Alison Ledwith

computer programming

Simultaneity and Computational Design

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This theoretical project explores computational design strategies. Here, architecture is imagined in a form more complex than can be readily understood from one vantage point, requiring an understanding of simultaneity in its experience and expression. The result is an inherently disorienting museum space and temporary lodging for scientists visiting CERN.

Simultaneity

Simultaneity is a concept understood both in the science world and in the art world. Since the art definition is lifted from the science, it is important to begin with the theory of relativity. This theory is best explained by Einstein, who aptly understood that a form fixed in position is moving in time with respect to another reference frame. In the converse, events only occur simultaneously from one reference frame. Reference frames, time dilation, and the nature of relativity become apparent at the speeds observed at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN (the physical reference point for these theories).

Thus, this architecture will focus on the nature of space as perceived by Einstein and epitomized through the following two statements (in Relativity):

  1. “Without compelling necessity, one ought not to ascribe reality to a thing like space, which is not capable of being ‘directly experience.’”
  2. “The concept of space as something existing objectively and independent of things belongs to pre-scientific thought, but not so the idea of the existence of an infinite number of spaces in motion relatively to each other.”

Analytical Cubism arose in nearly the same time and attempted to assign artistic form to the new way of thinking. Paintings as part of this movement deal with the representation of complex spatial conditions as planar elements, resulting in a 2.5 D understanding of the world.

Relationship to Architecture

For all of its complexity, mesh generation (in digital tools used for architecture) creates a system of quads and triangles that ultimately represent the world in the same 2.5 D format that was understood 100 years ago. The benefit of both of these theories is that they have the potential for a level of nihilism unrealistic of the nature of architecture. Through the generation of mesh in a computational environment, a perception of complexity in the midst of planar representation will result. Further, while a mesh-generating program cannot result in infinite architecture, the building can describe the existence of multiple computational organisms simultaneously in the same space, each fixed in time but with the implications of previous and future movement.

Computational Design

The building is generated in Processing using 200 particles arranged in a ring. The particles are given a variable velocity and assigned a trajectory based on attractors (rather than a direct line of motion, this system uses an angular tolerance of trajectories and enforces that tolerance based on a probability factor). The system explores notions of collision detection and bifurcation/topology change. A complex folding behavior is generated through interactions between multiple attractors.

The building itself has an entry through one of the final tendrils, a public museum in the main space with the back-of-house spaces at the start of the mesh-generation algorithm. All private spaces for administration and visiting scientists are found in the tendrils of the building and feature views of Lake Geneva.

Thermal Mass Performance in Residential Construction: An Energy Analysis Using a Cube Model

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Abstract

Given the pervasiveness of energy efficiency concerns in the built environment, this research aims to answer key questions regarding the performance of thermal mass construction. The work presents the Cube Model, a simplified model of the single-family home. The model combines simplified geometry and equivalent envelope parameters with accurate climate data and internal loading assumptions. The model first addresses the notion as to whether building simplification is a valid means of analysis through a calibration and validation study. Then, the model is used to address three research areas on passive thermal mass: (1) the quantification of thermal mass performance with respect to material thermal properties; (2) the optimization of thermal mass performance for given material parameters; and (3) the sensitivity of thermal mass performance to infiltration and geometry effects. The experiments for wall and slab constructions, to address the first research area, demonstrate that the energy savings from thermal mass are both climate and season dependent. Results provide the magnitude of energy savings in fifty climates across the United States. Optimization experiments on the material thickness and conductivity, to address the second research area, show that constructions do not reach peak thermal mass performance at the same thermal properties in all climates. Sensitivity analyses, to address the third research area, indicate that passive thermal mass and tight construction practices can be mutually optimized without a trade-off of energy performance. Geometry effects demonstrate that modifications in building design can either benefit or hinder the performance of passive thermal mass. The combination of the results suggests that optimum design for thermal mass performance and the resulting energy consumption are climate-dependent and sensitive to many factors aside from material thermal properties.

Documentation

The thesis is available for download in full through DSpace at MIT. A summary report is available for download through the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub.