Gerhard Schubert

Technische Universität München // School of Engineering and Design · Department of Architecture

The motivation behind the CDP interdisciplinary research project is to resolve the current discrepancy between familiar, analogue ways of working in the early architectural design stages and the ever increasing use of digital tools in office practice. The project’s objective is the conception and prototypical realisation of an interactive work envi...

The starting point for the "CDP" (Collaborative Design Platform ) interdisciplinary teaching and research project i s to examine how digital tools can be used to support architects in the early design stages. The CDP - Collaborative Design Platform - represents an interface between the familiar, tried and tested ways in which architects work with d...

Complex planning problems like the mobility transformation require the inclusion of stakeholders and situated knowledge. Generic map-viewers, surveys, or visualisations often fail to incorporate situated, complex, and contingent aspects of participatory negotiations-aspects which are more central to artistic, performative and analogue formats. In t...

Recent advances in machine learning have enabled computers to converse with humans meaningfully. In this study, we propose using this technology to facilitate design conversations in large-scale urban development projects by creating chatbot systems that can automate and streamline information exchange between stakeholders and designers. To this en...

Digital design has developed methods to address complex urban planning issues like the transformation of mobility using analytical tools and urban data. Simultaneously, such wicked problems require negotiation among involved stakeholders and situated knowledge. Even though contemporary City Digital Twin and urban data initiatives acknowledge this s...

This study examines how architecture students use generative AI image generating models for architectural design. A workshop was conducted with 25 participants to create designs using three state-of-the-art generative diffusion models and BIM or 3D modeling software. Results showed that the participants found the image-generating models useful for...

The benefits of design decision support systems (DDSSs) in the architectural planning context have been proven in research and are increasingly used in practice. The sense and purpose are apparent. The weighing of the most diverse ideas and approaches are required for design prob- lems that cannot be solved unambiguously and are characterized by co...

This research project proposes artificial intelligence (AI) tools to automate and scale design conversations with thotusands of end-users in a design project. From the point of view of PD, such a tool offers end-users the capability to influence and intervene in design decisions before and during the design process.

The project Crowd Safety – Including Pedestrian Flows and Security Aspects in Planning scrutinizes the inte- gration of agent-based simulations in the early design stages of architecture and urban design. On the one hand, it builds upon the microscopic pedestrian model crowd:it. On the other, the project uses the CDP // Collaborative Design Platfor...

Smart Cities are presented as a straightforward solution to diverse urban problems. On a closer look, however, the discourse on ‘Smart Cities’ seems wicked in various ways: vaguely defined, speculative, and fragmented into incommensurable positions. Focussing on this ‘wickedness,’ we explore the potential of design approaches to pervade the obscuri...

Microscopic agent-based simulations promise the meaningful inclusion of crowd dynamics in planning processes. However, such complex urban issues depend on a multiplicity of criteria. Thus, an isolated model cannot represent the walk of pedestrians meaningfully in planning contexts. This paper reframes crowd simulation as collaborative experimentati...

We present our interdisciplinary research on gamification as a communication tool in urban planning. Approaching the topic from a user-centered perspective, we combine knowledge from the domains of architecture and human-computer interaction and define domain-specific requirements and areas of interest. To substantiate our findings, we present a pr...

In the current day-to-day life of the architect, computers are used largely in the later, executive phases of planning – the early, creative phases remain mostly unaffected by this technology. The architect still designs using working models and hand-drawn sketches. However, digital calculations, analyses and simulations are increasingly used to ch...

Contemporary agent-based pedestrian simulations offer great potential to evaluate architectural and urban design proposals in terms of medical risks, crowd safety, and visitor comfort. Nevertheless, due to their relative computational heaviness and complicated input-parameters, pedestrian simulations are not employed during the design process commo...

Nowadays Virtual Reality application are mostly used for the presentation and discussion of ideas. To enhance the discussion / creative process, participants require the possibility to make changes to the presentation. Similar to the established processes (e.g. model and sketch) a simultaneous editing of several users will occur in the virtual envi...

The early design stages of urban planning have a great impact on indoor comfort and energy aspects. Alternative power supply options, based on solar potential, should be considered in the early stages of design, as they may constitute highly efficient substitutes. Existing software solutions for such simulations require higher level of detail from...

With recent advancements in VR (Virtual Reality) technology in the past year, it has emerged as a new paradigm in visual-ization and immersive HMI (Human-machine Interface). On the other hand, in the past decades, BIM (Building Information Modelling) has emerged as the new standard of implementing construction projects and is quickly becoming a nor...

The integration of energy and indoor comfort aspects into the early stage of urban planning is essential to conceive energy efficient urban structures and to avoid expensive compensation measures in the later building design. This could end up with increased insulation levels, complex air conditioning systems as well as increased energy demand duri...

The utilization of visual programming languages (VPL) as tools for generating complex simulations has seen a constant increase in application in architect planning phases. The major advantage of such languages is, that they enable the user to create programs without needing traditional software development skills. In the last few years the CDP // C...

The use of digital tools in the early, creative design process is the focus of an interdisciplinary teaching and research project. Starting from the question of how a seamless connection between physical and digital tools could be made possible, the proposed method tries to bridge the gap between both methodologies and provide intuitive, visual and...

The consequences of architectural planning and design decisions made in the early design phases are hard to foresee. While professionals are used to reading plans and understanding architectural models, most laypeople are not familiar with their abstractions. This can lead to misinterpretations and misunderstandings between the different participan...

Die Dimension und die Herausforderungen der Digitalisierung im Bauwesen erfordert eine Zusammenarbeit und Zusammenführung von Kompetenzen auf verschiedenen Skalen. Eine besondere Herausforderung in der informationstechnischen Unterstützung des Lebenszy- klus von Gebäuden stellen die frühen Entwurfsphasen dar. Im Artikel werden zwei Schlüs- seltechn...

We present the conceptual design and implementation of the Collaborative Design Platform Protocol (CDPP), a communication protocol that offers the synchronisation of virtual worlds between two mixed reality peers. The CDPP is applied to connect the Collaborative Design Platform (CDP), a design tool which supports the architectural design process in...

Presentations and discussions between architects and clients during the early stages of design usually involve sketches, paper and models, with digital information in the form of simulations and analyses used to assess variants and underpin arguments. Laypeople, however, are not used to reading plans or models and find it difficult to relate digita...

Im Fokus der Arbeit steht die Auflösung der bestehenden Diskrepanz zwischen etablierten Entwurfswerkzeugen und digitalen, entwurfsunterstützenden Tools. Ansatz ist hierbei, etablierte Werkzeuge nicht gänzlich durch den Einsatz des Rechners zu ersetzen. Vielmehr werden beide Welt so miteinander verbunden, dass deren Stärken miteinander verschmelzen....

Nowadays, design teams are facing many different parameters and design options that have a high impact on the final performance of the building. To enable well-performing design solutions, simulation has the capability to support the design team in decision-making. However since for accurate simulation information that is not available in the begin...

Sketching by hand is without doubt – alongside building models – the most common tool that architects employ when design- ing. A disadvantage of the sketch is, even if it is a perspective drawing, that it is a purely two-dimensional planar representation of a three- dimensional product: the three-dimensional impression that the sketch communicates...

We present the conceptual design and implementation of the Collaborative Design Platform Protocol (CDPP), a communication protocol that offers the synchronisation of virtual worlds between two mixed reality peers. The CDPP is applied to connect the Collaborative Design Platform (CDP), a design tool which supports the architectural design process in...

This paper describes work conducted as part of an interdisciplinary research project into new approaches to using computer technology in the early phases of the architectural design process. The aim is to reduce the existing discrepancy between familiar, analogue ways of working in the early design stages and the increasingly widespread use of digi...

Currently, many parametric designs focus primarily on the geometric or formal expression. Typically this leads to very complex and formally elaborate but difficult to realise approaches. As part of the research and teaching project the aim was to develop new joining and construction systems with a view to optimising both the prefabrication of build...

Over the last five years, the use of computer-controlled machinery in the building process has expanded immensely. With the help of parametric software, it has become possible not only to manage ever more complex structures but also to realize them using digital fabrication processes. These increased possibilities in turn place new demands on archi...

The profession of the architect is closely tied to changes in society and correspondingly subject to ongoing deliberations on the changing demands of planning and building. Factors that influence this include technological developments, changing values in society and changes in the organisation and production processes of cities and buildings. Tod...

Currently, many parametric designs focus primarily on the geometric or formal expression. Typically this leads to very complex and formally elaborate but difficult to realise approaches. As part of the research and teaching project the aim was to develop new joining and construction systems with a view to optimising both the prefabrication of build...

Over the last five years, the use of computer-controlled machinery in the building process has expanded immensely. With the help of parametric software, it has become possible not only to manage ever more complex structures but also to realize them using digital fabrication processes. These increased possibilities in turn place new demands on archi...