Tzu-Chieh Hong

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Assistant Professor at University of Kansas

Three computer implementations of one of the earliest and most iconic shape grammars are given to showcase different ways to use shape rules in Shape Machine. These three modes of working with shape rules-manual, automatic and conditional-are used interchangeably to produce three skeuomorphic variations of the original checkerboard lattice grammar...

This study identifies and addresses the "two-window problem" in digital workflows, which has been overlooked in the use of computational tools such as graphical programming languages (e.g., Grasshopper, Dynamo, Marionette) and traditional text-based programming languages (e.g., Python, C#, Java) within current computer-aided design (CAD) systems. T...

The incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) in architectural design has progressed markedly. Nonetheless, current workflows are constrained. A major issue is the inconsistency in AI-generated renderings from different perspectives of the same architectural design. Moreover, there is the problem of insufficient integration with the conceptual...

Meshing algorithms for 3D surfaces are critical to architectural applications. More specifically, in architecture construction, fabricating a large 3D surface typically represents the surface as a mesh since it can be fabricated by assembling members (edges) and joints (nodes). However, most algorithms generate the meshes with the edges that are mo...

Isovists and isovist fields are used to analyze spatial factors of an architectural design according to connective qualities of spaces. Still, the automation of isovist calculations requires significant translation from the visual to the numerical. This research presents a shape grammar that formalizes the visual framework of isovist calculations t...

The recent success of a class of mechanical applications of shape rules in CAD shape grammar interpreters has produced a renewed interest in the design and support of shape embedding and shape rewrite technologies. Despite this, some fundamental constructions in rule-based modeling, namely, any of Euclid's straightedge and compass constructions, ap...

The process of shape embedding, that is, the inquiry whether for two shapes u and w there is a transformation f that embeds the shape f(u) in w is the most critical – and elusive – process for all shape grammar interpreters implemented within CAD systems. This paper identifies three major challenges underlying the implementation of shape embedding...

Generative design is emerging as an important approach for design exploration and design analysis in architectural practice. At the interior design scale although many approaches exist, they do not meet many requirements for implementing generative design in practice. These requirements include the need for end-user accessible tools and skills, rap...

Shape queries based on shape embedding under a given Euclidean, affine, or linear transformation are absent from current CAD systems. The only systems that have attempted to implement shape embedding are the shape grammar interpreters albeit with promising but inconclusive results. The work here identifies all possible 14 cases of shape embedding w...

Shape grammar interpreters have been studied for more than forty years addressing several areas of design research including architectural, engineering, and product design. At the core of all these implementations, the operation of embedding—the ability of a shape grammar interpreter to search for subshapes in a geometry model even if they are not...

Shape grammar interpreters have been studied for more than forty years addressing several areas of design research including architectural, engineering, and product design. At the core of all these implementations, the operation of embedding – the ability of a shape grammar interpreter to search for subshapes in a geometry model even if they are no...

As a ubiquitous paper folding art, origami has promising applications in science and engineering. Many software and parameterized methods have been proposed to draw, analyze and design origami patterns. Here we focus on the shape grammar formalism and the Shape Machine, a shape grammar interpreter that has managed to automate the seamless shape cal...

A brief survey of the expressive power of Shape Machine, a new shape grammar interpreter, is presented. The work is presented in two parts: A brief presentation of a series of shape computations that have been routinely used as benchmarks for the design tasks a shape grammar interpreter should be able to accomplish; and a brief exploration of desig...

Shape grammar interpreters have been studied for more than forty years addressing several areas of design research including architectural, engineering, and product design. At the core of all these implementations, the operationof embedding – the ability of a shape grammar interpreter to search for subshapes in a geometry model even if they are not...