FLOOD RESILIENCE TOOLBOX
FLOOD RESILIENCE TOOLBOX FOR ADAPTIVE URBAN DESIGN IN COASTAL CITIES Flooding is the most frequent natural disaster worldwide. By the report from The OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), floods cause more than 38 billion euro in damages worldwide per year. Due to climate change, floods are becoming more extreme and frequent. Coastal areas … Read more
Data Driven Design: Populating & Visualizing Walls for GraphRAG
The work presented in this blog post is a study on how to with code and visual tools the creation and representation of the data this research group has been using for a main project in Research Studio. It explores the integration of data-driven design methods to support sustainable facade development and align with environmental … Read more
Designing the Future: How Emerging Economies and Innovative Models Can Shape Resilient Labor Markets
The Future of Work and Emerging Economies: How Design Can Shape Resilient Labor MarketsIn a world where emerging economies are increasingly intertwined with technological advancements, the future of work is rapidly evolving. The intersection of automation, digital platforms, and shifting economic paradigms presents both immense challenges and exciting opportunities. As an architect and student at … Read more
US time use change during and after COVID
ABSTRACT Derived from the 2020 pandemic sanitary measures for Covid-19, Google created the Community Mobility Reports, which provide valuable insights of how people’s mobility changed as a result of the established health policies. The objective of this analysis was to understand how United States residents’ mobility behavior changed over time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. … Read more
‘COMPound’ – Revolutionizing Access to Credit
‘The project envisions the use of novel data collection strategies for the purpose of increasing access to formal credit for MSMEs in the F&B Space. Across the globe, cities face a pivotal challenge: unlocking the potential of their micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to drive both urban transformation and national economic growth. These enterprises, … Read more
Robotic Craft Interaction
An Intersectional Investigation Robotics is the field of study focused on the research and application of robotic systems. This definition, however, doesn’t provide much insight. So, what is a robot? Robots are machines that can operate autonomously or through programmed input to perform specific tasks, often replacing human effort. These tasks are typically complex and … Read more
Collective imagination in a crisis scenario
In order to overcome the current climate emergency and polycrisis a critical approach needs to be explored. This implies analyzing the impacts and trends of the contemporary (inter)relationships between society, culture and digital technologies. However, the nature of those phenomena is multiclausal. There is not a single factor who produces it. Although capitalism and its … Read more
Exploring Digital Futures: Embracing Complexity and Imagination
In a world marked by interconnected crises and technological change, understanding Digital Cultures helps us navigate how we engage with technology and address pressing global challenges. This exploration underscores the critical role of narratives, metaphors, and values in shaping our responses to an uncertain future. The Context of Polycrisis Our journey began by examining the … Read more
Reflection on My Experience in “Digital Cultures”
Personal Experience When I stepped into this course, I didn’t know what to expect, but what I found was a spark. From the very first class, it felt like stepping into a think tank on technology, a space where nothing was too obvious to question. In an age where we live and breathe technology, this … Read more
Being critical in the era of Digital Cultures
How we interact with the digital world and with the digital tools that we have today? That is the question I asked myself at the beginning of this course. Digital cultures came to me as an experience to question the use of technology in the design and development of cities and societies, in the time … Read more
Unmasking Digital Culture: Rethinking Progress, Equity, and Sustainability
Accumulation: A Mirage of Progress Imagine a minimalist workspace—a pristine desk, a single laptop, a small plant to complete the tableau. It’s serene, efficient, and modern. Yet, behind this simplicity lies a sprawling network of data centers consuming vast amounts of energy, hidden from view. This duality invites a deeper reflection: is our pursuit of … Read more
Urban Wind Flow Modeling with PINNs
Overview PaperLink WIP – This study specifically explores Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to analyze pedestrian wind comfort. It aims to integrate these neural network models into a web application using Three.js and other tools. By utilizing data from OpenWeatherMap, and OpenStreetMap, the project aims to support real-time simulations and visualizations … Read more
Climate Sensitive Facade Intervention for Urban Heat Island Mitigation
Research Questions: Can climate sensitive facade interventions reduce the intensity of the Urban Heat Island effect within urban blocks in arid climates?“ Research Goal: The goal is to propose simplified, climate-sensitive facade interventions in highly urbanized cities that reduce energy loads by mitigating Urban Heat Island (UHI) effects, while complying with climate-resilient regulations. These interventions … Read more
The Gòtic Quarter: A Sustainable Economic Model or Not?
Located in the heart of Barcelona, where the history of the city began, the Gòtic Quarter is an iconic neighborhood, we sought to understand its complex dynamics and whether its economic model could truly be called sustainable. From Roman foundations to bustling contemporary streets, the Gòtic Quarter embodies a story of transformation. But behind its … Read more
Urban Insights: Leveraging Open Data for Smart Property Rate Predictions
1.0 Concept In the evolving landscape of urban development, property rates are influenced by numerous factors, including geographical, socio-economic, and infrastructural elements. Our project, “Urban Insights: Leveraging Open Data for Smart Property Rate Predictions,” aims to create an intelligent, data-driven model to forecast property rates. This model utilizes features such as wards, property types, and … Read more
BIMConverse – GraphRAG for IFC Natural Language Queries
Introduction BIM and Cloud Adoption The construction industry is still experiencing a digital revolution led by the widespread adoption of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and cloud computing technologies. BIM has established itself as the central tool for the digital planning, construction and management of buildings, while cloud computing is transforming collaboration and data access. Studies … Read more
Mediación de la Paz Urbana: Ideando un Campus-Parque para la Auto-Fabricación en San José de Costa Rica, CA.
La formulación de la paz es imposible para el consenso de las masas actuales. Esta misma perspectiva es igualmente negativa en el país que inició el desarme de sus tropas después de la dolorosa II Guerra Mundial y una sangrienta Guerra Civil en 1948, esta es Costa Rica. Una utopía en las américas, una deformada … Read more
Code – VIZ
We embarked on a fascinating journey through the latest advancements in Image Synthesis and Language Models within the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. The course highlighted the transformative potential of generative AI, enabling architects, engineers, and designers to push the boundaries of traditional design processes, streamline workflows, and tackle complex challenges in groundbreaking ways. … Read more
Skin Sense
Skin Sense is a project that aims to help users optimize the thermal comfort of their interior spaces by applying skin shaders. Why implement this? What can skin sense help the user with? Once the designer designs the skin for the building facade it has to be analyzed for indoor comfort. To analyze indoor comfort … Read more
Barcelona Program
Block Classification This project aims to classify urban blocks in Barcelona, focusing on the districts of Saint Martí and Eixample, based on their dominant functions. By identifying the primary uses of these urban blocks, we can gain insights into the spatial organization and functional distribution within the research area. Saint Martí and Eixample, two vibrant … Read more
DF Predictor (cGAN)
DF Predictor aims to revolutionize daylight prediction in architectural design by implementing the conditional generative adversarial network (cGAN) Pix2Pix to predict daylight factors, motivated by the need to improve efficiency and accuracy in daylight analysis. Daylight factor analysis, an integral part of the early design stages and mandated by building codes, is typically lengthy due … Read more
Rental Price Predictor – Amsterdam
Introduction Accurate prediction of rental prices poses a significant challenge in dynamic real estate markets such as Amsterdam. Our research project explores the use of graph-based machine learning to improve the accuracy of such predictions. This methodology could be of interest to various actors in the real estate sector, including brokers, investors, and urban planners. … Read more
