Project Scope and Objectives
This project, developed as the industrial team, explores collaborative workflows in the context of a studio project focused on automation & architectural integration. The objective was to design an app that supports the development of multifunctional industrial spaces, guided by the Japanese principle of circularity known as ensō.
The studio project addresses themes of energy, food, and waste, with a particular emphasis on creating energy-positive environments, supporting local food production, and improving material & water cycles. The broader aim is to challenge traditional perceptions of industrial zones by introducing adaptable spaces that serve both functional and community-oriented purposes.
Collaborative Framework
The project relied on a multi-disciplinary collaboration model, with information shared across different focus areas. Coordination tools included:
- Speckle for 3D model and data exchange.
- Miro for concept development and storytelling.
A shared timeline was used across teams, which occasionally led to integration delays due to the concurrent delivery of work. Despite this, data was consistently exchanged with other groups:
- Service & Residential teams provided demographic and spatial programming data in exchange of industrial spaces shares.
- Facade contributed with photovoltaic energy data in exchange of energy requirements for each neighborhood.
- Structure supplied geometric models in exchange of 3D node-levels adapted to their approach.
Internally, the tasks in the industrial team where divided into 3 main topics:
- Energy conceiving a robust energy concept for the building.
- Food implementing strategies to supply the food demand locally.
- Waste closing loops in the topics of waste and water.
The intensive exchange of data proposed a difficult challenge. Therefore, the implementation of structured workflows from the beginning of the process was necessary. This could prevent abortive work and bottlenecks in the design process.
A clear list of required inputs and outputs between our team (industrial) and the rest of the teams was essential to maintain the focus and have a solid foundation for the trackability of responsibilities and tasks.
The project management lives from the temporal parameters. Thus, a structured timeline recording and also forecasting possible zones of friction is imperative for a seamless collaboration. As in any other project, initial thoughts and concepts that are not feasible, do not progress in the timeline chart and stay constraint in their own design stage.
Automation for Adaptive Space Generation
The team developed NodeGen, a tool that automates the generation of industrial node levels with variable geometry depending on neighborhood context:
- Residential areas use flexible forms suitable for community markets and events.
- Working zones employ more structured geometries optimized for co-working and productivity.
NodeGen operates within the Revit environment and is designed to respond to updates in massing automatically. It also allows users to manually change node types, prompting real-time regeneration of geometry based on selected parameters.
There are 3 node level types depending on each neighborhood.
For residential neighborhoods, FREE flexible open spaces are created to host weekly markets or events.
In mainly working spaces, SHARP geometries are integrated to allow the placement of co-working spaces seamlessly.
Spaces where the main goal is to be distracted and relaxed, such as health and spa areas, art and events or food and culinary areas are called SOFT.
Technical Workflow
NodeGen is supported by a set of integrated tools and services:
- SpecklePy and RhinoCompute for scripting.
- Fly.io for web hosting.
- Speckle for model exchange.
- Grasshopper and RhinoCompute for geometry creation.
This structure enables a flexible and scalable workflow suited for dynamic design environments in the AEC sector.
Conclusion
This project demonstrates a practical approach to collaborative design and workflow automation in architectural contexts. By aligning circular design principles with technological integration, the team was able to propose a system that adapts to different urban and industrial needs while maintaining flexibility and coherence across design stages.
