Closing Down + Moving!!

The Short Version:

This blog has permanently moved to a proper site. The new address is:


www.volatileprototypes.com




The --ramblings-enabled version:

Almost three years ago, at a time when I was bringing my first works and thoughts on computational art and design online, blogging now and then about relevant and not so relevant stuff seemed quite fun. However, as time went by my engagement with computation in design got a little bit more serious. And then a little bit more and more, until I realized that the blog as a medium was unable to "hold my thoughts" in an efficient manner, simply because they were no more frequent minute posts but mostly sparse and organized entities. Blogging became quite clunky, unable to respond well to large chunks of info posted from time to time. Not from a technical viewpoint, but from a structural one, long-lasting information becoming hidden in the blog's continuous 'stream of events', masked by the tiniest updates and news, and therefore turning essentially inaccessible.

In view of this situation I began a proper, structured site about half a year ago. Recently it has been redesigned and now is central to my research and experimentation on computation and design.

Therefore, I'm ultimately putting this blog to bed. Thanks all for participating and I hope to meet you at the new site: www.volatileprototypes.com And if you're still not bored and have some time, check out my design portfolio too.
Thanks! (';

-Yiannis

ps. Blogs closing down are kinda funny and sad at the same time. And there are so many. Maybe someone could set up a gallery of abandoned/ inactive/ shut down blogs. Just sayin.

(picture is from this flickr set)

fvlib update and Github repo

fvlib has been updated with a solver that may be of use when visualizing 3d pointsets/graphs. It allows the separation of coinciding points from a specific user-defined viewpoint. More info at the fvlib page, or head directly to the Github repo.

Configurations, fin

Below is an abstract of the project I've been working on as part of my graduation at TU Delft for the past three months.

In architectural design, the process of designing an efficient spatial configuration that reflects the project’s essence is a crucial part of the design process of almost every project. This holds true especially when it comes to projects with complex building programs, featuring a large number of discrete spaces, as well as complex configurational requirements. Lately, there is increasing interest to employ computational methods for the analysis and synthesis of spatial configurations.


The aim of this study is to introduce a computation-based analysis and optimization process, and it’s implementation into a digital design tool, with the goal of suggesting potentially efficient spatial configurations, based on the input of configurational information and a range of performance parameters by the designer.


A generative method is proposed, based on a 3D data structure to encode spatial configurations, a compositional method for the generation of configurations and the use of heuristics for the evaluation and evolution of solutions according to conformance with the designer’s requirements. The implementation of this method into a digital design tool aims to be easily accessible by designers, utilizing a simple interface and expressive visualizations of results, so that usage along the design process becomes feasible.

More info and images can be found at the bocskit page. 

A compiled version of bocskit is available for download, however source code will be released at a later time.

Generative Arts 2010

A paper with the title "Computational Optimization as means for exploring structurally efficient surfaces" will be presented at the 13th Generative Art conference Politecnico di Milano, Italy, 15-17 December. The paper is closely related to the development of 'surfkit', a tool whose function is to optimize user-defined, self-supported surfaces by  distributing their thickness in order to minimize deflection.

More info about surfkit...

Configurations, Part 5

Just a quick update of what's going on with the current project...

fvlib release 4, surfkit release 2

fvlib has been updated to it's fourth release. More info and downloads here. Also available as a Google Code project.

surfkit has been updated to it's second release. More info and Downloads here.