A Being :{ boids }

Chun-Chang Chen & Sheng-Fen Chien
CODE Lab, Department of Architecture, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology

 

The Environmental Design Research Institute (EDRI) is a center to promote sustainable development of human environments. Its founders emphasize that a sustainable global environment is a symbiosis of man-made environments and natural environments, and in turn, an architecture is a symbiosis of buildings and their residents. Furthermore, they stress that the success of a symbiotic relationship lies not through a planned, centralized, organized, controlled mechanism but relies on the intelligence of individuals in the relationship. An individual, i.e. a person, a building, an architecture, or a natural environment, should possess the intelligence to interact, cooperate with other individuals. A successful symbiosis is thus an emergent result. To the extent, the sustainable global environment can only be achieved through the emergent result of these intelligent individuals.

We are charged to design a campus to house EDRI. Given the philosophical belief of its founders, we consider the architecture of EDRI to be A Being. This being possesses the intelligence to fulfill the symbiotic relationship with its surrounded environment. The emergent intelligent behavior of this being is, in turn, arrived through a collection of symbiotic boids. Boids are autonomous entities, which represent spaces. A space, in turn, is a symbiosis of building elements, which form the space, and occupants, who use the space for desired activities.

Program

The site of EDRI campus is situated in the southern edge of Taipei, Taiwan. It is within walking distance of two universities and several research institutes. To the north, across a 15-meter street, is a parking tower. To the east, right next to the site, is a research laboratory. To the south, across a 12-meter street, are small houses and a hill. To the west, across a 6-meter street, is a school.

The existing urban fabrics are in two orientations. To the north and the west of the site are man-made barriers. To the south is a natural barrier. To the east is another research institute where the flow of inspiration, chi, comes. In the site, there is a lively and fertile area, which we consider as the energy source of the site.

The EDRI campus is a working, learning and living laboratory for 20 faculty members and 60 apprentices. Five types of spaces are needed to support the residents.

  • Research & Design Studio: working and learning laboratory where residents conduct research and design practices.
  • Knowledge Archive: library where all forms of knowledge are stored and ready for reuse.
  • Ecological Refuge: preserved natural habitat where residents may relax and appreciate nature.
  • Cafeteria: living laboratory for food, drinks and social interactions.
  • Dormitory: off-work, living spaces for apprentices.

Concept

The architecture of EDRI campus is a being that adapts to the contextual (environmental) forces.

Given the existing urban fabrics, we divide the site into two parts: north zone, the northern 2/3 where the ground is even; and south zone, the southern 1/3 where the ground is sticky. When the chi flows through the site, particles on the northern ground tend to drift and pile-up near the man-made barriers; whereas particles on the southern ground tend to stick on the spot and orient along the natural barrier.

A Being is a collection of boids. There are five types of boids. Each type of boids forms a type of space. A boid represents a unit of space, which is 4x4x4 (meters) in volume. A complete design, a being, is thus formed by the symbiosis of all boids.

  • Research & Design Studio: 20 red boids
  • Knowledge Archive: 24 orange boids
  • Ecological Refuge: 13 yellow boids
  • Cafeteria: 18 green boids
  • Dormitory: 60 blue boids.

Boids stay in the incubation chamber, where they evolve constantly. They are then released (born) through the energy source on the site. Once released, boids continue to adapt to their environment according to a set of generative rules to achieve a best fit.






Generative Rules

Boids in the incubation chamber evolve according to the following rules, for each boid:

  1. moves close to another boid of the same type; and
  2. if occupies the same spot of another boid, moves to a higher elevation.

Boids released on the site are influenced by the contextual forces:

  • in the north zone, boids are pushed towards north, west and higher elevation; while
  • in the south zone, boids tend to fix on the spot and rotate (26 degrees counter-clockwise) to align with the urban fabric.

Given these conditions, boids on the site react to the environment and other boids according to the following rules, for each boid:

  1. moves close to another boid of the same type;
  2. if in the north zone, sets priority to move towards north and west;
  3. if in the north zone and if occupies the same spot of another boid, moves to a higher elevation;
  4. if in the south zone, sets priority to rotate;
  5. if in the south zone and if occupies the same spot of another boid, moves away from the spot;
  6. if is red and if orange boids nearby, increases possibility to move towards them;
  7. if is red and if yellow boids nearby, increases possibility to move towards them;
  8. if is orange and if yellow boids nearby, increases possibility to move towards them;
  9. if is green and if orange boids nearby, increases possibility to move towards them;
  10. if is green and if yellow boids nearby, increases possibility to move towards them;
  11. if is blue and if yellow boids nearby, increases possibility to move towards them.
 

Design Explorations

We explore design alternatives through variations of the following three factors:

  1. incubation time
  2. the order of release (birth)
  3. contextual forces

In this design exploration, boids are released in the order of Research & Design Studio (red), Knowledge Archive (orange), Ecological Refuge (yellow), Cafeteria (green) and Dormitory (blue).

The resulting design alternative is an arrangement that reserves a large front yard surrounded by main spaces. The front yard connects the main access road which is to the north of the site.
By maintaining the order of birth, we vary the incubation time of each type of boids to explore best fitting designs.

This result is a design alternative of interconnected building mass that intermixes the space Research & Design Studio with Knowledge Archive and thus fosters the knowledge creation and integration.
Here, again, we explore different settings of incubation time.

This design alternative reserves a green corridor that runs through the south-north axis of the site. Building mass is located to the northern part, and leaving the southern part as a natural habitat.
In this design exploration, we introduce a rotation force to the north zone of the site, as well as increase the rotation force to the south zone.

The resulting design alternative compacts all spaces into a connected mass clustered near the north-western part of the site. However, Ecological Refuge acts as the central courtyard of the other four surrounded spaces.

By maintaining the addition of contextual forces in the previous exploration, we again vary the incubation time of each type of boids to explore best fitting designs.

Having building masses clustered near the north-western corner of the site, this design alternative creates a large back garden, which is free from human interference.

In this design exploration, we change the order of birth to be Research & Design Studio (red), Cafeteria (green), Knowledge Archive (orange), Dormitory (blue) and Ecological Refuge (yellow).

In the resulting design alternative, all spaces circle around the energy source. The building mass resembles an organic being embracing the land. The symbiosis of architecture and its environment is emerging.....

  To better illustrate our design explorations, please refer to the interactive media presentation bellow.

FEIDAD 2005
A Being :{ boids } by Chen & Chien