The use of virtual models in architecture has grown steadily in the last decade. 2D, 21/2, 3D and... more The use of virtual models in architecture has grown steadily in the last decade. 2D, 21/2, 3D and 4D are labels that resume this recent history and that refer to models that can be inspected in a programmed or an interactive mode. But in the case of 4D models this distinction, trivial in the previous cases, implies technical and conceptual issues that are quite relevant to the architectural world. This paper touches these issues in relation with a big model, including large areas of Barcelona, that is being developped at the Laboratorio de Modelado Virtual de la Ciudad and that has already atracted the attention of the public authorities as it allows an interactive approach to new projects inserted in the existing buidings of the city.
The paper describes in detail a process of work consisting of merging a virtual model into a real... more The paper describes in detail a process of work consisting of merging a virtual model into a real image. This process implies three different kinds of operations: geometric restoration of the real scene, in 3D, from a photograph, rendering a virtual model under similar conditions as the photograph, and merging of the rendered image with the original image. The paper empasises quality and visual precision of results together with a semiautomatization of the entire process. It also refers critically these three different groups of operations to their theoretical background. It concludes with an evaluation of the work from the point of view of architectural visual analysis and from the point of view of architectural visual analysis and from the point of view of a general design methodology.
This paper is a general reflection on the relationship between computer architectural education a... more This paper is a general reflection on the relationship between computer architectural education and professional practice or, in other words, the social role of architects. This reflection is grounded on the experience of the author as director of a Master program on computerized architectural projects and as professor of two general school courses: one consisting on a theoretical review of computer applications in architecture, the other consisting on a practical development of modeling and visualization techniques. The main argument is that little attention is being given in recent publications and CAAD conferences to the actual role of architect in society and that a big gap is growing between what is currently taught in architectural schools and what happens in real life. This gap has as one pole what is loosely called the «star system» of famous architects that create singular buildings and that constitute the main reference of our architectural culture and, as another pole, th...
The notion of .scale., in architecture, has a variety of meanings. In general, it refers to a gra... more The notion of .scale., in architecture, has a variety of meanings. In general, it refers to a graduate serie of symbolic elements that hold the place for real elements. It stands in close relationship with the notions of .model. and .representation.. A thorough discussion of the concept of scale should start with an analysis of the way in which we perceive natural objects, specially architectural objects. This perception appears as continuous but is not: there are some stages that can be identified as belonging to some .natural visual scale.. Traditional graphic scales do not relate clearly with this natural scale due to old technical problems. So the discussion proceeds towards the notion of multiresolution and how the concept of scale should be developped to cover properly the characteristics of virtual models, attempting to provide a conceptual framework for this discussion.
1. History. A Summary of the different phases which followed .. . The first step made at the ETSA... more 1. History. A Summary of the different phases which followed .. . The first step made at the ETSAB in the computer field goes back to 1965, when professors Margarit and Buxadé acquired an IBM computer, an electromechanical machine which used perforated cards and which was used to produce an innovative method of structural calculation. This method was incorporated in the academic courses and, at that time, this repeated question "should students learn programming?" was readily answered: the exercises required some knowledge of Fortran and every student needed this knowledge to do the exercises. This method, well known in Europe at that time, also provided a service for professional practice and marked the beginning of what is now the CC (Centro de Calculo) of our school.
Sigradi 2007 Proceedings of the 11th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics Mexico D F Mexico 23 25 October 2007 Pp 155 158, 2007
This communication is based on the development of a new subject to be imparted in collaboration w... more This communication is based on the development of a new subject to be imparted in collaboration with three Departments (Visual Communication, Projects and Construction) at the School of Architecture of Barcelona. It is a work that has been financed with a special grant from our university, aimed at the development of new teaching modalities and, in particular, of those that would develop the use of new technologies, collaboration among university departments and eLearning. The aim of the communication is twofold. First, to present some results that we consider valuable in themselves, as much for the techniques as for the methodology that we have used. Second, to propitiate a debate on the new situation that the teaching of architecture is moving to, due to the advance of a series of instruction methods where the methodological organization, the storing of informative material and the preparation of autonomous interactive systems, open more and more effective roads of learning but that, at the same time, point towards a new educational structure that fits badly within the traditional structures in which we have still to work daily. Regarding the first point, the main aspects to highlight are: a) the development of a selflearning system by means of a very complete series of tutorials that allow a gradual acquisition, depending on the necessities or interests of each student, of geometric modeling, parametric design, visual simulation and interactive animation techniques, b) the development of a system of general information supply and on line comments and corrections. Regarding the second point, a provisional theoretical framework has been elaborated based on the consideration of the ubiquitous visual communication media as misleading mediators of a personal relationship. This theoretical frame has been tested by a few experiences carried out with the collaboration of students implied in the project. The general conclusion is that both challenges must be faced at the same time: new educational technologies must be analysed and integrated in our curricula and a new theoretical framework, able to clarify the difference between instruction and education, must be developed in parallel with those technologies.
The use of virtual models in architecture has grown steadily in the last decade. 2D, 21/2, 3D and... more The use of virtual models in architecture has grown steadily in the last decade. 2D, 21/2, 3D and 4D are labels that resume this recent history and that refer to models that can be inspected in a programmed or an interactive mode. But in the case of 4D models this distinction, trivial in the previous cases, implies technical and conceptual issues that are quite relevant to the architectural world. This paper touches these issues in relation with a big model, including large areas of Barcelona, that is being developped at the Laboratorio de Modelado Virtual de la Ciudad and that has already atracted the attention of the public authorities as it allows an interactive approach to new projects inserted in the existing buidings of the city.
The paper describes in detail a process of work consisting of merging a virtual model into a real... more The paper describes in detail a process of work consisting of merging a virtual model into a real image. This process implies three different kinds of operations: geometric restoration of the real scene, in 3D, from a photograph, rendering a virtual model under similar conditions as the photograph, and merging of the rendered image with the original image. The paper empasises quality and visual precision of results together with a semiautomatization of the entire process. It also refers critically these three different groups of operations to their theoretical background. It concludes with an evaluation of the work from the point of view of architectural visual analysis and from the point of view of architectural visual analysis and from the point of view of a general design methodology.
This paper is a general reflection on the relationship between computer architectural education a... more This paper is a general reflection on the relationship between computer architectural education and professional practice or, in other words, the social role of architects. This reflection is grounded on the experience of the author as director of a Master program on computerized architectural projects and as professor of two general school courses: one consisting on a theoretical review of computer applications in architecture, the other consisting on a practical development of modeling and visualization techniques. The main argument is that little attention is being given in recent publications and CAAD conferences to the actual role of architect in society and that a big gap is growing between what is currently taught in architectural schools and what happens in real life. This gap has as one pole what is loosely called the «star system» of famous architects that create singular buildings and that constitute the main reference of our architectural culture and, as another pole, th...
The notion of .scale., in architecture, has a variety of meanings. In general, it refers to a gra... more The notion of .scale., in architecture, has a variety of meanings. In general, it refers to a graduate serie of symbolic elements that hold the place for real elements. It stands in close relationship with the notions of .model. and .representation.. A thorough discussion of the concept of scale should start with an analysis of the way in which we perceive natural objects, specially architectural objects. This perception appears as continuous but is not: there are some stages that can be identified as belonging to some .natural visual scale.. Traditional graphic scales do not relate clearly with this natural scale due to old technical problems. So the discussion proceeds towards the notion of multiresolution and how the concept of scale should be developped to cover properly the characteristics of virtual models, attempting to provide a conceptual framework for this discussion.
1. History. A Summary of the different phases which followed .. . The first step made at the ETSA... more 1. History. A Summary of the different phases which followed .. . The first step made at the ETSAB in the computer field goes back to 1965, when professors Margarit and Buxadé acquired an IBM computer, an electromechanical machine which used perforated cards and which was used to produce an innovative method of structural calculation. This method was incorporated in the academic courses and, at that time, this repeated question "should students learn programming?" was readily answered: the exercises required some knowledge of Fortran and every student needed this knowledge to do the exercises. This method, well known in Europe at that time, also provided a service for professional practice and marked the beginning of what is now the CC (Centro de Calculo) of our school.
Sigradi 2007 Proceedings of the 11th Iberoamerican Congress of Digital Graphics Mexico D F Mexico 23 25 October 2007 Pp 155 158, 2007
This communication is based on the development of a new subject to be imparted in collaboration w... more This communication is based on the development of a new subject to be imparted in collaboration with three Departments (Visual Communication, Projects and Construction) at the School of Architecture of Barcelona. It is a work that has been financed with a special grant from our university, aimed at the development of new teaching modalities and, in particular, of those that would develop the use of new technologies, collaboration among university departments and eLearning. The aim of the communication is twofold. First, to present some results that we consider valuable in themselves, as much for the techniques as for the methodology that we have used. Second, to propitiate a debate on the new situation that the teaching of architecture is moving to, due to the advance of a series of instruction methods where the methodological organization, the storing of informative material and the preparation of autonomous interactive systems, open more and more effective roads of learning but that, at the same time, point towards a new educational structure that fits badly within the traditional structures in which we have still to work daily. Regarding the first point, the main aspects to highlight are: a) the development of a selflearning system by means of a very complete series of tutorials that allow a gradual acquisition, depending on the necessities or interests of each student, of geometric modeling, parametric design, visual simulation and interactive animation techniques, b) the development of a system of general information supply and on line comments and corrections. Regarding the second point, a provisional theoretical framework has been elaborated based on the consideration of the ubiquitous visual communication media as misleading mediators of a personal relationship. This theoretical frame has been tested by a few experiences carried out with the collaboration of students implied in the project. The general conclusion is that both challenges must be faced at the same time: new educational technologies must be analysed and integrated in our curricula and a new theoretical framework, able to clarify the difference between instruction and education, must be developed in parallel with those technologies.
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Papers by Javier Monedero