Urban Picturesque (CH)

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:22:29 +0100

Kaisersrot supports the architecture team "group8" from Geneva in a competition on invitation. The topic of the competition was to define an "urban piece" in the rural suburbs of geneva. The program was mainly housing (ca. 400 flats with 40000 squaremeter total area) and also some shopping and other activities (ca. 10000 squaremeter).

The proposal, worked by group8 in association with Kaisersrot, tries to redefine new tools to produce a "picturesque urbanism" giving a new scale and caracter to the future urban zone.

With the software developed by Kaisersrot, it was possible to organize the 400 flats with optimized infrastucture, light exposure and view, while maintaining the quality of the urban arrangement 'picturesque' and organic.

more informations: www.group8.ch\

Studie Institutsgenerator

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:04:56 +0200

Üblicherweise wird Lösungsfeld bereits durch das Raumprogramm sowie durch Wissen und Intuition des Entwerfers eingeschränkt. Wegen des unverhältnismäßigen Aufwands können auch nur eine begrenzte Zahl von Alternativen manuell erzeugt und bewertet werden. KAISERSROT kann hingegen mehrstufige, weit gestreute Alternativen liefern, ohne jedoch auf die Erfahrung eines menschlichen Entwerfers zurückgreifen zu können. Stattdessen müssen die Ziele und Zwänge, deren Gewichtung und die Entscheidungsregeln, die zur Bewertung der erzeugten Varianten herangezogen werden, bei generativen Entwurfsmethoden klar definiert sein. Sie bilden den Hauptbestandteil der Zielfunktion und somit einen wesentlichen Aspekt des Entwurfs.
Globale Parameter über Zielvorstellungen und Qualitäten eines Gebäudeentwurfs könnten wie folgt formuliert werden: „Jeder Raum muss eine Fassade zum Außenraum haben.“ Anders ausgedrückt: „ Jeder Raum muss belichtet werden.“ Lokale Parameter könnten lauten: „Es ist besser, wenn ein Raum belichtet wird.“ Oder: „Alle Büro und Wohnräume müssen belichtet werden. Flure und Lager sind egal.“

Anhand dieser Kriterien wird jeder Raum abhängig von seiner Belichtung nach einem Punktesystem bewertet; je mehr Punkte er hat, desto höher ist seine Fitness. Dieser Prozess wird ebenfalls von einem genetischen Algorithmus gesteuert. In der Praxis besteht die Zielfunktion aus einer Vielzahl von Einzelkriterien. Aspekte wie Aussicht, Länge der Wege, Güte der Erschließung, Nähe zu anderen Räumen, Länge der Fassade usw. ergeben die Gesamtfitness des Entwurfs. Zur Erzeugung diskussionswürdiger Varianten lassen sich die geforderten Qualitäten wichten.

Durch die höhere Komplexität dreidimensionaler Strukturen und den zusätzlichen konstruktiven Vorgaben, die bei einem Gebäudeentwurf berücksichtigt werden müssen, ergibt sich auch die Notwendigkeit einer permanenten Qualitätsvisualisierung. Durch die Darstellung der erreichten Qualitäten an jeder Stelle des Entwurfs in Falschfarben lassen sich Schwachpunkte schnell erkennen und durch das Justieren der Parameter eliminieren.

Hardturm Baufeld B, Zürich (CH)

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 18:49:01 +0200

Housing and Office Blocks, in collaboration with Halter Unternehmungen

Digital Chain -
The project researches potential coherences between usually disparate instances of design - through various scales and granularities.

In Zusammenarbeit mit der Halter Entwicklungen AG, Zürich entstand eine Studie über die Entwicklung verdichteter Blockstrukturen. Am Beispiel des Blocks B des Hardturmareals in Zürich wurde die Entwurfsphase einer Entwicklung von 300 Wohnungen durchgespielt. Im weiteren Verlauf wurde ein Verfahren zur individuellen Wohnungsgestaltung nach Kundenwünschen entwickelt.

Bild (1) Maximal bebaubares Volumen (Envelope); (2) Segmentierung; (3) Einfüllen des Wohnungsmixes (anhand der Durchschnittsgrößen) ergibt die vorläufige Anzahl der Wohnungen; (4) Erschließung durch Treppenhäuser; (5) Optimierung der Erschließung (optimale Anzahl und Positionen der Treppenhäuser); (6) Optimierung der Erschließung (Synchronisierung der einzelnen Geschosse) durch Umverteilung der Wohnungstypen; (7) die Wohnungstypen verteilen sich entsprechend ihren geforderten Qualitäten.
Computer aided statistical floor plan design and distribution of possible programmatic mixes

Bei den bisher beschriebenen Beispielen diente die Methode KAISERSROT der Generierung, Bewertung und Segmentierung [was ist damit gemeint?] von Lösungen, was im Wesentlichen auch bei diesem Projekt zutraf. Für die Grundrissgestaltung wurde jedoch ein anderer Weg eingeschlagen, der sich als logische Konsequenz aus dem statistischen Design ergab:

Die Grundidee ist, dass man von vorhandenen Lösungen lernen kann. Bewährte Wohnungsgrundrisse existieren in großer Fülle; sie müssen nicht neu erfunden werden. Um auf dieses Wissen automatisch zurückgreifen zu können, wurde eine Grundrissbibliothek angelegt. Dafür wurden die Grundrisse nach Eigenschaften wie Erschließung, Vernetzung, Topologie und Dimensionen analysiert und in einen standardisierten Code (XML) übersetzt. Die semantische Ebene des Codes kann erweitert werden um Grenzwerte wie maximale Belastbarkeit (z.B. Lärmpegel) oder minimale Bedürfnisse (z.B. Besonnung). Um einen geeigneten Grundriss für eine bestimmte Position im Gebäude zu finden, spielt das System nun solange mit der Größe, der Topologie, den qualifizierten Perimetern der möglichen Grundrisse, bis die beste Variante gefunden ist.

Ein entscheidender Vorteil des Verfahrens besteht darin, dass obwohl die Grundrisse einer Wohnung erst mit ihrem Verkauf und unter Miteinbeziehung des Käufers festgelegt werden, das gesamte Datenmodell in jeder Planungsphase schlüssig, überprüfbar und umsetzbar bleibt.

Bild: Adaptation der Mustergrundrisse in die neue Form

Bild: Individuelle Grundrissvariante aus der Studie für den Block B des Hardturm-Areals in Zürich

Yverdon le Bains (CH)

Fri, 6 Oct 2006 18:54:34 +0200

Adaptive Architekture/KAISERSROT in cooperation with pool Architekten, Parish L.A, Zwicker + Schmid Bauingenieure , Staubli Kurath & Partner AG, held für planung und nachhaltigkeit, Angelus Eisinger, Robert Ireland. Competition with parameterized settlement patterns in varios typologies.

OQYANA, World First, Dubai (VAE)

Sun, 6 Aug 2006 18:46:45 +0200

For several years, the interdisciplinary CAAD KAISERSROT research team is working on computer-aided methods to incorporate change, uncertainty, and choice into urban design contexts.
As in this case, the problem of uncertainty increases when the site involves piles of sand laying in the 33 degree warm waters of the Persian Gulf: The project’s layout on the islands hitherto has not provided any kind of constraint for a future allocation of program or building mass, but, in fact, is a variable itself.
Usually one copes with such urban design difficulties by cutting mutual dependencies and having different specialists work conceptually separate from one another. First, engineers for hydrodynamics, marine transportation, infrastructure, ecology, etc. would stipulate the layout of the islands. Second, urban planners would fix a basic infrastructure and public space layout on the islands. Third, project developers, marketing experts, urban designers, and economists would devise function mixes, densities and building typologies for the resulting building areas and plots. Finally, architects would design actual buildings on the basis of these programs and typologies followed by the actual, separately managed, construction phase.
However, what if an effective layout of each building’s beach access at the end of this process required a change of the island‘s layout in the first place, for example? Or, if an extremely rich customer wanted direct, unobstructed views to the Dubai waterfront from his island located in the middle of the development? These feedback problems between autonomous instances increase development risks and impose excessive demands on the planning process.
KAISERSROT’s statistical design tackles this problem by extending the developer’s planning tools with spatial, geographical, qualitative, topological and planimetric definitions to create a seamless, non-hierarchical planning process:
With the help of computer-generated volumetric and programmatic allocation variations, we study the minimum and maximum possible development of the islands with regard to legal, economic, and qualitative design principles. Different public space and building typologies offer the basic, but coherent framework for the first set of design iterations where the anticipated programmatic mix is merged with possible spatial configurations. This procedure allows for a broad spectrum of possibilities, which can be individually amended and refined without disturbing the overall coherence of the design. Thereby, development risks become visible, respectively accountable, and the hard-to-bridge gap between abstract calculations and their actual design consequences can be overcome.

Being able to make a change on plots of one single island while simultaneously monitoring the whole and vice versa is a central challenge for the urban design of this huge project. Providing this simultaneity and the chance to readjust single parameters without spending weeks on the re-design puts a big smile on the developer’s face.

Water-traffic calculations accompany the programmatic filling of the islands, in order to avoid congestion and bottle-necks due to allocation of programme.

Heerhugowaard (NL)

Sun, 6 Aug 2006 18:34:21 +0200

in cooperation with the landscape architects Karres en Brands, Hilversum and KCAP, Rotterdam
This project explores zoning by topography. Heerhugowaard is located in North Holland and as everywhere in the Netherlands water plays a major role. Approximately 3000 houses should be built by this project. The question is how to spread them. Depending on height areas consist of drained soil, marsh or lake-like waterfields. We developed three kinds of typologies for each of these conditions as a first differentiation in zones. The three major typologies have several sub-typologies as topography also changes gradually. Karres en Brands fixed certain zones of varying soil conditions and the houses spread accordingly. Areas where building is prohibited displace all housing. So one by one all interests of any housing typology are fulfilled and subsystems as infrastructure, green areas and so on get integrated. The whole plan is admittedly not developed at once; it is rather done in phases, but as we always simulate the generation of the whole area, we are able to monitor the overall balance and statistics at any time and therefor we can evaluate changes in each phase for the whole project.

Goodsyard Bishopsgate, London, (GB)

Wed, 6 Jul 2005 18:35:38 +0200

KAISERSROT in collaboration with KCAP, ML, iCube

Our design strategy heavily relies on the use of rule-based instruments. Thresholds, incentives and performance standards trigger, guide and frame the urban development. The Goodsyard Bishopsgate project in London, UK exemplifies the development of an urban design framework by defining rule-sets to specify e.g. future architecture within the master plan.

Maag Tower Areal, Zürich (CH)

Fri, 6 Aug 2004 19:02:04 +0200

KAISERSROT in collaboration with Herzog & deMeuron, Basel

The Maag-Tower project shows the reverse-engineering of the problematics of shadow-casting. The building is shaped by not being allowed to cast shadow on existing buildings. This is an intricate process of trial and error - the feedback between simulation and generation. Very interesting!
But you could also use this tool in a more one-directional-testing way - as tradional practice wants to proof that the designed volume is not casting shadow in an illeagal way - especially in Switzerland where you have this Very-Difficult-To-Construct-2-Hour-Shadow-Rule. For that purpose we already stay in contact with the Stadtbauamt Zürich to find a way to improve the performance of testing building volumes according to their tendency to steal sunshine from other buildings.

Grünhof, Zürich (CH)

Fri, 6 Aug 2004 19:00:30 +0200

KAISERSROT in cooperation with KCAP Rotterdam.

This project shows the reverse-engineering of the problematics of shadow-casting. The building is shaped by not being allowed to cast shadow on existing buildings for more than 2 hours. This is an intricate process of trial and error - the feedback between simulation and generation.
opposite page:
You could also use this tool in a more ‘one-directional’ testing way - as traditional practice wants to proof that the designed volume is not casting shadow in an illegal way - especially in Switzerland where you have this Very-Difficult-To-Construct-2-Hour-Shadow-Rule. For that purpose we stay in contact with the Stadtbauamt Zürich to find a way to improve the performance of testing building volumes according to their tendency to steal sunshine from other buildings.

Papierwerdareal, Zürich (CH)

Sun, 6 Jun 2004 16:22:08 +0200

KAISERSROT developed in the studie the Konsensmaschine for the redesign of the Papierwerd-Areal in Zurich. In competition to designs of Miroslav Sik, Dominique Perrault, Helmut Jahn und Coop Himmelb(l)au KAISERSROT presented the results at the conference „Architekturbrennpunkt“ in Zurich.

The Konsensmaschine allows all stakeholders to take part in the design process. The study for the Papierwerdareal in Zürich copes with the redesign of the "Globus Provisorium" next to main station. The area considered as the heart of the city is extremely difficult to deal with, as many external factors have to be taken into account. Does the new building block views to important elements like the Grossmünster or the lake? How much of Limmat's waterfront is occupied and so on? Beside this kind of zoning the two main programmes of hotel and marked have to be composed with all their internal interests: The hotel-rooms want to have a view to the lake, the market wants to be on ground floor and close to the station, the restaurant has to be located next to market and hotel lobby .... Our design is now able to react to external factors, as general volumetric issues according to view blockage, building height and location at the river and simultaneously restructure and redesign the internal organisation, which itself could be adjusted by certain parameters. So whatever location or volume you want to implement on city scale, you always get the "right" building!

Internal and external optimization, compliant to standards, such as programmatic proximity, view blockage, the building’s extension onto the river Limmat, etc.

We had to place a building on an extremely delicate area next to Zurich Main Station and the river Limmat. No matter how hard we tried, the building would always block important views to Zurich’s churches, Lake Zurich or the Alps. So we designed software to generate and optimize the building’s internal organization according to the specific requirements ofall necessary functions, depending on the building’s maximum potential envelope and location. Thanks to this “Konsensmaschine,” we were able to leave the locational decision up to the city’s administration: it could choose any location and respective volume, and the program would always generate a building with a viable infrastructure - immediately. Thus this project clearly demonstrated Kaisersrot’s amazing capacity to play through scenarios according to changing conditions.

Traditionally the variations delivered by competition entries are necessary for the jury to negotiate the best possible solution. Kaisersrot contains all of these variations within one single project by simply re-regulating its parameters. By breeding the results with evolutionary algorithms and optimise it according to the maximum fitness you get close to a consensus, yet avoiding the disadvantages of a compromise.
The dynamics resemble a garden where different plants with different needs are forced to grow next to each other while negotiating continuously about a common supply of sunshine, territory and nutrition.

Fronius-Fertigungshallen Linz (A)

Wed, 7 Jan 2004 12:40:37 +0100

KAISERSROT in collaboration with Sauerbruch&Hutton, Berlin

Umfeld Stadtraum HB, Zürich (CH)

Tue, 6 Jan 2004 18:42:23 +0100

KAISERSROT in cooperation with KCAP, Rotterdam

The project was supposed to stretch out a playground for the future development of the area next to the Zurich main station. Especially in terms of highrise, tests had to undertaken.
The context of Zürich provided some difficult regulations like the 2- hour-shadow-rule where each intervention had to be tested instantaneously according to shadow casting and receiving - a proto-form in the guise of envelopes emerges and the final volume of the towers crystallizes when all investors and stakeholders feel well represented within the design. The plan is laid out for surviving the next 20 years.

Possibilities according to different scenarios - all compliant to devised performance criteria. The Shadow-Calculator is a instrument for the distribution of potential towers.

National Beijin Olympic Stadium (CN)

Thu, 18 Dec 2003 18:39:33 +0100

KAISERSROT in collaboration with Herzog & de Meuron, Basel

This is a perfect example for optimization. To do it "by hand" you sit there for weeks and whenever you introduce a new beam to limit the number of too-big-red-fields you get too many too-small-black-fields and so on. The software does not do it any different, but less tedious and much faster. And by doing so, it is able to optimize the ratio of big and small fields by using the evolutionary technique of genetic algorithms. The structure is increasing in "fitness" and becomes optimized. An example of how to get a performative grip on disorder.

Madestein, Den Haag (NL)

Sat, 6 Sep 2003 18:35:08 +0200

Programme: 46,000m² residantial buildings in an up-market district
Commissioned by: DSO Den Haag
In cooperation with KCAP, Rotterdam
The 46.000m² site in the south of Den Haag, between the city and the sea, is surrounded by the water and the forest. The Kaisersrot study area lies within a masterplan by Karelse Van der Meer (dated november 2000). The software is used to generate various layouts of the plots and the buildings within this masterplan.

Different programmatic mixes from 400 to 600 houses were filled into the masterplan to analyse the relationship between private/open space and infrastructure. In addition, a 3D-tool was developed, based on the ideas of the masterplan, which showed the possibilities of manipulating building layouts to create open spaces with different qualities. With the software plots could be added and subtracted and the effect could be demonstrated of the first inhabitants setteling along the mainstreets while other parts remained vacant.

The pros and cons of the different mixes were quickly made visible, as well as the effects of an on-line wish-list for future inhabitants, introduced to the web-site by the client.

The results went further than the expectations of the study and the DSO Den Haag was convinced that a complete design using KaisersRot software is applicable in this location.

Kehlbachsiedlung, Oberösterreich (A)

Wed, 6 Aug 2003 18:38:55 +0200

Location: Kehlbachsiedlung, Oberösterreich
Programme: approx. 70.000m² reorganisation to residantial buildings with individual wishes of inhabitants
Commissioned by Government of Oberösterreich

Re-settling flood-land inhabitants
The Government of Oberösterreich is planning the resettlement of all flood victims, both residential and agricultural. In some parts of the country a fast agreement with the landowners was possible. In Saxen, however, it was of great importance to the people that they not only received parcels of land, but that the structure of the existing community could be retained. Finally, a location was found and the KaisersRot Team was commissioned to study the wishes of the inhabitants as well as the need for fluctuating, flexible areas for the farms and the residential buildings. The ambition was to demonstrate a range of different scenarios for plot and area sizes, which proved that the resettlement was possible.

As suspected, the conclusion was reached that a complete satisfaction of all wishes was not possible and that the site area needed to be increased. This study is now the basis of further political discussions regarding flood re-settlement in the country. When these discussions have reached a resolution, we look forward to solving the resettlement problems of the future inhabitants.

Veld 12, Schuytgraaf Anrhem (NL)

Mon, 12 May 2003 17:45:00 +0200

Programme: 247 individual dwellings, a school and services in a 100,000m² site
Commissioned by GEM Schuytgraaf

KAISERSROT was used as a tool in the generation of the medium-density residential suburb “Schuytgraaf Veld 12”, in Arnhem, Netherlands. Although a specific user group is not specifically known, the standard dutch housing programme of standard Vinex locations provides a model for a mixed programme on this site. The ambition was to achieve a random mix of various plot types within an existing boundary. Each plot has specific demands of (size, proportion, programme, and position) and a different reaction to external attractors like water, forest, meadow, or other plots. The resulting layout achieves a balanced and informal layout, while remaining efficient and organic. The software exceeds expectations by not only organizing programme, but by creating unexpected environmental qualities.

Veld 12 has been accepted by the municipality in Arnhem and the ground-preparation will begin at the end of 2003.

Our first Kaisersrot-Plan becomes reality. It is implemented by KCAP in Schuytgraaf, NL.

Build up your Neighbourhood (NL - D - CH)

Sat, 10 Feb 2001 14:01:48 +0100

Software
The software Kaisersrot simulates dynamic models. Within a frame of different plots, each plot has specific characteristics such as size, proportion, programme and building position. Furthermore, plots contain information about certain external attactors, like water, nature, shops or public transport links. When the simulation is started, all plots strive for an optimisation of built-in demands. After a certain amount of time, an equilibrium is achieved and the process stops. Now, infrastructure can be generated automatically. The initial results show that this method creates variable patterns that comply to all the given parameters. But, more importantly, this method introduces an interactive component enabling a profound participation of House Consumers.
Solutions  The software can be used in order to optimize land use and to develop sustainable patterns of plotlayout. The solutions that Kaisersrot offers are programmed designs. Plans are not drawn any longer, but are virtually designed from a collection of intelligent objects with changeable parameters. The visualized result is thus one representation of a possible solution. The parameters and their effects thus become more transparent for planners, owners and municipalities. In the future, the automated urban generation will be available on this website, and can be tailor-made to meet specific demands.