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This paper proposes a parametric shape grammar for ancient Egyptian funerary monuments. The corpus of monuments includes ten rock-cut structures, duly documented. They exhibit different grades of completion and preservation and possess variant archaeological documentation. The generation of a design following the proposed grammar depends both on formal and functional aspects. Metadata indicates the evidential value and numerical occurrence of rules in the generation of designs. The developed grammar can be used to reconstruct unfinished tombs, extend an existing one, or generate new designs according to the rules. It denotes the linear and symmetric structure characteristic of the monuments and reflects the chronological sequence of construction. The proposed grammar encodes the typology of the studied monuments and suggests that ancient Egyptian architecture may have implied a clear set of canons that may be made explicit by developing additional grammars for other building types.

Masonry screen walls are architectural elements made from bricks that create different patterns to provide shade and natural ventilation to buildings. This paper presents a digital framework for th...

We present a tool intended to enable non-expert users to apply and manipulate a shape grammar, SMUG, which encodes the urban design of informal settlements such as favelas. Such tool, the Interpreter, was developed considering that students would be its main users, and therefore we consider this grammar implementation to potentially be a multipurpose pedagogical tool since it supports conveying knowledge about urban design, shape grammars and parametric modeling using Grasshopper. This paper focuses on the development of the Interpreter and discusses the results of its use in a design studio, which can better inform subsequent iteration as well as other courses and schools.

In this paper, mid-century modern single-family houses designed by William Hajjar are analyzed through a shape grammar methodology within the context of the traditional architecture of an American college town. A member of the architecture faculty at the Pennsylvania State University, Hajjar was a practitioner in State College, PA, where the University Park campus is located, and an influential figure in the history of architecture in the area. The residential architecture he designed for and built in the area incorporates many of the formal and functional features typical of both modern European architecture and traditional American architecture. Based on a computational methodology, this study offers an investigation into this hybridity phenomenon by exploring Hajjar's architecture in relation to the traditional American architecture prevalent in the college town of State College.

The purpose of this study is to analyze William Hajjar’s single-family houses in State College, PA, and compare them with the European modernist work of Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer in the United States. This analysis is performed using shape grammars as a computational design methodology. Hajjar was a member of the architecture faculty at the Pennsylvania State University, a practitioner in State College, and an influential figure in the history of architecture in the area. Shape grammars are used specifically to verify and describe the influences of Bauhaus/European modernism on Hajjar’s domestic architecture. The focus is on establishing Hajjar’s single-family architectural language and comparing it to the architectural language of Gropius (Gropius-Breuer partnership) as the founder of the Bauhaus architecture and a prominent practitioner in introducing European modernism to American architecture students in the mid-twentieth century like Hajjar.

This study uses an analytical shape grammar to encode the general principles behind the structure of a fringe district and describe how a rural area evolved into an urban district. The study shows that both rural and urban development patterns rule-based and, therefore, urban growth could be regulated using synthetic grammars to control the transformation of rural into urban patterns.

This work is part of a larger research that proposes an alternative approach to housing for low-income people, based on the model of Brazilian favelas, with the goal of generating housing solutions that are more adapted to physical conditions, affordable, and spatially rich. This paper presents how the favela Santa Marta (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) was modeled through three types of models: digital, immersive and computational/ analytic model. The argument is that by using a more holistic modelling, it is possible to gain a deeper understanding of the genesis and formal structure of informal settlements and develop better approaches for tackling related challenges.

This paper formalizes the domain of all and only manufacturable open cold-formed steel (CFS) profiles aimed at improving their strength capability in the development of new products. A Genetic Algorithm is applied over this domain to get a set of best solutions from structural and constructive viewpoints. A basic review is carried out with regard to (i) Shape Grammar, (ii) Finite Strip Method-based elastic buckling analysis, (iii) Direct Strength Method-based structural strength computation and (iv) modified procedure of the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm. CFS-manufacturing is defined as a language and its general grammar is presented. This grammar-based model responds to requisites of descriptive power, simplicity of implementation, and customization to specific needs. The CFS grammar has been implemented using scripting languages available in pre-existing CAD and CAE applications. Implementation includes generation, visualization, analysis and improvement capabilities. Results show that innovative shapes with improved strength could be generated from the finite set of allowable manufacturing grammar rules encoded by the grammar.

The following paper describes a shape grammar that recreates Palladian villas. A Palladian grammar was originally proposed by Stiny and Mitchell. However, this alternative grammar uses different parametric shape rules and methodology to test the hypothesis that different grammars can generate the same corpus of designs. The formalism is then implemented using a computerised design tool. The grammar includes subdivision rules that allow for a more economical formulation. A new corpus of solutions is explored and the derivation is compared with the original Palladian grammar. The project is part of wider research aimed at formulating a generic housing grammar.

Traditional urban plans use definitive design systems, without the flexibility required to deal with the complexity and change that characterize contemporary urban societies. To conceive urban plans with increased flexibility, a shape grammar-based design methodology is proposed which is capable of producing various design solutions instead of a single rigid layout. In this approach the plan is a design system encoding a set of alternative solutions, rather than a single, specific solution. This methodology was developed on the basis of the analysis of existing plans and on a series of experiments undertaken within the controlled environment of design studios. Results show that shape grammars produce urban plans with nondefinitive formal solutions, while keeping a consistent design language. They also provide plans with explicit and implicit flexibility, thereby giving future designers a wider degree of freedom. As a result, they are particularly appropriate for dealing with complexity and change throughout the legal lifespan of the plan. Finally, they provide students with a concrete methodology for approaching urban design, fostering the development of additional design skills.

This research uses shape grammars as the basis of a computational tool to explore the relationship between the human body in motion and space, aiming to develop further knowledge about cognition and architecture. Artistic and scientific tools and methods already used to develop these concepts are being studied in order to create a new tool that will help us to understand, through simulation, how the body mediated through architecture can influence human cognitive response and thus behaviour. The goal is a methodology for the design of a “corporeal architecture” that can create a naturally immersive environment in which the ability of its geometry and physical properties to conduct or induce body movements in space for specific purposes can generate experience. Also discussed is the potential of the tool proposed for the study of the human body in movement as a generative strategy in architecture. In describing the parameters and criteria chosen to develop our software, we exemplify briefly how a shape grammar, as a system of rules, can be used to generate sequences of actions, establishing the idea that human behaviour in space can be composed as choreography and provide a means of considering architectural space not only in terms of shape but particularly in terms of life.

The research described in this paper is part of a project aimed at decoding Alberti’s De re aedificatoria by inferring the corresponding shape grammar using the computational framework provided by description and shape grammars to determine the extent of such an influence in the Counter-Reformation period in Portugal. Here we concentrate on the theoretical foundations that enable the translation of Alberti’s text into a shape grammar and then use it in determining its influence on Portuguese Renaissance architecture.

The goal of the described research is an interactive computer system for the design of customized mass housing. Shape grammars are the formalism proposed to systematize the design rules required for such a system. A shape grammar for Alvaro Siza's patio houses at Malagueira, a 1200-unit development still being designed and constructed today, is presented. The grammar is based on the corpus of thirty-five houses designed between 1977 and 1996. The generation of houses in the grammar proceeds by the recursive dissection of rectangles locating four different functional zones (patio, living, services, and sleeping) and the key placement of the staircase. The schematic generations of two existing houses and the detailed generation of a novel one illustrate the grammar.

This paper describes the setting out of generic housing rules. These rules were synthesized using a grammar formalism as described in previous papers. This study focuses on the parametric shape rules and its application.

Research is currently being developed on mass customization of ceramic tableware. The objective of this research is to allow end users to personalize their tableware sets, namely to determine the shape of its elements. The implementation of mass customization implies the articulation among three systems: design, production and computation. In this paper we will focus on the design system, which aims at two main goals: to help designers develop tableware collections, and to allow end users to customize these collections. The design system being developed controls the design of the elements of the tableware set in terms of their shape and decoration through the use of shape grammars and parametric modelling. The use of generic shape grammars is suggested as an effective way of handling a wide variety of tableware collections.

Alberti´s treatise 'De re aedificatoria' (1443-1452) is considered the source of an anthropogenesis of architecture (Choay 2004). The reflexion on this narrative hasn’t yet explained the connection of narrative and architecture disciplines, although frequent allusions to architecture/rhetorical features (Choay 2004) and to the architecture narrativity (Ricoeur 1998), focused on structural semantics approach (Greimas 1995). Recently, 'narrative inquiry' (Clandinin, Connelly 2004) and philosophy of stories (Currie 2010) started an approach centered in structures of knowledge, created an insight to 'narrative ways of knowledge' elevating narrative study’s to an entry tool to grasp reality (Herman 2003). Our focus is that 'narrative thinking' is encoded in Alberti’s 'lineamentum', allowing the translation from non verbal to verbal, and our practice as actants, operating from spatial to experience. In this paper we address the interactions of the disciplines, explain what we know by designing architecture through narrative, grasping fictions as a storyworld inhabited by actants, in order to create inferences and to fill the gap between opposite narrated domains, and to explain how does narrative thinking addresses cognition of 'what isn’t but has been', with examples from written, drawn and built narratives.

The research described in this paper is part of a project aimed to determine the influence of Alberti’s treatise on Architecture De re aedificatoria (1485) on Portuguese Renaissance architecture, making use of a computational framework. The paper focus on the theoretical foundations that permit to translate the treatise morphological and proportional descriptions of sacred buildings into a description grammar (Stiny, 1981) and a shape grammar (Stiny and Gips, 1972) used it in determining its influence on Portuguese Renaissance architecture. This approach follows the transformations in design framework proposed by Knight (1983), according to which the transformation of one style into another can be explained by changes of the grammar underlying the first style into the grammar of the second. Grammars are thus proposed as a complementary tool to be used in architectural history to test hypotheses raised after documental evidence. The paper reviews the three main stages of this research, presenting the methodology and results achieved in each one those moments. Firstly, it describes the process of inferring an initial description grammar and shape grammar directly translated from the De re aedificatoria and also the analysis of their derivation outcomes. Although, several affinities have been found between the solutions generated by the initial grammar and the Portuguese classical churches, others features remained uncertain. In the context of this research project, it seemed appropriate to consider the morphological and proportional design of Alberti most relevant churches to deduce transformations on the grammar. A set of Portuguese Renaissance sacred buildings were chosen and analyzed under the light of Alberti theoretical and design rules. This task was assisted by evaluating resemblances and differences between them and the recursive structure of the grammar, their rules, and the corpus of solutions derived from it. Finally, in order to achieve a grammar representative of the Portuguese Renaissance sacred buildings, further transformations were introduced on the grammar, gathering rules common to Alberti thoughts with Portuguese specific architectonic principles. Although along the process of grammar transformation several rules were added and the spatial relations were changed, the main recursive structure of the successive grammars was kept.

This article focuses on a shape grammar, therabo-de-bacalhauhousing style, that was developed to enable the adaptation of existing houses to new requirements and most particular on the process of inference of the grammar. In the article we describe the process undertaken to develop the grammar and what the achievements of the transformation grammar are regarding the possibilities of a mass customization of a dwelling's rehabilitation work. The goal of this article is to describe and discuss how the designer's knowledge was encoded into shape rules. The process used to extract the architect's knowledge and to incorporate it into the transformation grammar enable us to abstract the designer's actions and to define a sequence of actions that can define a possible strategy of design. The proposed design methodology generates dwelling layouts that are legal because they follow the grammar language and adequate because they meet the a priori user and design requirements.

Shape grammars are formulations consisting of transformation rules that describe design. Previous studies have focused on recreating the style of family-related solutions. This study does not aim to recreate a specific architectural style but is part of wider research aimed at inferring shape grammars. It is believed that more than one grammar can be developed for the same style, but no one has ever demonstrated this possibility. In addition, no one has ever developed a grammar that can describe more than one style. The aim of this work is to demonstrate both possibilities. Firstly, it proposes a shape grammar that can produce three different design styles, and, secondly, it uses a process that is distinctively different from other tested examples yet still produces the same corpus of designs. It also enables a new corpus of designs to be produced, which had not been possible using the previous (or original) grammars. A selected case study of three grammars, namely for Palladian, Prairie and Malagueira houses, allowed for comparison and observation of the different processes and shape rules and for a new set of rules to be proposed, combined in a shape grammar. This was followed by the recreation of a new subdivision type of grammar with a top–down approach and a set of generic design rules. The result is a generic shape grammar that enables three different house styles to be designed from the same formulation.

The goal of this research is to rehabilitate the existing housing stock to meet the new needs of dwellers in the current information society and the consequent need for the integration of Information, Communication and Automation Technolo-gies (ICAT) in living areas. This article focuses on the use of both shape grammar and space syntax as tools to identify and encode the principles and rules behind the adaptation of existing houses to new requirements. The idea is to use such rules as part of a methodolo-gy for the rehabilitation of existing dwellings.

The envelope shape is considered the most salient design characteristic in a building and also impacts its energy performance. And although energy efficiency in design is gaining momentum, the value of architectural attributes should not be underestimated. Design rules of thumb are useful guidelines to achieve better energy performance but they do not substitute energy simulation results, particularly in more complex projects. However, in the early design stages, when the envelope shape is defined, energy information is normally inexistent, due to modeling for energy simulation being a time-consuming task, frequently overlooked at this phase, when the design is still uncertain regarding many parameters. This paper presents a methodology to assist design decisions regarding the building envelope shape taking into account its implications on the energy performance of the building. Basically, this methodology involves a design system, an editable (flexible) system to generate various envelope shape designs, with integrated energy simulation, to calculate the energy consumption values of each generated design. Design systems encoded into shape grammars are more adequate for the architecture field, given their ability to guarantee stylistic coherence, but they are hard to implement. This methodology converts a grammar into a parametric design system and is illustrated with its application to the grammar for Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie houses. Output examples of the application are also presented. Results show the validity of the proposed methodology and the addition of optimization techniques is identified as the obvious next step.

Existing housing stock must be rehabilitated to meet the new needs of dwellers in the current information society. Consequently, Information and Communications and Automation Technologies (ICAT) must be integrated in living areas. Both shape grammar and space syntax can be used as tools to identify and encode the principles and rules behind the adaptation of existing houses to new requirements. The research proceeds by first identifying the dwellers' demands and determine how the use of technology influences them. The second step is to identify the functional, spatial, and constructive transformations performed manually by human designers in order to infer the corresponding transformation rules and encode them into a grammar. The third step aims to test the grammar in other dwellings that are part of the corpus of the study. info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

This paper describes research carried out to develop a parametric urban shape grammar for the Zaouiat Lakhdar quarter of the Medina of Marrakech in Morocco. The goal is to create the basis for a system that could capture some features of the existing urban fabric and apply them in contemporary urban planning and architectural design. The methodology used is described, from the initial historical analysis and fieldwork to the identification of three subgrammars necessary to encode the complexity of the urban preexistences: the urban grammar, the negotiation grammar, and the housing grammar. Top-down and bottom-up approaches to grammar design are analyzed and compared. The bottom-up urban grammar developed is then described, and a hand derivation of the existing urban fabric is proposed. Visual, symbolic, and tagged computer implementations of shape grammars are briefly discussed and a novel design generated by the tagged interpreter is presented.