20,000 Blocks: Can gameplay be used to guide non-expert groups in creating architecture?

Abstract

The paper follows research in engaging groups of non-trained individuals in the creation of archi-tectural designs using games and crowdsourcing for human-directed problem-solving. With the proposed method, architectural experts can encode their design knowledge into custom-developed multiplayer gameplay in Minecraft. Non-expert players then are constrained by this gameplay which guides them to create unique architectural results. We describe a method with three components: guiding rules, verification routines and fast feedback. The method employs a real-time link between the game and structural analysis in Grasshopper to verify the designs. To prove the viability of these results, we use robotic fabrication, where the digital results are brought to reality at scale. A major finding of the work is the suite of tools for calibrating the balance of influence on the resulting designs between the Experts and the Players. We believe that this process can create designs which are not limited to parametrically optimal solutions but could also solve real-world problems in new and unexpected ways.