Repository for "Shelter Should Be the Essential Look of any Dwelling," an attempt to think through narrative via the spatial concept of "shape grammar." To implement this, I relied heavily on the GIS-intended framework shapely -- a Python module which features simple methods for shape unions and general shape-making. Even though intended for a different discipline, I see quite a few applications for it in computational architecture vis-a-vis 2D shape grammars.
Who knows if it's any good? All I can say for certain is that this iteration is done. When I posted early results to Twitter, one user commented:
I'd live here. I love the idea of never being quite certain there's not somethig happening in an area of the house I can't get to without leaving the possibly illusory safety of the bit I'm already in.
I appreciate how this contrasts/joins with/amplifies the title. I wasn't convinced that anyone would really respond to this somewhat asemic, aleatory operation. The above encouraged me greatly.
This branch of the project ends here. However, I plan to reshape the code developed during the month toward a different set of narrative possibilities. Of course, this means more planning and overall strategy. Much of the code here represents an end-of-the-month dash to get something done (as is usually the case). As such, the PDF is a monster (it's 13,000+ pages), and the architect gets a little lazy with 2/ and 3 room houses, but they're all unique.
The PDF: Shelter Should Be the Essential Look of Any Dwelling
FINAL WORD COUNT (purely text): 55,316
COUNTING SHAPES AS "WORDS" IN GRAMMAR: 96,803 (estimated)
- George Stiny. 1980. "Kindergarten grammars: designing with Froebel's building gifts." Environment and Planning B.
- George Stiny and James Gips. 1971. "Shape grammars and the generative specification of painting and sculpture." Information Processing.
- Ju Hyun Lee, Michael J. Oswald, Ning Gu. 2017. "A Combined Plan Graph and Massing Grammar Approach to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie Architecture." Nexus Network Journal: Art and Mathematics.
- T.W. Knight and George Stiny. 2015. "Making grammars: From computing with shapes to computing with things." Design Studies.