Façade is an artificial intelligence-based art/research experiment in electronic narrative – an attempt to move beyond traditional branching or hyper-linked narrative to create a fully-realized, one-act interactive drama. We are completing a three year collaboration to engineer a novel architecture that integrates emotional, interactive character behavior, drama-managed plot and shallow natural...

Within the paper, the combined application of terrestrial image and LIDAR data for façade reconstruction is discussed. Existing 3D building models as they are available from airborne data collection are additionally integrated into the process. These given models provide a priori information, which efficiently supports both the georeferencing of the terrestrial data and the subsequent geometric...

This paper introduces a new tool for analysing annual solar insolation potentials for façades and roofs at an urban scale using Trimble SketchUp and the dynamic simulation model HTB2. The tool is in the form of a plugin which 1) generates shading masks for every façade and roof in a model, 2) exports geometries to HTB2 for analysis, 3) invokes HTB2 from within SketchUp, and 4) returns outputs i...

An 'active façade' responds to (and anticipates on) changing indoor and outdoor conditions. To assess the potential of such a façade for minimising energy consumption and improving indoor comfort, a simplified building simulation model has been developed, that combines the simplicity and understanding of easy to use programs with the flexibility and possibilities of advanced programs. To valida...

Maximising the natural ventilation of a building can be beneficial in terms of comfort and reduced reliance on air conditioning. In noisy urban areas this can conflict with the need to reduce the ingress of external noise. In this study the effect of building exposure to noise on natural ventilation potential is investigated. The occurrence of window openings on a building façade was adjusted a...

In recent decades, skyscrapers, as represented by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and Shanghai Tower in Shanghai, have been built due to the improvements of construction technologies. Even in such newfangled skyscrapers, the façades are generally cleaned by humans. Wall climbing robots, which are capable of climbing up vertical surfaces, ceilings and roofs, are expected to replace the manual workforc...

In order to realize more precise geometrical models of existing buildings, range images are used to represent the geometrical information of the façades of existing buildings. First, the range images of existing buildings are acquired using laser scanners mounted on a data acquisition vehicle which runs along the street. After removing obstacles, edge detection based segmentation and histogram ...

Double-skin façades (DSFs) are high-efficiency systems traditionally used to improve the natural ventilation of buildings for energy-saving purposes and their aesthetic improvement. There opportunities enhance functionality by applying them building aerodynamics. This study aims at developing preliminar data set that would assist with design smart morphing facades (also known as Smorphacades). ...

BACKGROUND We studied how well first-year medical students understand and apply the concept of substituted judgment, following a course on clinical ethics. METHOD Students submitted essays on one of three ethically controversial scenarios presented in class. One scenario involved a patient who had lost decisional capacity. Through an iterative process of textual analysis, the essays were stud...