it into the signal that can be demonstrated by the medium … Read More

Press Play – Xuzhou

Tutors: William Bondin, Lin (Charlie) Zhang, Schichong Li, Sun Tong (Host) Location: China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT), Xuzhou, China

We’ve just finished the first workshop from the ‘Press Play’ series for 2016, this time in Jiangsu Province, China. The workshop was hosted … Read More

The Secret Life of Robots

Tutors: Ruairi Glynn, Vincent Huyghe The workshop took place at the Bartlett and was attended by the M.arch students of the IAL.

The workshop began with the fundamentals of industrial robots with a lecture outlining the theory and terminology followed by … Read More

Soft Bodies – Masters Brief 2015-16

We’ve just released this years brief for the Masters Students of The Interactive Architecture Lab 2015-16. Each year’s theme is intended to drive early research exploration and the development of core skills. However, the studio actively encourages students to break … Read More

‘Conscious’ Machines and Initiating Interaction

The idea of artificial intelligence refers back to the Turing Test for machine intelligence in 1950, introduced by Alan Turing in his paper ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence‘, the evaluator ask a question to the computer, the answer might be from … Read More

Flow and Immersion

For “optimal” experiences in an exhibition space, immersion experience can be considered an important element of communication between an exhibit media and visitors. I am  interested in a theory which is called ‘Flow theory’. In detail, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi(1992), an eminent … Read More

The Architecture of Consciousness

This article seeks to outline the mental construction of soft architecture and briefly illustrate why soft architecture is the architectural product of our consciousness.

The purpose of a line to serve as a boundary between space, whether that be … Read More

Behavior based design

The idea of soft architecture emerges from a  need to design intelligent and living environments. Structures that are autonomous  and exhibit properties of self preservation, regeneration  and adaptation to changing ecology. Brodey’s Soft Architecture talks about the design of intelligent … Read More