TOPIC 1 - Participatory Design in the Metaverse for Sustainable Habitats

This topic calls for studies that focus on collaboration and co-creation in Participatory Design, which involves both expert and general intelligence in design and decision-making processes for the aim of synthesising top-down and bottom-up approaches. The studies should consider citizens not as passive consumers and recipients of architectural services and aids, but active contributors and experts on the daily life of the city. Contextualised in sustainable habitat production, this topic problematizes traditional client-contractor modes of exchanges and explores alternative stakeholder-driven models, examining how emerging Metaverse tools may assist or fail in the process.

Provides Ng, Bartlett School of Architecture & Chinese University of Hong Kong, CN | Architectural Research || Eli Joteva, Houdini school, Drexel University, US | Intermedia Art || Alberto Fernandez, University College London, GB & University of Chile, CL | Computation in Architecture || Hira Zuberi, Habib University, Karachi, PK | Participatory Design || David Doria, University College London, GB | AI in Architecture || Kaf Ng, Leigh & Orange Architects Hong Kong, CN | Architectural Practice || Contact Person: Provides Ng

Sub-TOPIC - Housing customization approach by generative design and immersive visualization

The need to adapt houses to the preferences of their inhabitants is a topic that architects have been concerned with for a long. This topic was fully discussed in the 50s and 60s by authors such as Hansen, Hundertwasser, Maki, Habraken, Turner, and others. Today this discussion continues, and several participatory practices are now recognized as the ones of MVRDV and Elemental offices, although their action is limited. In this sub-topic, we propose a discussion on the potential of a design tool that gives inhabitants the means to design housing customization solutions and is created by architects to generate solutions that satisfy the architectural rules of the housing. Such tools, by using generative design strategies, enable inhabitants to customize their houses according to their desire and needs and to a given architectural language. Additionally, to the generative power of such tools, the opportunities brought by metaverse enable quick and full simulations, new collaboration, and interaction possibilities within the design process. New implementations of technologies such as virtual and augmented reality and decreasing prices are reasons to anticipate wide use in the near future. Examples are the metaverse BigWorld (from Zaha Hadid architects), where citizens can access and co-create their space.

Sara Eloy, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, PT | Architecture || Maria Lopez, MVRDV, NL | Architecture || Pieter E. Vermaas, TU Delft, NL | Philosophy || Micaela Raposo, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, PT | Architecture || Marcos Figueiredo, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, PT | Product Design || Contact Person: Sara Eloy

TOPIC 2 - Post Carbon - how to align UN SDGs to teaching and research in Computational Design [ TO BE CONFRIMED]

An increase of the worlds population to 10 billion people by 2050 will consequently also mean an increase of the building sectors contribution to climate change. Currently our sector uses globally most of natural resources (~60%), produce too much emission (~50%), and waste (~50%) – all are interlinked. This proposal aims to address this through re-thinking the role and focus of computational design research and education and how we can address through our work the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

M. Hank Haeusler, University of New South Wales, AU | Computational Design || Dagmar Reinhardt, University of Sydney, AU | Computational Design || Tim Schork, University of Technology Sydney, AU | Computational Design || Anastasia Globa, University of Sydney, AU | Advanced Manufacturing || Daniel Yu, University of New South Wales, AU Computational Design ||  Nicole Gardner, University of New South Wales, AU Computational Design ||  Cristina Ramos Jaime, University of New South Wales, AU Computational Design || Contact person: M. Hank Haeusler

TOPIC 3 - Multi-species and multi-scalar urban ecologies.

The human impact on urban areas continues to be a challenge that is only accelerated by climate change. Human habitats are at the same time habitats for other species, but are they still ‘natural’, or even supportive of life forms? A better understanding is needed for natural urban processes, more-than-human relationships, multi-species justice and how we can conserve and expand biodiversity in our urban ecosystems. This includes development of approaches and infrastructures or scaffolds for integrative ecologies across multi-species and multi-scales in our urban settings, from dense inner cities to the vast and regimented landscapes of suburbia.

Dagmar Reinhardt, University of Sydney, AU | Computational Design ||  Tracey Woods, University of Sydney, AU | Architecture Theory || Henriette Bier, TU Delft, NL | Robotics in Architecture || Dieter Hochuli, USYD School of Life and Environmental Sciences, AU | Integrative Ecology || Danielle Celermajer, USYD Department of Sociology and Social Policy, AU | Multi-species Justice || Hamed Alavi, University of Amsterdam, NL | Human-AI Interaction || Contact Person: Dagmar Reinhardt

TOPIC 4 - Machine Learning Data for Architectural Design.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the most promising technology to transform ever-increasing data into valuable knowledge, upon which decisions and actions are made to resolve the world's biggest challenges. In accordance, AI in architecture is progressively used to analyze the built environment, while the informed-design decisions are further supported by intelligent modeling tools. To develop state-of-the-art AI for architectural design, extensive and reliable data is the key, due to the data-driven nature of modern AI. In this co-creation event, AI experts and designers exchange ideas to approach “data sparsity” problem when it comes to the machine learning datasets for AI in architecture.

Seyran Khademi, TU Delft, NL | Computer vision and AI || Casper van Engelenburg, TU Delft, NL | Computer vision and AI || Fatemeh Mostafavi, TU Delft, NL | Building Technology || Özgün Balaban, Istanbul Technical University, TR | Computational Design || Theodore Galanos, University of Malta, MT | Intelligent-Driven Design || Zack Xuereb Conti, Alan Turing Institute & University of Cambridge | Physics-enhanced Machine Learning || Contact person: Seyran Khademi

TOPIC 6 - Information Management across the Lifecycle of 3D Objects.

The accelerating urbanisation rate in society faces the challenge of sustainability, including issues relevant to land administration and management, taxation, etc. In this scene, spatial data play an important role, especially as the increasing awareness of location services spotlights their exploitation. Specifically, structuring and organising spatial data into an efficient (and standardised) data flow in order to be shared between actors and phases of the SDL and widely used to support decision making, represent a challenge within the AECOO industry. Today, data in the built environment is rarely shared due to technical, legal, cultural, and business reasons, hence interdisciplinary collaboration based on standards needs to be further supported.

Eftychia Kalogianni, TU Delft, NL | 3D Land Administration Systems || Peter van Oosterom, TU Delft, NL | 3D Land Administration Systems || Efi Dimopoulou, National Technical University of Athens, GR | 3D Cadastre || Jesper Paasch, Aalborg University, DK | Spatial Information Modelling || Abdullah Alattas, King Abdulaziz University, SA | Indoor Modelling and Navigation || Jörg Blankenbach, RWTH Aachen University, DE | Digital Twins || Contact person: Eftychia Kalogianni

TOPIC 7 - Computational Design: a mandatory skill or a specialized role in the AEC?

The need for digitizing the entire process chain in the AEC industry has created requirements for a computational designer. However, with the advent of such a specialist role, the industry is struggling to categorize it either as a content specialist or a process specialist. Therefore, the main aim of this discourse is to investigate and define the role of computational designer in project teams and design process. The purpose of the debate is to understand the different perspectives of the industry experts regarding computational designers through open discussions. The study will support the increasing demands of industry stakeholders concerning efficiency, flexibility, speed and quality of a design process to deliver better informed design solutions.

Pieter Schreurs, Royal Haskoning DHV, NL | Computational Design || Anagha Yoganand, Royal Haskoning DHV, NL | Computational Design || Ginevra Nazzarri, Royal Haskoning DHV, NL | Computational Design || Gijs Joosen, Royal Haskoning DHV, NL | Computational Design || Contact person: Pieter Schreurs

TOPIC 8 - Are graphs the new BIM?

The way knowledge is represented influences how the design is explored and analyzed. Current object-oriented data models are rich in terms of semantics and geometric information; however, relationships between data as well as data validation or reasoning are not the primer goal of such models. In this session, we will elaborate on graph data models as an extension to current object-oriented building information models. We will investigate several topics, including data modelling strategies, data interoperability issues, co-design with graphs, evaluation of graph data models for the AEC industry, data federation, etc. Furthermore, we will elaborate on graphs' complex queries that can help recognize violated design constraints from the early design stages.

Diellza Elshani, University of Stuttgart, DE | Knowledge Graphs || Thomas Wortmann, University of Stuttgart, DE | Computational Design || Pieter Pauwels, Eindhoven University of Technology, NL | Linked Building Data || Michela Turrin, TU Delft, NL | Computational Design || Wassim Jabi, Cardiff University, GB | BIM || Greg Schleusner, Director of Design Technology HOK | Computational Design || Jeroen Werbrouck, Ghent University, BE | Federated data storage || Navid Hedayati, Gropyus, DE | BIM || Edlira Kalemi Vakaj, Birmingham City University, GB | Semantic Web Technologies || Tanya Bloch, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, IL | BIM || Guy Austern, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, IL | Machine Learning || Esra Bektas, TNO, NL | Knowledge Modelling || Contact Person: Diellza Elshani

TOPIC 9 - AEC Decentralised Autonomous Organisations.

The Architecture-Engineering-construction Decentralised Autonomous Organisations aim to change the AEC industry from a resource extractive, fragmented, unproductive industry into a productive, integrated, regenerative industry. This topic of co-creation will explore the structure, impact and immense potential that blockchain technologies have in having an impact within the AEC space, more so when questions of permanence and digital scarcity are ever more urgent in the industry as we see the emergence of the metaverse as a field for architects to structure new spaces for human activity.

Theodoros Dounas, ArchiDAO.io & Robert Gordon University, GB | Blockchain || Davide Lombardi, Xian Jiaotong Liverpool University, CN | Parametric Systems and Optimisation || Shree Laxmi, Bitcrunch & ArchiDAO.io | Metaverse || Simon Prokop, Czech Technical University of Prague, CZ | Generative and Parametric Systems || Jiri Vele, Czech Technical University of Prague, CZ | 3D Printing || Mayur Mistry, Perkins and Will, US | AEC Digital Strategies || Richa Gupta, ArchiDAO.io | Decentralised Autonomous Organisations || Daniel Hall, TU Delft, NL | Innovative and Industrial Construction || Jens Hunhevicz, ETH, CH | Blockchain and Cryptoeconomics in AEC || David Bucher, ETH, CH | Management and Construction || Wang Hongyang, ETH, CH | Integrated Building Systems || Contact person: Theodoros Dounas

TOPIC 10 - Algorithmic Community Construction.

What is the potential for shared construction to create community? What factors impact this construction of these physical assemblies and communities? What is the impact on the space and the participants afterward? Is there an “identity” which arises for participants as agents of the physical and social results of the collaboration? This Co-Creation brings together four practitioners who seek to create community through shared construction of physical spaces / objects following algorithmic rules with a respondent to drive an examination. It is hoped that a greater understanding of the creation of community and individual identity through construction will be gained.

Duane McLemore, Mississippi State University, US | Algorithmic Design || Molly Claypool, AUAR & The Bartlett School of Architecture, GB | Algorithmic Design || Gilles Retsin, AUAR & The Bartlett School of Architecture, GB | Algorithmic Design || Xavi Aguirre, Stock-a-Studio & Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US | Standardization and Customization || Emmanuelle Chiappone-Piriou, Technische Universität Wien, AT | History, Theory, and Criticism || Contact person: Duane McLemore

TOPIC 11 - Incremental Media Empowerment: Establishing Voice through Communication Narratives.

The architectural profession is driven by research and data, architects tasked with making informed decisions with regard to a confluence of factors, motives, and needs. To understand the breadth of considerations, architects must communicate both verbally and graphically with a wide variety of audiences, and piece together information related to clients, investors, developers, users, community members, and political actors. There are a wide array of media that professionals use to conduct research, communicate with involved parties, and synthesize information to inform their design. Given the breadth of other skills and education objectives across the architectural curriculum, what is the priority of research and data synthesis within design education?

Michelle Pannone, Marywood University, US | Digital Media and Fabrication || Margaret McManus, The Savannah College of Art and Design, US | Design Systems and Representation ||  Randy Damico, Ferris State University, US | Parametric Design and Fabrication || Kimberley Hagan, Marywood University, US | Material Life Span and BIM || Kate O'Connor, Ferris State University, US | Representation and Beginning Design || Rebecca Dolgas, Rhode Island School of Design US | Representation and Adaptive Reuse || Meghan Strevig, Rhode Island School of Design US | 3D Visualization and GIS || Contact Person: Michelle Pannone