
Guy AusternTechnion – Israel Institute of Technology | technion · Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning
Guy Austern
Doctor of Philosophy
Researcher
About
20
Publications
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Introduction
I am an architect, programmer, researcher and teacher specializing in architectural computation and digital fabrication. Currently, I am doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, at the Technion.
With a background in both computer science and architecture, my research bridges between the two disciplines. My Ph.D. deals with the rationalization of architectural geometry towards the constraints of digital fabrication machinery. Specifically, I am developing computational tools to evaluate and improve the design of concrete façade elements, by adapting them to the fabrication constraints of their molds. I accomplish this by using efficient, geometry-based approximations to provide near real time evaluation of fabrication parameters.
Publications
Publications (20)
Urban planners traditionally use manual methods for analyzing urban architectural infor-mation such as typology, density, and usage. These analysis methods are time-consuming, error-prone, and may lead to misguided planning decisions. Modern planning tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) contribute to better and faster urban analysis b...
Recent advancements in Machine Learning (ML) have significantly enhanced the capability to generate 3D objects from textual descriptions, offering significant potential for design and manufacturing workflows. However, these models typically fail to meet practical requirements like printability or manufacturability, and often cannot accurately contr...
The application of machine learning (ML) for the automatic classification of building elements is a powerful technique for ensuring information integrity in building information models (BIMs). Previous work has demonstrated the favorable performance of such models on classification tasks using geometric information. This research explores the hypot...
In interior space planning, the furnishing stage usually entails manual iterative processes, including meeting design objectives, incorporating professional input, and optimizing design performance. Machine learning has the potential to automate and improve interior design processes while maintaining creativity and quality. The aim of this study wa...
This paper presents a framework for an analysis method and computational tool, which evaluates the fabrication parameters of complex geometries. The suggested method predicts the feasibility, material use, and machining time required for fabricating the moulds for these geometries. It achieves this by interrogating geometric properties instead of t...
This paper presents an assessment and comparison of the effects of static and kinetic external shading elements on the dynamic measurement of daylighting. For this purpose, we used a method and parametric tool developed previously for the design and analysis of external shading elements in buildings. The proposed approach was used to compare static...
This paper presents the results of the second stage of a research aimed at developing a design methodology for concrete façade panels which takes into consideration fabrication constraints. A computational method for the real time evaluation of common industrial mold making techniques such as milling and hot wire cutting was developed. The method r...
Today, architects can conceive an almost infinite variety of complex 3D geometries using modelling software. However, the realization of these geometries is still limited by the capabilities and constraints of the fabrication machinery. The modelling platforms used to design the geometries are still not able to evaluate fabrication parameters such...
The presented research develops methods for introducing fabrication constraints into architectural design, a process often referred to as design rationalization. In the first stage of the research, a computational method for evaluating the fabrication potential of geometries was developed. The method predicts the feasibility, material use and machi...
As digital fabrication processes become more common in the building industry, architects are challenged to design for the capacities of the new fabrication machinery. This paper describes computational methods for evaluating the buildability of architectural elements, in relation to the machine chosen to produce them. We focus on developing methods...
Rationalization is widely recognized as an important design strategy in contemporary architectural projects, especially in projects with complex geometries, built using digital fabrication processes. However, an up to date review of the rationalization strategies used in these projects, their place in the design sequence and their relation to digit...
During the entire history of construction, the basic structure of the building envelope, a laminated entity made of different layers that are used as a barrier, has remained largely unchanged. Ever since the modernist separation between the structure and the building envelope, the development of building envelopes has concentrated mainly on finding n...
The paper presents a new enumerative method and tool to quantify and compare the potential contribution of kinetic and static external shading elements in buildings, in terms of dynamic measurement of daylighting. The suggested method and tool may help designers to examine the impact of various louver design and operation alternatives in the early...
The Levitating Ring Restaurant Tower is an architectural engineering innovation which enables the construction of a tower in which a slender mast (D=5m) and a system of pre-stressed cables (bundles of wires), reciprocally work together to ensure the stability of the entire tower system which rises to the height of 600 meters (higher configurations...
In recent years, sustainable design methods have become a major concern within the building industry. There is also a growing awareness of the impact urban morphologies have on the overall energy and fuel consumption of a city. This paper investigates digital form-finding methods for generating an urban tissue to suit climatic conditions. In this r...
The influence of urban morphology on the energy consumption of a fabric has been recently established by research into the energy use of existing cities. This paper suggests a framework for generating environmentally adapted urban tissue by using genetic algorithms as form-finding processes. A series of multi-objective optimization algorithms are d...