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University of Washington Department of Architecture Master of Architecture with Urban Design Certificate Thesis Proposal (Revision V, Revised October 25, 2000) Thesis materials and other related research resources are avalaible in: http://students.washington.edu/doddys/thesis.html

1. TITLE DEVELOPMENT SIMULATOR: A TOOL FOR ARCHITECTS AND URBAN DESIGNERS

2. THESIS STATEMENT Design is not always about aesthetic values anymore, but rather the orchestra of how the buildings and environments fit into the city fabric, how they achieve goals in terms of city regulations, and how the numbers work to fulfill the developments of the project. Architects and urban designers are in the side that should satisfy these whole aspects - so not only the buildings are beautiful in the drawing plans or in the computer screen, but also they are feasible to be built and developed. In designing a building or environment, some variables existed. These variables can be a fixed number or conditions, i.e. city regulations, parking standard, footprint for typology of uses and urban design guidelines; some numbers or aspects can be modified according to design i.e. building height, setback, composition of uses, architectural articulations etc. Combining these values will give some directions of how the envelope or the massing of the buildings will be. These measurable criteria are important and should be accounted at early stage of design.

3. THEORETICAL/CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Urban Design is gaining attention and importance. The popular concern to what happens between buildings designed by architects is getting attention among architecture and planning practitioners. The field of urban design and architecture involved complex variables and multiple parties with multiple agendas and criteria (Gross et al., 1997). Urban design projects have complex needs for combining spatial, visual, numerical representation, analysis, design and public presentations. Urban design cases engage multiple variables that are unmeasured and involve the quality and performance of the design. And occupy variables that are measurable or quantable. In traditional practice, prior to getting the design and the architecture of the building, a team of urban designers and architects will make sure that the total area and massing of the building is fulfilling the requirement from the client’s point of view and the city’s regulation. These practice and exercises will start from examining the site, creating block plan and schemes, working out the numbers and measurable criteria, simulate the

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numbers in three dimensional representation, and getting clients and city’s feed back. This process is a cyclic process until all stakeholders is satisfied to the architects and urban designers product. Time and effort taken in this process are sometimes greater than what is expected. The variable that the architects and urban designers are working with, are sometimes ill defined, and not quantable, though mostly are. These are what the author called “measurable criteria” which are:

1. Building Type 2. Floor Area Ratio 3. Building Height 4. Parking Ratio 5. Parking requirements 6. Building coverage 7. Lot size.

Buildingheight

Lot size

Floor AreaRatio

BuildingTypology

Parkingrequirement

Buildingcoverage

Parking ratio

The process goes on into how to fit the optimum variable in the proposed design. This is achieved by finding the best composition of areas designed that are translated into dollar per square foot in spreadsheet formula. The client i.e. the developers will decide if the numbers work for them. At the same time the architects and the urban design team will make sure that the building will work or comply with the urban design guidelines. Compromising both the client interest, and the city guidelines are the main task of architects and urban designers besides doing the design. Multiple exercises from doing charts in spreadsheet, simulating the numbers using CAD programs into making models were done until the team is satisfied and it is time to present to client and stakeholder. On half of the cases that the author was involved with, clients or stakeholder have definitions to what they want and expect, though the other half cases, they do not know what they are expecting. After these thinking process are done, it the project will undergo the design development process. This thesis project will explore way or ways to shorten the process.

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4. METHODOLOGY The project will be breakdown into:

1. Exploring the measurable criteria in terms of Urban Design and Architecture 2. Investigating the technology (CAD and graphical packages, performance

evaluation packages i.e. spreadsheet, integration packages/programming packages) and creating the tool

3. Implementing the tool in a sample project The first step of the research will be done to investigate all measurable criteria: ?? Building Type: finding the ideal floor plate for building types. And examine

building types that can be implemented as the measurable criteria, what building typology suit to use the Development Simulator, and what does not;

?? Floor Area Ratio: looking at urban design guidelines and the impact towards: building height;

?? Building Height: looking at FAR impact to building height and urban design guidelines requirements;

?? Parking Ratio: finding information about parking ratio using developments standards related to the building type;

?? Parking requirements: explore requirements of parking according to building type;

?? Building coverage: examine guidelines and see standards of coverage; ?? Lot size: looking at minimum lot size and shapes that can be developed; ?? Investigating if there are other measurable criteria that should also be

considered.

Second step will see how the technology can answer the problem. This will include looking at CAD applications equipped with additional integration tool that can link with spreadsheet or evaluation tools. Final step is using the tool to help design a project (building or site) in an urban context using real guidelines. Create documentation and evaluation of the thesis.

5. SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION

Learning from the practice: This project is solely inspired from real projects done in the professional offices in the US and Asia. These offices are medium sized firms to big size firms that do urban design and planning projects besides architecture projects. These firms have the resources and tools, hardware and software including manpower that were trained to utilize not only their hand design skills but also employing the power of CAD. Nevertheless the case are that these commercial CAD software are not applied either as a design tool of the projects nor as a thinking tool. This phenomenon are caused mainly because architects

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are expected to do both design and computational processes at the same time. Therefore, CAD as thinking tools are not very popular in the preliminary stages of the design. At the same time, design in architecture is not just designing houses and single buildings anymore nor it will be. They will not be a set of problem that an architect or a team of architects will face in a week and month basis of a firm. They will be complex problems that will be given to architects and multi-disciplines team in a day-to-day basis. Time constraint and complexity of problems are what the architects are and will be facing these days.

Design and Computational Processes: We will return to design and computational processes. The process of design and computational process are defined as (Kalay, 1987, p.xi): ?? Design: an ill understood process that relies on creativity and intuition, as well

scientific principles, technical information, and experience; ?? Computational processes: a well-understood and subject to precise analysis.

They are amenable to mathematical modeling, and can be simulated by artificial computing techniques.

This project will deal with both parts at the same time. Answering designing questions by using computational processes. As a result, it will use both process simultaneously.

Design Computableprocesses

DevelopmentSimulator

Questions will arise: Can design be computed? In other words: what aspects of design that can be computed? These questions will narrowed the tools that will be created, to tools that use the measurable criteria, which was introduced in the project, which the author did (Samiaji, 1999).

Computer Tools for Architecture, Urban Design and Planning: Existing computer application in the field of architecture and urban design are mostly geared towards the presentation, design and drafting process – rather than the thinking process. Tools created for architects and urban designers in design computing involved Computer Aided Design, Geographical Information Systems, animation and multimedia. The Internet has also given a tremendous influence of innovations about web based applications for both fields (Augenbroe, Eastman, 1999,p.xi). Other tools that

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support their work in their firms are spreadsheets, word processing and graphic design tools. Visual computing for these disciplines will involve a synthesis of these tools. Urban Design lies slightly between the field of architecture - which has been losing its influence towards civic places and public space due to the parcel by parcel development – and planning – that their numerically based policy has undesired effects on urban form (Moudon, 1999, “Urban Form” Lectures). Urban design sits in between both architecture and planning so should its tools. Tools created for urban design are not as many as tools created solely for architecture and planning. Several attempts has been made during the past 20 years to build thinking tools for urban designers and architects, which were striking considering the technology that were present during the time those tools were made. Although they were prototypes or real tool, they are yet implemented in real projects in architecture and urban design firms. These related works give some lesson to how Development Simulator will be developed: ?? The Multi User Urban Design (Gross et al., 1997) attempt to answer the problem

to accommodate multiple agendas and multiple criteria from multiple stakeholders in an urban design project. The tools give points and weight to criteria set by stakeholder and create a simulation of land use in the plan based on those points. This was an effort to answer the multiple constraints from multiple stakeholder of a project.

?? Interactive Urban Models (Mc.Cullough, 1993) exert to combine CAD tools and simulation tools with GIS maps and data. The goal of this project was demonstrating practical possibilities for applying computer applications in urban design.

?? An Interactive Urban Database (Fox, 1993) a project that aims in developing an electronic database of urban environmental information.

?? An Electronic Tool for Urban Design Analysis (Skauge, 1993) is a tool for urban designers to use in analyzing urban architectural qualities. The project focuses on applying traditional methods and theories of urban designers rather than developing new computer techniques.

?? A Program Generator Using Linear Programming (Devlin, 1995) effort to form feasibility analysis to inform the design process. This thesis project is aimed towards architects and private sectors that involved with real estate development and urban design.

?? URBAN5 (Cross, 1977, p.43) developed by Negroponte and Groisser is an early approach in doing computing tools for urban design. Although there are not many documentation of this project, the author learned that this tool allows designer to state his design criteria and to see the design evolved, which are similar to the main idea of the project.

?? ARCHPLAN (Schmitt, 1992, p.90). A well-done tool to visualize site, cost and massing module of building. Although is geared towards architecture cases rather than urban design or planning cases, Archplan interface is a perfect example and excellent case that can be applied towards Development Simulator.

The tools discussed earlier, although they were developed 20-30 years ago, still give significant contributions to the Development Simulator. Now, we can build tools with technology that are improved, with tools: hardware and software, which are much

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simpler and powerful. Yet the main concept still can be carry on towards making the project. Lessons learned from previous project includes: ?? There are not many commercial tools created for urban design process as for

architecture and planning processes. Commercial packages that were around are software and hardware to draft, present and some design. No commercial package that specifically crafted to be a thinking tool.

?? The concept of design criteria still remains and should be measurable. Why measurable? These design criteria are to be quantified in order to be computed in a computable process. Therefore, as to the measurable criteria which were introduced prior.

?? Interactivity: urban design is a process that requires thinking and evaluation that will take time. As an informed decision process, it involves multiple stakeholders with multiple agendas (Gross et al., 1993, p.373). It is not a linear process. Urban design decision-making is also information-intensive. The project will provide interactivity between the users and the design to simplify the design process.

?? Numerical based: urban design lies between architecture which profound drives the aesthetics besides building performance, and planning that mostly numerical based policies. Based on numerical calculation this tool will bridge between the architecture side and the planning side.

?? Visualization and graphical: in order to communicate very well to clients and to parties involved, representation of mass and number should be visualized perfectly. Visualizing using 3D simulation will also improve the design process as well. The visual explanation will “escape from the flatland” (Tufte, 1990, p.13). Direct or automate simulation after calculations being made are some of this project goals. The tool will present three-dimensional feedback and a two dimensional specifications. Implementation of this concept will be:

o 3D console or visualization screen o Simple chart and table console to input and output the criteria.

?? Integration: tools created cannot rely on one specific application, but will require integrations of multiple software. These tools are required because they will answer the needs of calculation, visualization and interaction.

Performance based and Constraint based design: Another approach of the Development Simulator is design for performance. Which is an approach towards fulfilling qualitative and quantitative design requirements based on specification and existing cases. (Schmitt, 1992, p.83). This is indeed an approach similar to using the measurable criteria as a point of departure. With integration method, a move from isolated commercial CAD packages towards integrated solutions, design for performance is a feasible alternative. Traditional ways of generating design schemes after doing calculation needs more time and effort. The Development Simulator approach that is proposed generates the design according to the evaluation or measurable criteria.

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Traditional and current urban design scenarios: These scenario of urban design practices apply to projects that involve designing buildings in urban or suburban context and involve developers or client and team urban designers and architects. Process #1: The Client story ?? Some developers or client usually have some ideas of what they want. Although

this is sometimes not the case. Most of them will have these data before they approach the architect:

o Site datas: lot size, lot parcels, orientation, parcel map and survey. o Development data: number of square feet they are willing and able to

built, what type of uses they are able to make profit with. o Using these data they approach an urban design and architecture firm.

Process #2: The urban designer story ?? Equipped and employed with CAD and manual tools, this team will design

alternative of schemes. Prior to designing these, the development numbers will be worked out in a spreadsheet program to simulate the effect in terms of building height. Besides the numbers, there are design code and urban design guidelines that will direct how the buildings sit on the site as well. Urban designers will try to optimize these factors, including the client wish list.

Process#3: Design process and creation of building mass ?? Multiple simulations will show building masses that were directed by the

numbers from the spreadsheet. The architect will chose the best possibilities in terms of design. Usually the architects will undergo design process using the massing. But on some cases, they will present the massing to the client and give opinions whether the numbers given can work or not in the design scheme.

Process#4: Multiple dialogue and multiple simulations ?? The dialogue between the architects and the client generally will involve

multiple meetings and consultations. Sometimes the client change their mind about development numbers, and this will change the whole idea of the scheme that already developed. Multiple simulations and multiple calculations cannot be avoided as the client will slowly learn and make the decisions. This process will be frustrating processes not only for the client but also for the architects.

Process#5: Solution ?? Once the solution of the dialogue achieved, the architects and urban designers

will make a final massing simulation. These massing will undergo design stage, which architects will give building articulations and architectural touch. Plans will be generated and models will be done. (On some cases in traditional practice, whereas 3D cad tools were not introduced, physical models were the only way to represent the massing. Hence the process will require more time and effort as making real model is more difficult than doing 3D cad simulations.)

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This is an illustration of how current and traditional urban practice works.

Developers/Client

with agendas ofdevelopments

Team of Architectsand Urban Designer

Create design Check with developers/client and check design

with numbers

Create simulation #1

Create simulation #2Change design Check with developers/

client and check designwith numbers

Create simulation #3Change design Check with developers/

client and check designwith numbers

and so on... until developers are satisfied with the numbers anddevelopments.

CURRENT OR TRADITIONAL URBANDESIGN PRACTICE

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Proposed urban design scenario using the Development Simulator: The proposed scenario is the same to the previous traditionanl and current urban design scenario until Process#3. Here the dialogue between the urban designer and the client will be done at the same time the simulations were developed. The spreadsheet that the client and the urban design team will be input by development numbers. Using the Development Simulator, these numbers will be computed and will drive the building height. These processes will happen interactively and simultaneously, hence it will give optimum solution for both parties. Even if the client changes their mind, this process will replace the never-ending dialogue and consultation to determine the massing of the buildings.

Simulation ofDevelopment

URBAN DESIGN PRACTICE WITHDEVELOPMENT SIMULATOR TOOL

DevelopmentSimulator Tool

with agendas ofdevelopments

Developers/Client

Team of Architectsand Urban Designer

( (

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Development Simulator prototype Learning from cases and theory, CAD systems can assist designers in two ways (Wiezel, 1992, p. 174):

1. They simulate the artifact that is being designed and maintain the semantic integrity of the model;

2. They can guide the designer through the planning process and provide him or her with informative feedback on design decisions.

The first features of CAD tools are indeed already employed in architectural and urban design projects. This feature is accomplished extensively by numerous commercial CAD applications today. The second feature leads to the necessity to attach an evaluation tool to existing CAD packages. Yet, there is still a gap that lies between the development of 3D CAD packages and 2D evaluation tools. This is a place where third party programming tools come in and be an interface between the CAD packages to the evaluation package.

DevelopmentSimulator

CADTools

EvaluationTools

IntegrationTools

The implementation of this concept in the Development Simulator will use a commercial package of CAD Programs (tentatively AutoCAD), spreadsheet application program as evaluation tool (possibly Excel) and an integration tool that will link both application (visual LISP or visual basic application). Furthermore, there are possibilities to develop the tool using interactive tools in Java, VRML or other 3D language program.

DevelopmentSimulator

AutoCAD

ExcelSpreadsheet Visual Basic

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This is an illustration of how the tool will look like:

6. PREPARATORY STUDY ARCH 498 ADVANCED COMPUTER PROJECT, GROSS, Spring 2000 ARCH 498 VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS, Winter 2000 ARCH 498 THEORY OF DESIGN COMPUTING, Fall 2000 URBD 479 URBAN FORM, Moudon Fall 2000 URBDP 508 URBAN DESIGN STUDIO, Rolfe and Winterbottom, Fall 2000

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7. BIBLIOGRAPHY Cross, N (1977). The Automated Architect. London: Pion Limited. Devlin, Doug (1995). A Computer Modeling Tool for the Analysis of Building and

Design Programs using Liner Programming, MUP Thesis. Seattle: University of Washington.

Fox, C. William (1993). An Interactive Urban Database, In Education and Practice: The Critical Interface, ACADIA.

Gross, Mark D., Parker, Laura., Elliott, Ame M. (1997). MUD: Exploring Tradeoffs in Urban Design. In CAAD Futures 1997, Proceedings of the 7th. International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Futures held in Munich, Germany, 4-6 August 1997. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Kalay, Yehuda ed. (1987). Computability of Design. John Wiley and Sons New York. Kalay, Yehuda ed. (1992). Evaluating and Predicting Design Performance. John Wiley

and Sons New York. McCullogh, Malcolm (1993). Interactive Urban Models. In Education and Practice: The

Critical Interface, ACADIA. Samiaji, Doddy (1999). 3D GIS, Arch 498 Virtual Environments Assignments, University

of Washington Winter 1999 [Online]. Available URL: http://students.washington.edu/doddys/ve

Samiaji, Doddy (2000). Urban Design Meter, Arch 498 Advanced Computer Projects Assignment, University of Washington Spring 2000 [Online]. Available URL: http://students.washington.edu/doddys/udmeter

Schmitt, Gerhard (1992). Design for Performance, in Evaluating and Predicting Design Performance. John Wiley and Sons: New York

Skauge, Jorn (1993). An Electronic Tool for Urban Design Analysis. In Education and Practice: The Critical Interface, ACADIA.

Suter, George., Mahdafi Ardeshir., Kirshnamurti, Ramesh., A Performance-inspired Building Representation for Computational Design. In Computers in Building: Proceedings of the CAADfutures’99 Conference held in Atlanta, GA 7-8 June 1999, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Tufte, Edward R. (1990). Envisioning Information. Chesire: Graphic Press. Tufte, Edward R. (1997). Visual Explanations. Chesire: Graphic Press. Turner, James A (1993). Computers in the Urban Landscape: Introduction. In Education

and Practice: The Critical Interface, ACADIA. Wiezel, Avi., Becker, Rachel (1992). Integration of Performance Evaluation in

Computer-Aided Design. In Evaluating and Predicting Design Performance. John Wiley and Sons New York.