Architectural Design

The proliferation of data together with the increase of computing power in the last decade has triggered a new interest in artificial intelligence methods. Machine learning and in particular deep learning techniques, inspired by the topological structure of neurons network in brains, are omnipresent in the IT discourse, and generated new enthusiasms and fears in our society. These methods have already shown great effectiveness in fields far from architecture and have long been exploited in software that we use every day. Many computing libraries are available for anyone with some programming skills and allow them to "train" a neural network based on several types of data. The world of architecture has not remained external to this phenomenon: many researchers are working on the applications of artificial intelligence to architectural design, a few design software allow exploiting machine learning algorithms, and some large architectural firms have begun to experiment with deep learning methods to put into practice data accumulated over years of profession, with a special interest in environmental sustainability and building performance. If on the one hand, these techniques promise great results, on the other we are still in an exploratory phase. It is then necessary, in our opinion, to understand what the roles of this technology could be within the architectural design process, and with which scopes they can facilitate such a complex profession as that of the architect. On this subject we made ten interviews with as many designers and researchers in the AEC industry, In the article we will report a summary of their testimonies, comparing and commenting on the responses of the designers, with the aim of understanding the potentials of using artificial intelligence methods within the design process, report their perceptions on how artificial intelligence techniques can affect the architect's approach to the project, concluding with some reflections on the critical issues identified during the interviews with the designers.

She Ji is a peer-reviewed, trans-disciplinary design journal with a focus on economics and innovation, design process and design thinking. The journal invites papers that enrich the understanding and practice that enable design innovation in industry, business, non-profit services, and government through economic and social value creation. These papers may explore how design thinking can inform wider social, managerial, and intellectual discourses with an added focus on strategy and management. She Ji also publishes articles in research methods and methodology, philosophy, and philosophy of science to support the core journal area.

She Ji is fully open access. Tongji University and Tongji University Press support She Ji as a contribution to the design field and a public service to design research. Authors are not liable for any publication charges and all published articles are accessible free of charge from the journal web site at URL:

http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/

New challenges for the architectural project are globally emerging in order to the social economic changes and the dispute between ideological man and technological man. Avoiding any formalistic configuration, it should be based on the environment of the future: house, work and city. This doesn't mean deal with the compact city or with the soil consumption, because it doesn't make sense nowadays a-priori, in particular in the new European socioeconomic condition. Dealing with this problem means focusing on the regeneration of existing, in particular buildings and suburbs, till they reach a critical mass to host new functions, committed to the contemporary sustainability way of living. The new aesthetics must look at the tradition and innovation to transform the confused contexts and the suburbs, which lost identity. The regeneration of the suburbs, through the design of collective elements and the forecasting, hard but necessary, of the commercial function, can contribute to recreate new connections inside the territory, at both local and global scale. In this Paper is proposed a qualitative research, carried by the Rural Architectural Intensification Research group of the University of Pavia in collaboration with researchers of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji University in Shanghai, thorough interpretation and survey of numerous study cases between China and Europe with the aim to discover innovations and alternative design hypothesis that may explain the ongoing phenomena in the deprived suburbs: interventions on materials, spaces and functions, capable of giving back social and landscape dignity to forget suburbs.

Interrupted cities è un progetto di ricerca internazionale che abbiamo avviato tre anni addietro insieme a Tom Rankin, Giorgio Verdiani e Paolo Pineschi. Il progetto è stato intitolato come evidente omaggio alla Roma Interrotta di Piero Sartogo, ma - a partire da Nicosia, la città interrotta dalla divisione in due dell’isola di Cipro nel 1974 - interrupted city ha esplorato altre istanze di interruzione, quali la divisione tra centro e periferia, e anche l’interruzione della vita di una città che segue un evento sismico. È soprattutto qui il senso di questo seminario camerte. La Città di Camerino, a mio avviso, deve rinascere come era e dove era, e non può invece essere interrotta da una politica miope del ricostruire altro, altrove, incassando profitti. Nella città interrotta dal terremoto ci siamo riuniti durante il XXIX Seminario internazionale e Premio di Architettura e Cultura Urbana, coordinato da Giovanni Marucci, per indagare sull’interruzione come strumento compositivo. Per trattare l’argomento userò la figura retorica della metafora nascosta: dove una figura che rimanda ad altro, viene impiegata per suggerire il senso di un concetto, senza però delinearlo precisamente, ovvero interrompendone la definizione in modo da rafforzarne il significato.

The proliferation of data together with the increase of computing power in the last decade has triggered a new interest in artificial intelligence methods. Machine learning and in particular deep learning techniques, inspired by the topological structure of neurons network in brains, are omnipresent in the IT discourse, and generated new enthusiasms and fears in our society. These methods have already shown great effectiveness in fields far from architecture and have long been exploited in software that we use every day. Many computing libraries are available for anyone with some programming skills and allow them to "train" a neural network based on several types of data.
The world of architecture has not remained external to this phenomenon: many researchers are working on the applications of artificial intelligence to architectural design, a few design software allow exploiting machine learning algorithms, and some large architectural firms have begun to experiment with deep learning methods to put into practice data accumulated over years of profession, with special interest in environmental sustainability and building performance. If on the one hand, these techniques promise great results, on the other we are still in an exploratory phase. It is then necessary, in our opinion, to understand what the roles of this technology could be within the architectural design process, and with which scopes they can facilitate such a complex profession as that of the architect.
On this subject we made ten interviews with as many designers and researchers in the AEC industry, In the article we will report a summary of their testimonies, comparing and commenting on the responses of the designers, with the aim of understanding the potentials of using artificial intelligence methods within the design process, report their perceptions on how artificial intelligence techniques can affect the architect's approach to the project, concluding with some reflections on the critical issues identified during the interviews with the designers.