Papers by Yannis Zavoleas
Global NEST International Conference on Environmental Science & Technology
In 2020, the United Nations demonstrated that the building sector is responsible for 38% of all e... more In 2020, the United Nations demonstrated that the building sector is responsible for 38% of all energy-related CO2 emissions [1]. Architecture as an invasive practice, bears a responsibility and the capacity to minimize its negative ecological impact. This study investigates alternative methodologies of architectural design that employ the upgrading of greywater through the building envelope to integrate the building in the environment’s metabolic cycles. The building façade may be treated as an active membrane that controls energy and material resources to carry out energy-related functions. Its performance may be modeled by the operational principles of cell membranes and living organisms. The activation of the membrane is achieved by managing greywater resources, while architectural design is informed by biotechnology and environmental engineering. On a different note, water is a vital resource for the sustenance of life whose scarcity increases rapidly. By upgrading greywater, t...
Impact of Artificial Reefs on the Environment and Communities
This chapter describes the innovative design and fabrication of a complex reef system for Sydney ... more This chapter describes the innovative design and fabrication of a complex reef system for Sydney Harbour, Australia. The Bio-Shelters project is an ongoing collaborative investigation into the application of computational design and Industry 4.0 hybrid technologies to create site-specific artificial reefs. The location of the artificial reefs is Blackwattle Bay in Sydney Harbour. The Bay has been used for heavy industry for over 100 years, resulting in polluted water and severely damaged natural marine ecosystems. The chapter discusses the design approach to the Bio-Shelters, the marine species targeted, the iterative computational design, and sustainable material investigations that took place during the development. The authors then detail the hybrid fabrication processes using laser-cut steel waffle structures and shotcrete surface treatments. The chapter concludes with the current status of the ongoing project and defines the next steps using robotic fabrication.
Despite its apparent lack of physicality, the virtual environment produces real experiences to it... more Despite its apparent lack of physicality, the virtual environment produces real experiences to its users. In its intangible context of digital operation, the virtual setting can be a meeting point for individuals to interact and to gain experiences that have an impact upon their lives. After more than three decades of broad accessibility and use of the internet and various digital platforms, the virtual experience has also prompted to rethink many of the assumptions commonly attributed to physical space. From a practical point, the virtual world has been an extension of the real one as a new site that can host people’s activities without many of the limitations associated with the material world. Given its absence of physical restrictions, the virtual space appears as a boundless one, whose potential of evolution is still unclear. This sense of limitedness has caused to shift our common sense about physical space as well, including architectural perception and the methods and practi...
Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe (eCAADe) [Volume 1]
This paper outlines a critical approach to computation in architecture by using multi-agent syste... more This paper outlines a critical approach to computation in architecture by using multi-agent systems and dynamic simulation tools. Such methods reinforce viewing design as a data-driven process, whereby a problem is analysed to a set of agents and their properties. The related actions assume extensive modelling techniques, recursive experimentation and testing to assist design since the early stages until completion. In reflection, similar methods are employed to tackle problems of content other than architecture. The experiment being discussed is Bio-shelters. It involves designing artificial coral reefs to be placed at the Sydney Harbour, aiming to improve the living conditions of seashell and other endangered organisms. This paper first describes reefs as highly sophisticated ecosystems; then, it proposes methods for designing and constructing ones, further commenting onto their shape, fabrication, materiality and on-site placement, consequently reinforcing that extensive modelling techniques currently applicable in architecture may also respond to different scenarios about our settlements and the environment.
Proceedings of the 24th Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) [Volume 2]
This paper investigates ecologically-inspired computational strategies for the intelligent perfor... more This paper investigates ecologically-inspired computational strategies for the intelligent performance based landscape design of urban rooftop gardens. Plant communities in nature form resilient layouts that maximise use of available resources through a process of competitive pressure. Simulating these processes could allow us to design vegetation systems for the built environment that are adapted to variables on site, while meeting our design goals. This paper uses an agent-based model to ask if simulated ecological competition can be used as a computational method for producing effective planting layouts for urban roof terraces. A case study will be conducted to review the performance of the simulation. Through further research we will examine whether these strategies can also optimise for benefits including increased biodiversity, favourable microclimate, and reduced energy and water use.
Nexus Network Journal
Nexus Network Journal guest editors Yannis Zavoleas and Mark Taylor introduce the papers in vol 2... more Nexus Network Journal guest editors Yannis Zavoleas and Mark Taylor introduce the papers in vol 23 no. 1, a special issue dedicated to patterns and spatial organisation. In this introduction they discuss the role of patterns in architecture, from the early uses through to recent applications and future possibilities. Especially since the integration of computers and computing into design practice, a comparative discourse on the eras before-and-after their arrival seems imperative, so that the qualities of the past are selectively tailored to support those of the future. To that aim, the theme of this issue provides a vehicle to address many of architecture's key challenges from both a humanistic perspective and a technical/technological one.
Developments in the Built Environment
Proceedings of the 25th Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) [Volume 2], Aug 5, 2020
The paper exemplifies possible traces of transition towards Post-Anthropocene that is envisioned ... more The paper exemplifies possible traces of transition towards Post-Anthropocene that is envisioned as non-hierachical system. It is taking Morton's discussion on 'hyperobjectivity' further into multi-layered codesign performed in real time and real life across bio-digital agents, including humans. Though our planet might be recently experiencing drastic times and one catastrophic scenario follows the other, a natural succession often comes after most disasters.
Sustainable, Smart and Systemic Design Post-Anthropocene: Through a Transdisciplinary Lens
Concepts of the Post-Anthropocene often depict dystopian futures where land is occupied by giant ... more Concepts of the Post-Anthropocene often depict dystopian futures where land is occupied by giant machines performing repetitive tasks and replicating and fixing other machines. This speculation amplifies what is to be today’s solution for the efficient management of available assets, supported by hardware, software, and Artificial Intelligence technologies. However, it also portrays a dehumanising future where Earth has totally been succumbed to the machinic dogma, and for which architecture is no longer made for people. In response to this unsettling scenario, an alliance between nature as a source of references and computing explaining its systemic logic is considered, offering a pathway to reharmonize architecture’s scope with the greater ecology. Moreover, semantic analogies are drawn between holistic models of physical space and nature’s operational and organisational principles developed since early modernism. This sums up to a paradigm shift that employs cross-disciplinary co...
Buildings
By studying Aboriginal maps, this speculative research discusses world heritage concepts about la... more By studying Aboriginal maps, this speculative research discusses world heritage concepts about land and merges them into western urban contexts. Assumptions concerning spatial allocation and demarcation such as boundaries, divisions and geometric patterns are being contested by ideas pertaining to Indigenous narratives expressing holistic views about community, and the ecosystem as integrated components of broader organisations. First, this paper introduces principles of the Indigenous culture spurring viable land management by shared, equal and inclusive schemes as ones that also respond to global socio-environmental challenges. Alternative strategies are being considered relating to the soft demarcation of distinct areas understood as malleable aggregates merging with each other and with the landscape’s topological features, with reference to the Aboriginal culture. The techniques being proposed are further compared with original approaches in architecture and urban design develop...
In computer programming, layering is about the development of functions into successive levels in... more In computer programming, layering is about the development of functions into successive levels interacting in hierarchical order. In architectural practice, layering has a special meaning, traditionally referring to the tracing paper and the techniques attached to the two-dimensional drawing. Layering is generally related to scientific methods of data analysis. With computer’s increasing involvement in architectural practice, layering has been included in the first versions of design software in two and three dimensions. Gradually, layering has been established as a self-standing topic in architectural research, specifically on the influences of Information Technology; these include actions related to the registration, the measurement and the comparative evaluation of different kinds of data, also to the development of systems about spatial configuration. Such actions transform design decisively, being a process and also a set of results. The present paper draws upon the conceptual and technical implementations of layering in architecture. With layering, information is organized into archetypical schemas, so that it becomes more comprehensible and adaptive to specific design goals. Hence, layering aids the collaboration of various disciplines towards a more integrated understanding of architecture. Such an approach is rooted in modern culture. Archetypes of late modernism have broadly been implemented in designs ranging from housing, to buildings of public use and urban projects. The design objectives of the past are often comparable to the ones of the recent era; this second time with the aid of the computer and the advancements in methodology and techniques it offers. Following this premise, layering is presented as an intermediary agent between theory and practice that has been applicable since modernism. Currently, it is manifested again in design approaches that make use of the computer.
ENHSA-EAAE no 55 Rethinking the Human in Technology Driven Architecture based rethinking of archi... more ENHSA-EAAE no 55 Rethinking the Human in Technology Driven Architecture based rethinking of architecture. Last but not least, it follows the ways that the output produced (or imparted) by research, practice and contemporary contemplation on architecture is (tran)scribed into and recycled in architectural design teaching practices. The volume is structured on three main parts. In the rst part there are four essays introducing with inspiring way signi cant aspects of the reconsideration of the human in the way we conceive and understand architecture as creation and practice. Manuel DeLanda, Edith Ackermann, Antonino Saggio and Kostas Terzidis open with their contribution new directions and avenues for re ection on the main theme of the volume. The second part contains essays, which can be considered as coherent introduction to four di erent topics. The rst topic is the research in contemporary responsive architectural design. The second is the theoretical and philosophical considerations of the responsive architecture through the contemporary conceptions of the human. The third topic is the scripting applications, which support the design of responsive architecture. Finally the fourth topic focuses on the teaching of responsive architecture and the nature and form of methods and pedagogic approaches that could be implemented. The Scienti c Committee of the Conference 1 selected these essays to represent each one of these topics. The third part of the essays contains the papers that the Scienti c Committee selected to be presented in the Conference grouped according to the four afore-mentioned topics. A broad spectrum of approaches, conceptions and views can be found on the way contemporary architectural design becomes subject of research, contemplation, experimentation, materialisation and education. The editors expect that this volume will formulate the conditions for an interesting academic input on the basis of which a constructive debate can be formulated on the issue of integration aiming at bridging the most signi cant but arti cial separations in our educational systems, between architectural design modules, construction modules and theory modules. The editors also expect that the innovative approaches presented in the volume constitute a collection of good practice examples able to inspire more teachers and to in uence changes in our educational approaches.
Proceedings of the 24th Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) [Volume 2]
The perception of space may be described as the result of cognitive operations in which particula... more The perception of space may be described as the result of cognitive operations in which particular elements are assigned spatial significance. Such operations are relatively similar to digitalization processes, whereby an element’s attributes are translated to numerical data according to measuring systems and scales, so that they can be compared and evaluated. Similarly, elements of the physical world are perceptible as sensory stimuli that are registered to the applicable sensory organs and then may be translated to data that is comparable to the data of other elements. However, sensory stimuli may derive from any perceptible element, even those we commonly refer to as being “virtual”, “artificial” and “fake,” for example the elements that are digitally rendered on the computer screen. With such a premise, the paper examines how such elements may contribute in the formation of spatial experience. Consequently, the spatial significance of all elements and our interaction with space ...
The digital medium suggests a material reduction of reality; therefore a quest for its materialit... more The digital medium suggests a material reduction of reality; therefore a quest for its materiality is founded on an apparent paradox. Still, architectural design describes a gradual concretion of form, whereby rudimentary ideas of no particular substance are solidified to a realistic study and then to an architectural edifice. Each step of the process is about adding material characteristics to a project, which goes from being essentially abstract to being explicitly solid. Hence, abstraction is descriptive of the intermediate phases to which the processes of design and construction are typically broken down. In that respect, abstraction is not a sole characteristic of the digital medium; rather, it is an aid for the exploration of qualities related tostructure, also holding information about elements of spatial organization and support. This paper compares the advantages of abstraction in the digital and the analogue production means in architectural design, especially in relation ...
CAADRIA proceedings
Since the early days of modernism, architecture has shown a recurring interest on themes of biolo... more Since the early days of modernism, architecture has shown a recurring interest on themes of biological origin. With the advent of computation, the related discourse has been enriched with new analogies, in particular when biological systems are described by algorithmic formulas and their parametric functions are inspected with the assistance of simulation tools. An understanding of the architectural object with reference to biology offers breaking from typological preconceptions about form in favour of its operational character supporting organic behaviour. In reflection, the present paper puts under scrutiny ar-chitectural components such as façade, wall, window, opening, support structure and circulation viewed as topological references also in analogy to biological notions such as skin, membrane, cell, bone structure, energy flows and the nervous system. Form becomes the dynamic effect of forces; a system that manages energy trades being the primary cause of its shape.
Through the storefront glazing, or the protective security glass of artwork at an exhibition, eve... more Through the storefront glazing, or the protective security glass of artwork at an exhibition, even the screen of a television set, the portrayed object acquires significant magnitude. For such a transformation to occur, the physical attributes of glass are critical. As a result, objects from the surrounding environment, including the viewer, are projected onto the glass surface along with lights and the objects behind the glass, in a momentary optical composition. In contrast, other physical properties of the glass surface, such as its cold sense, as well as its stiffness and rigidity as a physical limit, along with its hardness and sharpness in case it breaks, preserve the distance between the viewer and the displayed objects. In an attempt to further develop on such thoughts, this paper analyses the perceptive operations triggered by the interference of a glass surface between an object and the viewer. Relevant cases are being examined in which the glass also perpetuates polarizat...
Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe (eCAADe) [Volume 2]
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Papers by Yannis Zavoleas