Often in architectural design (and as with any business) there is a wide variety of modeling, testing, and planning to ensure that the final project (or product) will make its way into the real world with great success. As architects, I know that there are a wide variety of things we do to help us visualize our built environments for clients — where we pull from our own internal talents and resources, combine them with the latest know-how and efforts of our design team and consultants, and then proceed to get them accepted by all kinds of review boards, committees and so on. But — have you ever done a quality control design test of your building after it’s built? If so, how do you do it? And what do you do with the results?

Do you ever ask yourself — How much testing and surveying do we really do as architects once our building is built? What do we do after it is constructed? Do we merely check in on it in a general manner and use it for marketing opportunities?… Or, do we examine what our design team has created?

I say all of this because I think it is important to have a relationship and connection with your designed buildings after they are built. Wouldn’t it be nice to be a “fly on a wall” so you could get a sneak peak at exactly how your building occupants use your spaces, interact with them, behave within them and so on?

Why Running a Design Test Is so Important, And How You Can Start to Do It

Of course, if something about your building really fails, I am pretty sure you hear about it in no time flat. However, there are ways for you take the time to really observe the nuances to what you have built for your occupants. For instance, it is important to really listen and watch the way the people within your buildings use your designs. You will immediately begin to see the things that work and the things that do not, but even more amazingly your design test observations will lead to realizations and then into Read more

Why is it that truly innovative building design is practiced few and far between? Yes, many architects spend their energy building buildings, but few built architecture that uses the design of build environments to uplift lifestyle for their occupants. So, how can you as an architect push your buildings ahead, to break the mold and go beyond the status quo?

Do you find that you are at times stuck in a rut — using the same building materials, building after building, simply because you know they work? While it is by no means a bad thing to use materials that have proven to be successful in your designs, it can be rather limiting if you do not set your sights further ahead, perhaps to some new materials, new design methods or even design thinking that you have not yet explored.

Wouldn’t it be a sort of vicious circle if you wanted to design innovatively, yet did not because you are too afraid to pursue your innovative ideas (affiliate link) for fear that they will not work, cost too much, waste too much time or not be accepted by your clients? Such is the conundrum of innovative architecture — there is indeed risk when you pursue innovation, yet with proper testing, necessary resources and the proper mindset, it does become possible to minimize that risk so you can reap the Read more

New technologies and tools are surfacing faster and faster these days, and one that has major impact and momentum is BIM, a digital media tool which allows architects to create a virtual building information model.

Such BIM design technologies are contributing to what some say will lead to major paradigm shifts for architecture firms — namely in the way architects engage in their own design process as well as the ability to foster greater collaboration between clients, contractors and consultants.

BIM design tools will allow for great detail in virtual building models, where an architectural design will will come together in more meaningful and cross-collaborative ways — beyond anything typical AutoCAD models have been able to do thus-far.

Such BIM visualization tools allow for much more, like the ability to model a building with everything from partitions, to plumbing and HVAC systems. Furthermore, BIM design will also allow architectural team members to study light and energy before the building is ever built. And yet, it does still more.

As the article entitled “BIM Me Up, Scotty” explains, this kind of Building Information Model can work with applications which allow you, as an architect, to run what is called “clash detection“. This can go a long way toward preventing design problems and conflicts, large and small, very early on in the design process. This works by allowing computer processes to check the model against certain rules like code regulations, accessibility requirements and even structural system issues. Wouldn’t you want to know about such problems early on in your design process, as opposed to finding out about them later on?…when they cost more money and are more difficult to fix.

What Does BIM Design Mean for Your Creative Process?

At present, many architects work with digital media tools like 3D Studio Max, AutoCAD, Revit and Rhino for computer visualizations and modeling. However, BIM has the potential and power to bring a new dimension to your world of architectural design, perhaps helping to further empower your firm.

By being able to model your building in such great detail early on in your design process, you will be able to reduce Read more

Buildings today continue to move from static to fluid design, and this fluidity is expressed by integrating not only new materials with amazing behavioral properties, but also by pulling information patterns from a building’s context. Interestingly, it is this “pulling” of sorts that can bring architectural fluidity toward architectural adaptability.

So, what does it mean for a building to pull? And where might it pull from?

As we can see with the internet, our mass populations are collecting large quantities of information about the world in which we live — with cues about how we live in that world. As an architect, you should look upon such collections as proverbial goldmines, within which you can sift to find nuggets of collective wisdom for you designs.

Extracting information and capitalizing upon it can be easier said than done. A building that pulls information from the internet, a country’s population, a weather pattern or even a neighborhood’s political race, can range from “ingenious” all the way to “controversial”. Suddenly, your designed architecture space can find new ways to engage and interact with its surrounding contexts — and when executed correctly can help those that experience it.

Does an architecture that pulls from the masses merely act as a mirror? An interpreter? Or as the loyal opposition?

It’s all In the Stars

Just like the seemingly infinite array of patterns found in the sky above, you can use your building as an outward demonstration of what is Read more

In the image above, you can see how beautiful and revealing the implementation of algorithmic processes can be. To help you better understand what is going on in the above image, here is the author’s explanation about the mysterious and beautiful form patterns. It is curiously and simply called “Happy Place:

“256 nodes with friendships to other nodes tied together using the following rules: get as close to friends as possible, and get away from everyone else. Drawing lines between friends the above image is generated (unique with each execution).” (see source here)

When you combine the power of understanding occupant and human relations and behavioral patterns with the dynamics and fluidity that computational design can bring, you have quite a unique coupling that can unleash not only an adaptive architecture but also a highly customized and optimized one — algorithmic architecture.

Algorithmic architecture is about more than creating a three-dimensional “map” or “visualization” of real-time activity. It brings with it a sense-making ability that ties computer language and algorithms together. Suddenly, buildings are at once gaining incredible Read more

How do you begin to model systems and processes that nature teaches? How do you translate your discoveries and breakthroughs to help in your design process, making you a better designer?

Well, I found a pine cone the other day. It was tiny, well formed, delicate at the tips and solid at the base. Yes, that is and of itself quite beautiful and enough to inspire most creative thinkers in their design efforts. However, we live in a day and age where, with nature, we can delve much deeper by changing our perspective and interpretation.

Questions like — Why was that pinecone laying where it was? How did it get there? Where did it come from? What is inside? If I take it apart, what do its elements actually do? How do they function? What is it made of? How does it travel through air? What does it protect? How? Why? And When? You get the idea…

For architects, there is an entire mindset shift going on in our profession. New ways to Read more

Yes, findings stemming from the worlds of science and technology are painting a new era that we are already beginning.

When cutting-edge paradigm-shifts occur, like new perspectives on nature that make methods like Biomimicry and BioDigital Architecture possible, I still wonder how these, combined with other factors like culture, globalization, personal preferences, lifestyle trends and geographic land characteristics will impact what we, as architectural visionaries, paint for the future.

Well, the future is happening now and as different cultures help to mold, embrace and even reject what design visionaries bring forward, I find it fascinating to uncover how Read more

As the relation between biomimicry, nanotechnology and new computing software evolves, a key design strategy surfaces — and a key aspect to that design strategy is BioDigital Architecture. In this branch of study and research, designers use different computer processes (algorithmic, for example) to grow architectural living systems. And these “living systems” are derived from, what Dennis Dollens describes as, metaphors of nature.

Designers can learn to understand nature in new terms, asking a different line of questions than usual. To design BioDigital Architecture, one must tap into the qualities of nature that motivate its cycles and response systems. And as you will see in the video below, Dennis Dollens lectures on exactly what that can mean for buildings.

I agree with Dollens that we can design and build better buildings by moving beyond our present-day “piece-meal” approach where separate components come together to yield a “sustainable” building. First, the window systems must coordinate with Read more

What will turn your architecture from merely being a place that people go to, into a place that people feel attached to — a space where they have made a connection and one that is meaningful? Many theories exist and contribute to what can make a place…well, more than a “place”.

In reading the article entitled What makes neighborhood different from home and city? Effects of place scale on place attachment, I found that this study determined that scale plays a large role when it comes to predicting and creating place attachment for those that experience it. So, this leads me to consider this notion of scale and its meaning for you, as an architect, when it comes to designing architectural spaces that attract — versus just standing to exist.

My personal notion about “spaces of attachment” also brings up the aspects of socialization. I deem that providing a community place within your architectural designs is important. The way in which your occupants interact not only Read more

Motion sensors are already all around us, they exist in certain appliances, mobile phones and even within your car — but what if nanotechnology and the miniaturization of these sensors down to the nano scale could have profound impact on the buildings in which we live?

With nanotechnology, development is in the works to make sensors 100 times more sensitive than sensors we have today. Here is a quote explaining this remarkable feat:

“Able to “feel” and sense the movement of individual atoms, the researchers’ new MEMS sensing device uses small carbon tubes, nano in size — about one-billionth of a meter long. Creating these tiny tubes using a process involving methane gas and a furnace, Prof. Hanein has developed a method whereby they arrange themselves on a surface of a silicon chip to accurately sense tiny movements and changes in gravity.”

- from phsorg.com, A More Sensitive Senor Using Nano-sized Carbon Tubes

The question now becomes, how can you as an architect make use of such significant advances in order to improve and uplift the lives of your occupant? And yes, I do believe that uplifting the lives of your occupants should be a primary focus for your work as an architect. Nevertheless, it is time to think outside of the box.

Where Would You Embed a Nano Motion Sensor?

Since MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) will be not only more sensitive, but also a lot smaller, your designs can make use of their ability to sense very slight motion. For instance, with architectural kinetic installations, perhaps your components which are in motion could respond to Read more