A city is not a tree

Victoria University of Wellington 2017

This research investigates the generation of urban environments through the use of visual programming tools. These tools enable the procedural creation of architectural geometries for installation in design environments, with a focus on producing outputs for virtual implementation, including small scale built environments, individual buildings, city blocks, and neighbourhoods. The creation of large-scale urban environments is a complex and time-consuming task. Subsequently, this field of research has a high level of relevance in the areas of architecture, design, urban planning, film, entertainment, and so forth. In most situations, the groups responsible for the creation of these environments do not contain members with architectural backgrounds. Instead, they consist of designers, computer scientists, technicians, and other specialists. These groups are reliant on their collective experience, skill, and reference materials to create their works. This thesis proposes that architects possess knowledge, skills, and training suitable for utilisation by this industry. As such, this research explores applying an architectural education with a greater multidisciplinary focus. This investigation concludes that while visual programming tools are incredibly powerful, they have their limitations. This research further concludes that because there are so many facets to the creation of these environments this area of investigation is best suited to a team of researchers. While individuals can achieve a significant amount, the contribution of outside parties would have had benefits at every stage of the work. The sharing of knowledge, skills, and understandings would allow for the creation of systems that function to generate the best outcomes possible.

Procedural; Computation; Grasshopper; text; Masters

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