Sculpting the space: A circulation based approach to generative design in a multi-agent system

Abstract

This paper discusses an MAS (multi-agent system) based approach to generating architectural spaces that afford better modes of human movement. To achieve this, a pedestrian simulation is carried out to record the data with regard to human spatial experience during the walking process. Unlike common practices of performance oriented generation where final results are achieved through cycles of simulation and comparison, what we propose here is to let human's movement exert direct influence on space. We made this possible by asking "humans" to project simulation data on architectural surroundings, and thus cause the layout to change for the purpose of affording what we designate as good spatial experiences. A generation experiment of an exhibition space is implemented to explore this approach, in which tentative rules of such spatial manipulation are proposed and tested through space syntax analyse. As the results suggested, by looking at spatial layouts through a lens of human behaviour, this projection-and-generation method provides some insight into space qualities that other methods could not have offered. © 2014, The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), Hong Kong.