Algorithmic Design and Construction Management: Apple Developer Academy-Main Classroom, from concept to realization (full case history)
This research describes the author’s experience in the design of the collaborative spaces of the Apple iOS Developer Academy (Naples). The intent is to explore the new frontiers of BIM using algorithmic tools to manage the formal and informative features of the project.
Behind DiARC (Department of Architecture “Federico II”) & Apple iOS Developer Academy
Nowadays, the design is considered as a specific methodological approach, activated by several actors and mediated at the same time digitally. It is characterized by programmatic intentionality able to manage the “complexity” of the modern era to provide an effective response to specific needs and requirements of the context in which this praxis is explicit. Using the words of the researcher Rivka Oxman: «define the characteristics and unique properties of design that are emerging in new forms of digital design processes». In practice, the new process that characterizes the digital era is a concept that restricts considerably the technical gap between concept (meta-project) and manufacturing (production) thanks to the design model.
The basic characters that enhance the meaning of “model” today are basically two: parameter and algorithm. They represent the true rediscovery of the conceptual and constructive design practice, because “IT progress”, with its pervasiveness in professional practice is increasingly aiming to greater computational processes going beyond mere automation.
This research wants to deal with this “cultural ground” through the technological design consultancy provided by DiARC (Department of Architecture) concerning the design experience related to the scientific and technological cooperation contract stipulated between Apple International Distribution and the University of Naples “Federico II”. The importance of focusing on design issues, in the digitization perspective, is showed in some critical steps related to the optimization of design information associated with the seating system that characterize the Main Classroom of the Apple iOS Developer Academy in San Giovanni a Teduccio — Naples.
The object was focused on the placement of 200 seats that had to function as an arena with a collaborative and laboratory room for the Academy.
This case history is a small-scale project that wants to demonstrate the “flexible” use of the B.I.M. assisted by advanced digital design tools such as Visual Programming Language (VPL) platforms for algorithmic design and the cloud platforms for data sharing (flux.io), both valid tools to implement the informative level of the project thanks to an operative cross-platform perspective.
Italian technological innovation in the AEC industry still shows some reticence in the adoption of B.I.M. philosophy, but the introduction of more explicit and restrictive rules of the new Codice degli Appalti e delle Concessioni could benefit the design paradigm-shift. However, in professional consultancy practices, we usually enter productive realities in which the time variable plays a decisive role and, for this reason, the approach to design tends to consolidate techniques and methods acquired in the practical and working dimension of the same company. Although, on one hand, there are slowdowns to internalize the B.I.M. philosophy, on the other hand, there is a strong specialization of professional roles aimed to fill this gap of skills and tools.
In the digital revolution the parametric modelling, intrinsic to the nature of B.I.M philosophy, represents a keyword of the digitization processes. The chance of reducing the virtual distance between the “place of representation” and the “place of calculation” (parametric control), placing more emphasis on the form and content to the 3D model.
Technical formalization of design requirements: the algorithm
Considering this cultural context, the discretization in the concept phase of the distribution of the seats has allowed simplifying each seat installation phase. The technical features of the seat were decisive to satisfy each functional requirement previously described. The choice of a swivel-seat model, with a “realignment mechanism”, allows the seats to return to their initial position. This technical feature proved to be effective to the learning methods because it can make the independent orientation of the seats possible favouring the organization of any independent working-spot within the same room. The realignment of the seats, also without students, has allowed to tidy up the Main Classroom naturally and direct the seats towards the speakers’ area (stage), allowing students to watch the displays placed all around the room. The design of the seats, and their spatial-geometric configuration, has enhanced a dynamic and formally expressive architectural language. The positioning of the multicolour-seats distributed along specific pseudo-elliptical orbits followed the “hot-cold” colour gradient according to their distance from the stage. Finally, the technical-constructive feature, strongly considered through the algorithmic design to support the B.I.M. model, was that of tracing the position of the fixing holes (4 holes, f 12 mm) of the chosen seat-model on the ground. The position of these holes defines the “zero” of the angular orientation of each seat towards the stage. The workflow illustrated is a schematic diagram of the chosen solution shared with all the other professional roles involved.
The basic steps (Step 1–5) that have bettered the information level of the BIM model, are described below.
Step 1 — Transfer and modelling of the manufacturer’s CAD drawing by Revit. Creation of a “family — metric furniture” called “iOS3 chair” that allows the customization of the material assigned to the seat, its back and its armrests, setting up “instanced shared parameters” related to: the identification code of each seat, the positioning of the fixing holes and, finally, the angular value towards the stage. This information can be seen in the datasheet of the object “iOS3 chair” indexed under the heading: “Division Geometry”. The so-called “metric furniture — family” has been imported but not spatially positioned within the B.I.M. model of the entire university complex of San Giovanni a Teduccio.
Step 2 — Design of an algorithm in Rhinoceros and Grasshopper environment that automates the following actions: A) getting the centroids of the “iOS3 chair” from the seat-2D model CAD distribution scheme; B) customization of the material/colour related to the seat ID-number; C) positioning and orientation towards the stage of each chair-object; D) tracing of the “relative coordinates” of each fixing hole.
Step 3 — Design of algorithm in Revit and Dynamo environment that automates the following actions: A) acquisition and selection of every “type of iOS3 chair” (variants of the same family-model) from the B.I.M. model; B) acquisition via cloud (flux.io data-sharing platform) of all data related to the material/colour assigned to the seats as well as their correct position to be transferred to the B.I.M. model; C) orientation of the seats according to the extension of a reference line as the main axis of the auxiliary reference systems within the B.I.M. model; D) transfer via cloud of the spatial coordinates of the reference line;
To clarify the methodology applied to the proposed solution, it is necessary to specify that the execution of Step 2 and Step 3 occurred simultaneously. Through the algorithm in Dynamo the exact value of the spatial coordinates of the Main Classroom has been transferred, via cloud, directly to the “receptor” algorithm defined in Grasshopper. This last one has re-computed the space distribution system of the seats implementing the “iOS3 chair” dataset and, through Dynamo, returning it to the B.I.M. model.
Step 4 — Documentation: “scheduling” and printing of the illustrative diagrams useful for the installation of the seats.
By implementing the technical information related to the chair-object in the B.I.M. environment, a technical “filtered” schedule has been generated according to the ID-number of the seats and the colour of their fabrics. For each chair-object (instance) the sequence of information useful for the installation of the “iOS3 chair” has been highlighted, such as: coordinates (x, y) and size of the 4 holes, as well as the “zero” angle which orients the seats towards the stage. The printing phase was characterized by the choice of a very practical solution strongly linked to the project timeline.
Step 5 — Layouts of the seats distribution scheme printing in 1: 1 scale. This action is the result of an algorithm designed in Rhinoceros and Grasshopper environment (Figure 7) to optimize the size and the tags of all the printed sheets. This algorithm has spread out useful information about the correct positioning sequence of the printed sheets through self-determined coordinates related to the auxiliary cartesian reference system showed in the installation diagrams.
Experimental results
From the photorealistic rendering of the ideal space to its realization, the B.I.M. philosophy, supported by that Algorithms Aided Design-oriented (AAD), proved to be an effective and efficient response to the functional and formal needs expressed in nowadays design and construction practice. This new approach to the needs and performances of the technological design has contributed to the production of technical documentation that can be limitless informative. It acquires a decisive relevance in negotiating with the stakeholders and, at the same time, with the workers of the building site. An architect or a designer, who is able to motivate his design proposal through data and concrete facts in perfect harmony with the project requirements, is an eloquent demonstration of the paradigm shift in architectural design thanks to the digital know-how.
Although the invariant value of the cultural nature of architectural design always belongs to the human intellect, reflecting on the implications that these tools have on it is a way to understand where the professional world is moving to.
from my Ph.D. Thesis — phdthesis.lucianoambrosini.it
