
Kostas TerzidisHarvard University | Harvard · Graduate School of Design
Kostas Terzidis
Doctor of Philosophy
About
50
Publications
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Introduction
Kostas Terzidis is a professor at Tongji University College of Design and Innovation. He is the director of the Shang Xiang lab. Kostas does research on design algorithms, permutations and neural networks. His most recent book is 'Permutation Design: Buildings, Texts, and Contexts' (Routledge: 2014)
Skills and Expertise
Additional affiliations
September 2017 - present
July 2003 - June 2012
Education
August 1990 - May 1994
Publications
Publications (50)
In the famous ‘Fragment on Machines’ of the ‘Grundrisse’, Marx points out how social or collective knowledge (the ‘general intellect’) has become a ‘direct force of production’ through its embodiment into technical devices. The rhetorical wording ‘artificial intelligence’, with its own misleading anthropomorphic connotations, looks, from a Marxist...
An artificial intelligence-based design methodology is presented based on permutations and neural networks. Elements are combined in all possible ways to form all possible design solutions and a neural network extracts the best solutions after being trained on either objective or subjective criteria. This methodology is projected to have many appli...
An artificial intelligence-based design methodology is presented based on permutations and neural networks. Elements are combined in all possible ways to form all possible design solutions and a neural network extracts the best solutions after being trained on either objective or subjective criteria. This methodology is projected to have many appli...
Our work intends to show that: (1) Quantum Neural Networks (QNNs) can be mapped onto spin-networks, with the consequence that the level of analysis of their operation can be carried out on the side of Topological Quantum Field Theory (TQFT); (2) A number of Machine Learning (ML) key-concepts can be rephrased by using the terminology of TQFT. Our fr...
This paper presents an emerging aspect of intentionality through recent Artificial Intelligence (AI) developments in art and design. Our main thesis is that, if we focus just on the outcome of the artistic process, the intentionality of the artist does not have any relevance. Intention is measured as a result of actions regardless of whether they a...
AI is “essentially detached” from the world. The intrinsic nature of this technology precludes a proper space of negotiation between the different human and non-human actors involved and leads to an ideology of control. The challenge of the designer consists in looking across the black box, as opposed to looking inside, in order to visualise, sense...
Our work intends to show that: (1) Quantum Neural Networks (QNN) can be mapped onto spin-networks, with the consequence that the level of analysis of their operation can be carried out on the side of Topological Quantum Field Theories (TQFT); (2) Deep Neural Networks (DNN) are a subcase of QNN, in the sense that they emerge as the semiclassical lim...
In design, the problems that designers are called upon to solve can be regarded as a problem of permutations. A permutation is an ordered arrangement of elements in a set. In our case, the set is design and the elements are design components, such as lines, shapes, forms, or spaces.
Traditionally, such arrangements are done by human designers who...
Today, interactive architecture plays an increasingly important role in urban milieus. However, in terms of design principles and guidelines in the age of digital architecture, the design and construction of interactive skins has been under-explored. A new design approach to integrate interactive skins and architecture is needed. Certainly skins wi...
This paper introduces the activities of World8, an international working group on virtual reality, and demonstrates the group's developed VR applications in architecture. Group members come from eight universities around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Chile, Canada, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. The main o...
As the first book to share the necessary algorithms for creating code to experiment with design problems in the processing language, this book offers a series of generic procedures that can function as building blocks and encourages you to then use those building blocks to experiment, explore, and channel your thoughts, ideas, and principles into p...
The Chinese Room paradox is about the role of intentionality and consciousness in human decision making. Here I reflect on the possibilities opened up by this paradox in the world of design and its continuous computerization.
We describe a domain-specific design tool capable of creating and fabricating complicated curvilinear patterns within the early stages of the design. This tool entitled ?[SIN]uous? is a parametric design application that allows both the customization and fabrication of dynamic patterns created by the combination of SINE and COSINE functions. This t...
As architectural projects are becoming increasingly more complex in their formal manifestation as well as in their functional requirements, methods are sought to address these complexities. Genetic algorithms offer an effective solution to the problem allowing multiple constraints to compete as the system evolves towards an optimum configuration th...
A genetic algorithm (GA) is a search technique for optimizing or solving a problem based on evolutionary biology, using terms and processes such as genomes, chromosomes, cross-over, mutation, or selection. The evolution starts from a population of completely random individuals and happens in generations. In each generation, the fitness of the whole...
With the increased use of computers, architecture has found itself in the midst of a plethora of possible uses. This book combines theoretical enquiry with practical implementation offering a unique perspective on the use of computers related to architectureal form and design. Notions of exaggeration, hybrid, kinetic, algorithmic, fold and warp are...
This paper presents recent experiments on 3D morphing of buildings. A genealogical tree is created out of cross-morphing buildings showing their children and grandchildren. The resulting children-buildings share characteristics of the formal properties of their parents. There are two methods used here to morph buildings: face-to-face mapping and ob...
A series of experiments that investigate and demonstrate the visual logic of three-dimensional representation in animated form through the use of computers is presented.
This paper presents research work in the area of analysis, extraction, and recognition of aesthetic information from architectural drawings. A computer-based system is developed that extracts the geometric and topological structure of a plan, detects wall-joints, and identifies axes of symmetry, hierarchies, proportions, and modularity within a pla...
The physical space we experience and live in on a daily basis is controlled by the physical laws of nature, which are identified through science. For the most part, scientific data visualization has been used to present a clear and faithful representation of aspects of our physical world which are impossible to perceive. With the explosion of the I...
Complexity is a term used to denote the length of a description of a system or the amount of time required to create a system 1 . From networks and computers to machines and buildings there is a great deal of effort spent on how to understand, explain, model, or design systems whose scope, scale, and complexity often challenge the ability of design...
This paper describes research in progress on the digital sublime and architecture. Written in three parts, the paper surveys the history of the sublime, offers current examples of the digital sublime, and concludes with the next path of exploration: genetic algorithms created from and of the new numeric sublime.
This paper focuses on the development of a method for promoting alternative perceptions ofarchitectural space by exploring different ways of introducing computers in the space/occupant dynamic.
The objective of the research reported in this paper is to design, implement, and test a computerbased system which allows its user to: (1) extract automatically the geometric, topological, and spatial structures of an architectural plan, (2) extract morphological information, such as axes of symmetry, hierarchical structure, proportions, and modul...
The use of dynamically executable transformations and their orchestration in time is discussed and explored as a design tool. The aim has been to accommodate the dynamic character of architectural design during its form searching stages. The transformation and reformation of architectural elements is executed in real time under the direction of a u...
The development of a VRML scheme of a 3D world is proposed. The objective is to provide a prototype framework for Internet client-users toa) Learn how to "plug-in" their own 3D models,b) View and interact with the models using existing communication software on PC-based hardware, andc) Search for other models on the basis of geographical locations....
A series of experiments that investigate and demonstrate the visual logic of three-dimensional representation in animated form through the use of computers is presented. Perspective systems are designed to construct pictures that, when viewed, produce in the culturally trained viewer the experience of depicted objects that match perceivable objects...
This paper describes a research framework for the use of sensor and Internet technologies in design, monitoring, and control of building systems. Specifically, a course for architecture students that makes use of this research was designed and taught. A prototype system was implemented using sensors and micro servers that collect and forward the da...
The paper is related to the use of creativity within the design/business model. An educational experiment was conducted where business-oriented and design-oriented students were teamed up to design and propose a creative digital design/business plan. The goal of the experiment was not only to observe the results of the interaction but also to offer...
This paper traces back to the origin of design as a conceptual activity and its relationship to time and technology. It is based on an alternative definition of design, that of schedio, (the Greek word for design) that instead of pointing towards the future to where design is supposed to be materialized, it strangely points backwards in time where...
In this paper the role of the computer in the creative process is discussed. The main focus is the investigation of whether computers can be regarded as candidates for sharing or participating in a task that has been attached almost exclusively to humans: that of creativity.
This paper inquires into the nature of computation as a conceptual source of design. Algorithms are used, not to enhance architectural designs, but rather to conceive them. Such a possibility departs for the dominant assumption that design is entirely conceived within the designer?s mind. If true, it may constitute a paradigm shift in architecture.
In this paper a series of arguments about the gap between manual and digital practices will be raised, discussed, and addressed in the context of design education and practice to illustrate a discrepancy and the possibility of a paradigm shift.