ALGOMAD -Algo más que un instrumento: introducción a Métodos generativos en Arquitectura y Diseño- es un seminario sobre el uso de herramientas digitales avanzadas, para generar formas con métodos paramétricos alternativos, automáticos y semiautomáticos.

ALGOMAD está pensado como un encuentro de profesores, estudiantes y profesionales de la arquitectura y la construcción que compartan la idea de que los medios digitales son “algo más que un instrumento” en la medida en que abren nuevos caminos de exploración para la exploración formal.

La estructura de ALGOMAD se basa en talleres intensivos en los que se introducirán los métodos y programas más avanzados disponibles en la actualidad para usuarios de ordenadores personales por profesores expertos en estos programas y métodos. El último día habrá una jornada de presentaciones en la que todos los participantes podrán compartir sus experiencias.

Algomad será los dias 1 2 y 3 de Julio y se celebrará en la Escola d’Arquitectura del Vallès.

Results: The data that you are viewing.
Inside Air temperature Average : is the average of the inside Air temeperature in the hottest and coldest day in Barcelona, this number should be the same all the time. 21 C degrees/hr.

Cooling Average : This is the jules/hourly that you have to spend in this building to keep the temperature at 21 C degrees. during the hottest and coldest day in the year. (this number must be change)

Heatting Average : This is the jules/hourly that you have to spend in this building to keep the temperature at 21 C degrees. during the hottest and coldest day in the year. (this number must be change)

The settings of the buildings, like the type of glass in windows, the material of walls or even the weather are defined in the E+ file.

The complex thing in a GA is not the programming part, as you can think, Is the way of how you define the problem that you want to optimize. This is usually a function called Fitness Function (FF). The correct set of your FF will determine the increase of the population’s level in each iteration. Therfore the effort must be put here.

The FF allows to evaluate each solution (individual) and to set who is who in the population, or in a different way, which of these solutions are the best and which are not.

Sometimes you can work with a really simple FF, like evaluating the length of a path, that you want to reduce. Besides, it can consists os a series of different equations that each individual must test. Logically, this process involve computational resources, it take some seconds or even minutes to achieve a correct evaluation.

In the case of one of my experiments, the evaluation consisted of determine how much energy a building spends in a specific weather. To achieve that I had to write a series of classes in C# (some of classes are built embedded in GC). Well a whole programme (with out interface, Console application) to allow me to transform the complete geometry in a different type of file for its thermal analysis in EnergyPlus.

This Video shows one of my first experiments in which I connect automatically (send and retrieve the data) GC and E+.

Students Works, First Year IE School of Architecture, Segovia.

Extracto del encargo:
…Este proyecto consistirá en hacer un análisis espacial y/o programático de una parte de la Universidad con el objetivo de identificar una falencia que pueda ser suplida con un proyecto arquitectónico.

Hoy en día la profesión de arquitecto no puede ser planteada de la misma manera como se hizo hace algunos años atrás. El arquitecto que pretenda ser competitivo en el mercado internacional actual debe ser capaz de auto gestionarse y auto encargarse proyectos para buscar nichos económicos que no hayan sido explotados hasta el momento.

Nuestra profesión nos otorga una poderosa herramienta que es la observación y nos aprovecháremos de ella para desarrollar un proyecto arquitectónico que busque suplir un carencia dentro del edificio de la universidad y proponer una solución innovadora mediante la programación como herramienta proyectual.

El segundo encargo será un trabajo en parejas.
…

estatement of assignment…
…
This project will consist in to make a spatial analysis and / or programmatic analysis of the university with the objective to identify failures or problems that can be solved by architectonical project.

The profession of the architecture cannot be seen in the same way like years before. The architect that pretends to be competitive in the actual international market or even in the local market must be capable of self-managed and self-assignments projects that seek economic targets have not been exploited.

Our profession is based on a powerful tool that is the observation. We will use it to develop an architectonical project to propose an innovative solution trough scripting like design tool.

The second assignment will be in pairs.
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Para más detalle de los proyectos, contactar a los alumnos a través de la universidad
For more information about the projects, please contact the students through the University.

Se deberá incluir análisis espacial, conceptos y el código que hizo posible el proyecto, secciones, plantas, elevaciones del proyecto, considerando materiales, espesores y principios estructurales. (Planimetría)
Además se deberán incluir renders, dibujos donde deberá aparecer reflejado el carácter o la intención de materialidad del proyecto. También deberán aparecer intenciones de la construcción, así como ensambles, fijaciones, tensores, pilares. Deberá aparecer como los alumnos se imaginan la construcción del proyecto, que técnicas utilizarían para poder concretar su fabricación, que tipo de tecnología necesitarían para desarrollar sus proyectos.

Lamina 1: análisis del espacio
Lamina 2: Referencias Biológicas y arquitectónicas.
Lamina 3: Concepto del Proyecto
Lamina 4: Plantas
Lamina 5: Elevaciones
Lamina 6: Secciones
Lamina 7: Renders y dibujos
Lamina 8: Construcción
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Final submission: the students will be present 8 Panels A2. The presentation will be oral with 15 minutes per group.
The Students will be showing spatial analysis, concepts, and the code of the project. Sections, plants, views, considering materials, widths and structural principles (planimetry).

Also they will include renders, drawings showing the character of the intentions of the project. Furthermore they should demonstrate intentions of the construction, assemblies, connectors, tensors, pillars.

The students must be show how imagine the project, which techniques will use to build the projects, and which type of technology is necessary.

Lamina 1: space analysis
Lamina 2: Biological and architectonical references
Lamina 3: Concept of the Project
Lamina 4: Plants
Lamina 5: Views
Lamina 6: Sections
Lamina 7: Renders and Drawings
Lamina 8: Constructio
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Para más detalle de los proyectos, contactar a los alumnos a través de la universidad
For more information about the projects, please contact the students through the University.

Links:
IE Shool of Architecture
Architectural Association + IE School of Architecture = Summer School Madrid

Flyer and Summer School Poster :

The AZCA district in Madrid underwent a rapid transformation in the middle decades of the twentieth century. Designated as a special zoning district, the 190-hectare site was envisioned as a great business centre with high-risebuildings for finance, offices, housing, hotel, commercial use and open space. Following models derived from old dominant principles, it was driven by a combination of factors that quickly contributed to its decay, demise and disuse. Like other large-scale developments elsewhere in Europe, it became obsolete as it failed to keep pace with the many ways in which building
types, open spaces and public use patterns evolved since the time of its construction. Focusing on the AZCA district, the workshop will emphasise the way in which emergent urban ideas, experimental design strategies, processual working methods and hybrid
public initiatives can be brought to bear on such sites in order to fundamentally improve public life in the city.
Text: extract from the Summer School Poster

Image from google Earth.

The atmosphere during the workshoop was really cool!. I would personally like to thank: Carmen García Reig (Organization and invitation), Ismael García (Organization), Antonio Casas (the mathematician), Pablo Miranda Carpintero (I’m eager to see the programming in Sketch-up), Tomás Pineda (Images), Miguel Vidal, see his blog: arquitecturaprogramable.es

With no particular order, some images of the projects during the workshop.




Tomás Pineda:

Pablo Miranda

Miguel Vidal

Ismael García

Carmen García Reig

SmartGeometry 01:00 am

SmartGeometry 03:00 am

SmartGeometry 04:00 am

Truss Optimization Trough Excel

Mi proposal for the workshop (4 days) consisted in optimize a steel truss, reducing the total weight of the steel, changing thier geometry. but constrained some nodes of the truss move in determinated zones. My original idea for the optimizatión was use Genetic Algorithms.  but in the workshop they propose me use the SOLVE program of Excel to optimize the truss.

This Image Show the description of the problem

This Image  show the relation between GC and Excel how excel Manage the Geometry into GC. Also explain where in excel is the goal (the number that we are trying to reduce). The loads in the truss is decomposed node by node using the trignometric function Sin and Cos. fortunly for me the most part of the excel spreadsheet was maded by Matthew Clark from Arup New York. and the Strategy to connect both programms was of Steven Downing also from Arup Australia.

I Adde the constraints zone into excel and connect them to the position of the points also in the spreadsheet. the code in GC is really short but very intelligent because gc is completely camptured by Excel.

In this image there are an screenshot of the Solver in excel and the truss before and after the optimization. this Images were prepared for the conference day.

This are the parameters of the solver into Excel. also there are more options that you can control like the number of the iterations, the type of the algorithm to optimize, the accurate, etc.

This is an Screenshot during my work.

This is another screenshot and show the truss and the zones where the nodes can be moved. The width difference among all the tubes depends of the section area. also calculated from the spreadsheet in excel.

The truss with differents settings and extreamly constraints in the nodes. th truss now is calculated completely in compression, the reason becasuse all the tubes are in red color.

now the truss is calculated and new loads are defined. blue colors represent that this tubes are working to the slenderness.

And here after tthe optimization.

sketches in my notebook.

Here the constraints for each node.

And this is a video of the process.

here the images: