The document discusses using spatial configurations and network analysis to design environments. It introduces Space Syntax, a method for analyzing how spatial layouts influence human movement and behavior. The author describes their SYNTACTIC plugin for Grasshopper, which allows generative design based on space syntax principles. The plugin enables real-time spatial analysis, bubble diagrams, graph drawing algorithms, and measuring socio-spatial performance. The document outlines a configurative design process from abstract network analysis to concrete form generation. It provides examples of network structures, isovist bubbles, and how SYNTACTIC can iteratively design configurations based on interaction simulations and social analysis.

1. SYNTACTICSPACE SYNTAX 4 Generative Configurational Design
Dr.ir. Pirouz Nourian
Assistant Professor of Design Informatics
Faculty of Architecture and Built Environment
Delft University of Technology
The story behind the toolkit

2. Long Story: CONFIGRAPHICS
Morphology and Syntax in Linguistics
Why configurations matter: Functional Efficiency and Social Atmosphere of Complex Environments
1. Do we know how buildings and cities work? Can we predict the use (motion dynamics) of an environment?
• Architectural Spatial Morphology
• Architectural Spatial Syntax
• The 9-Squares: Geometry, Topology, and Graph Theory (Locus Topos  Graph)
• Social Logic of Space & Functional Efficiency
• Performance, Behavior, Interaction, Networks
• (privacy-community, visit-frequencies, visibility, way-finding, Cliquishness)
• Social Network Analysis (Centrality & Marginality: Closeness, Betweenness, Eigenvector, Connectivity)
2. Can we design an environment via spatial configuration?
• Graph  Topos  Locus
• Starting from interactions
• Starting from a connectivity graphs
• Starting from spatial manifolds
• 2D Layout: Tutte Layout, Triangulations, Dualization
• 3D Layout: Spectral Layout, Force-Directed Layout, Isovist Bubbles
Topics

3. http://abe.tudelft.nl/

4. Why some buildings do not function as intended?
not ‘the right building’, not at ‘the right location’!?
image © designboom: vacant NL dutch pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010

5. How do we know if a building is fit to its purpose and its context?
image © designboom: vacant NL dutch pavilion at venice architecture biennale 2010

6. SYNTACTIC
Space Syntax For Architectural
Configuration
CONFIGURBANIST
Network Analysis For Urban
Configuration
For 3D Reconstruction from
Point Clouds
rasterworks.dll
Library of Raster3D & Voxel
Tools
Computational Design Toolkits 3D Modelling Toolkits
My R&D Projects

7. AWordCloudfromtheSummary

8. “We shape our buildings;
thereafter they shape us”. Winston
Churchill
Environment Shapes Behaviour
Buthowexactly?

9. Architecture is the art of providing for both encounter and avoidance. The Social Logic of Space [1]
A certain environment affords certain behaviours, “The Theory of Affordances” [2] &[3]
Image: Google Campus Dublin, by Camenzind Evolution Architects, Zurich, Switzerland
[1] Hillier B. and Hanson J. (1984), The Social Logic of Space, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[2] James J. Gibson (1977), The Theory of Affordances. In Perceiving, Acting, and Knowing, edited by Robert Shaw and John Bransford, ISBN 0-470-99014-7.
[3] James J. Gibson (1979), The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception, ISBN 0-89859-959-8.

10. Image Credits: https://www.techtricksworld.com/charles-babbage/ & http://www.redbubble.com/people/adalovelaceday/works/15017169-ada-lovelace-first-computer-programmer?c=482740-women-in-stem
Environment Shapes Behaviour
Built Environment as a Socio-Spatial Network
Image: Telecom Palace, by Architectus, Australia

11. Image Credit: Bill Hillier, Space is the machine, 1997
Howdoconfigurationsinfluencebehaviours?

12. Image Credit: Bill Hillier, Space is the machine, 1997
Howdoconfigurationsinfluencebehaviours?
Building Structure Space Structure Network Structure

13. Image Credit: Bill Hillier, Space is the machine, 1997
Howdoconfigurationsinfluencebehaviours?
Geometry Topology Graph Theory
locus topos graph

14. Topological Thinking Is Intuitive!
Right: The Tube Map by Harry Beck, the First Topological Metro Map for the London Underground Network in 1931

15. Environment Shapes/Conducts Behaviour
PERFORMANCE BEHAVIOUR INTERACTION NETWORKS ENVIRONMENT

16. Graph Theory Markov Chains Space Subdivisions Fuzzy Logics
http://world.mathigon.org/Graph_Theory Wiki Commons http://educationally.narod.ru/
Social Network Analysis
http://blogs.worldbank.org/category/tags
/social-network-analysis
Optimal Paths
Google Maps Wiki Commons
STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS
Leonhard Euler Andrei A. Markov Georgy Voronoy Lotfi A. ZadehLeo Katz Edsger Dijkstra

17. ArchitecturalConfiguration
UrbanConfiguration

18. ArchitecturalConfiguration
UrbanConfiguration

19. A spatial network should be __________________ logical
to sustain its value.
• environmentally
• functionally
• socially

20. A spatial network should be __________________ logical
to sustain its value.
• environmentally
• functionally
• socially
http://www.treehugger.com/
CONFIGURBANIST
Network Analysis
For
Urban Configuration

21. A spatial network should be __________________ logical
to sustain its value.
• environmentally
• functionally
• socially
Departments
Departments 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1. Reception U E O U U U A O
2. Emergenccy Unit I U A I U U U
3. Outpatients Clinic U U O U U E
4. Wards U I O U O
5. Intensive Care E I U O
6. Surgery U U I
7. Laboratory U E
8. Administration O
9. Farmacy
Rating Definition
A Absolutely necessary (Weight=1)
E Especially important (Weight=0.75)
I Important and core (Weight=0.5)
O Ordinary (Weight=0.25)
U Unimportant/Indifferent (Weight=0)
X Undesirable (Weight=-1)
Reference: Course Materials Facilities Planning, E212, Republic Polytechnic.
Departments
Departments 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1. Reception U E O U U U A O
2. Emergenccy Unit U I U A I U U U
3. Outpatients Clinic E I U U O U U E
4. Wards O U U U I O U O
5. Intensive Care U A U U E I U O
6. Surgery U I O I E U U I
7. Laboratory U U U O I U U E
8. Administration A U U U X X X O
9. Farmacy O U E O O I E O

22. A spatial network should be __________________ logical
to sustain its value.
• environmentally
• functionally
• socially
Important=Connected to Many People
Degree Centrality
Important=Close to Many People
Closeness Centrality
Important=In Between Many People
Betweenness Centrality
Important=Connected to Important People
Eigenvector Centrality
Images from Wiki Commons

23. An Exemplary Reginal Government Office: Strategy/Vision 1 (a hierarchical organization)

24. An Exemplary Reginal Government Office: Strategy/Vision 2 (a flat organization)

25. Entrance
An Exemplary Reginal Government Office: Strategy/Vision 1 (a hierarchical organization)

26. Entrance
An Exemplary Reginal Government Office: Strategy/Vision 2 (a flat organization)

27. Bubble Diagrams in Architectural Space Planning
https://nl.pinterest.com/tanvikanakia/bubble-diagrams/?lp=true

28. SYNTACTIC a.k.a. Space Syntax for Generative Design
A Plugin for Grasshopper
3D,
Written in VB.NET & C#
▪ Real-Time Space Syntax Analyses for Parametric Design
▪ Interactive Bubble Diagrams
▪ Automated Graph Drawing Algorithms
▪ Enumeration of Plan Configuration Topologies
▪ Measuring the Socio-Spatial/Programmatic Performance
▪ Topological Layout
Download: https://sites.google.com/site/pirouznourian/syntactic-design
User Group: www.grasshopper3d.com/group/space-syntax
Publications: ▪ Nourian, P. Rezvani, S., Sariyildiz, S. (2013). Designing with Space Syntax. Proceedings of eCAADe 2013, (pp. 357-366). Delft.
▪ Nourian, P., Rezvani, S., Sariyildiz, S. (2013). A Syntactic Design Methodology. Proceedings of 9th Space Syntax Symposium. Seoul.
Implementation A: a tool suite for architectural configuration

29. SYNTACTIC Space Syntax for Generative Design
Implementation A: a tool suite for architectural configuration

30. SYNTACTIC Space Syntax for Generative Design
Implementation A: a tool suite for architectural configuration

31. A Configurative Design Process
Configurational Analysis
(Network Analysis)
Connectivity
Relations
(Graph)
Cell
Configuration
(Mesh)
Graph
Embedding
(Map)
Abstract
Function
Concrete
Form
Inputs
Outputs
Nodes
(configuration graph)
Packed Bubbles
(e.g. isovist bubbles)
Dual Faces
(of a topological map)
Kissing Disks
(simple bubbles)
Topological
Possibilities
Graphical
Possibilities
Geometrical
Possibilities
Graph Theory Topological Graph Theory Graph Drawing Computational Geometry
AbstractFunction
ConcreteForm

32. Architectural Configuration: From Abstract to Concrete
Work in Progress

33. Architectural Configuration: From Abstract to Concrete

34. Architectural Configuration: From Abstract to ConcreteArchitectural Configuration: From Abstract to Concrete

35. Architectural Configuration: From Abstract to ConcreteArchitectural Configuration: From Abstract to Concrete

36. Architectural Configuration: From Abstract to ConcreteArchitectural Configuration: From Abstract to Concrete

37. Architectural Configuration: From Abstract to ConcreteArchitectural Configuration: From Abstract to Concrete

38. Architectural Configuration: From Abstract to ConcreteArchitectural Configuration: From Abstract to Concrete

39. Architectural Configuration: From Abstract to Concrete
Nodes
(configuration graph)
Packed Bubbles
(e.g. isovist bubbles)
Dual Faces
(of a topological map)
Kissing Disks
(simple bubbles)
Topological
Possibilities
Graphical
Possibilities
Geometrical
Possibilities
Graph Theory Topological Graph Theory Graph Drawing Computational Geometry
Architectural Configuration: From Abstract to Concrete

40. 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
2D Isovist Bubbles: Entirely Visible Star-Shaped Polygons

41. SYNATCTIC design methodology in a nutshell:
• We model existing and desired network structures and then
• Simulate Potential Interactions of people with environment and each other
• Analyse the social networking potential of the environment
• Iiteratively design a desirable network structure (at micro and macro scale)
• Design the layout and interior according to the network structure
SYNTACITIC DESIGN METHODOLOGY

42. • Our user group on the Grasshopper Forum
• Our Paper on Space Syntax Analysis in Architectural Design
• Our Paper on Space Syntax Analysis in Architectural Design
• The Webpage of SYNTACTIC (download links & example files)
• A video showing SYNTACTIC toolkit in action
HYPERLINKS

43. THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION
Stay tuned @ Grasshopper Space Syntax Group
The first 3D molecule of Space Syntax