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The Computer in the Space Planning Process Bric Teicholz Associate Director Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis, Graduate School of besign Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 3a The paper* discuS#8S{Sheral approaches to using a computer for space plannin problens in an architectural, urban and Fegional context, Prograns are classi- fied as under- and over-constrained, of the. inproveaent= or construction-type and various techniques eaployed for space planning are described and illustrated, wo programs, GRASP and SETUP, are used to illustrate the space planning process. The paper concludes: that! there’ fs! n0 unique solution for space planning prob- Tens and that additional. research is needed, priaarily to develop a set of heuriséie decision rules for internally modifying the search radius for all of the different types of space planning applications that exist. LyTRODUCTION_AND_ BACKGROUND Computer-aided space planning is defined as the use of a digital computer to aid the designer in the planning of architec- tural, urban and regional spaces. At a regional scale, space planning consists of determining the optimum location and distribution of various land use patterns, transportation facilities, warehouses and other elonents of a regional scale. At an urban scale, space planning might in- Clude the distribution of urban trans- portation systems, the location of city Services in a metropolitan area and the layout of buildings in a large urban complex. At an architectural scalo, space planning usually refers to the op- tinal distribution of physical spaces within a building. At any scale, conputer-aided space plan- ning deternines a relationship between @ physical olement and its onvironment. ‘There also exists a subset of the prob- lem which is to determine and evaluate the feasibility of the relationship ac- Sording to some explicit criteria. Thore are several problens associated with automating the space planning pro- €ess at a regional, urban or architec- tural scale, Some’of these include: 1, Tho process is often implicit rather than explicit. 2. Very few evaluation models exist. 3. There is a lack of data pertaining tO most aspects of the problea ~ in cluding an existing data base of present conditions. *This article is an abridgonent of a pa per entitled "Computer Aided Space Plan- hing” published by the Laboratory for Conputer Graphics and spatial Analysis, Graduate School of lesign, llarvard University, Septenber 1974, 25pp. 32 4. There is an inability to rapidly mani- pulate large amounts of data for the rep- Tesentation of alternative development patterns, 5, Data sources generated by groups such a5 transportation agencies, schools, hos- pitals, etc., are rarely geographically Congruént (making for non-uniform refer- ence areas) and the agencies do not update their data at sinilar intervals. 6. There is no accepted explicit methodo- logy to test the differential relation- ships of such systens either with respect to themselves or to the ontire study are 7, Qualitative attributes such as esthe- tics, ethics and value judgements are ext- renely difficult to quantify. In spite of these problems (which are mostly applicable to space planning at an urban and regional scale) there are analo- gies that can be made to space allocation Rethodologies used in the design of phys~ ical facilities (at an architectural scale). Facilities design, or layout design, is an extremely well researched (Moore’1973, Willer 1970, Teicholz, Stewart and’Lec, 1970) and developed area by industrial engineers, operations researchers and conputet scientists--as well as by architects, Each user group has examined the problem from its own point of view and has made "process" Gontributions in his own ai Economists, for example, have for many years been interested in the problen of the optinal location of economic activities. susi- nessnen want to optimize plant locations and architects are interested in develo- ping a conputer approach to physical space and room Layout design. In general, space allocation, whether for lanners, urban designers or architects, is-an ilf-structured problem. This means that the problem cannot be described mathenatically, that there does not exist an algorithn for finding the "best fit” Solution, or that the goal to be attained Cannot be made explicit and quantifiable. It is important to state that a program can only augnent the human design process and attempt to make explicit decisions that are otherwise made implicitly within this process. “The process of design, according to D'Arcy Thompson!, is thé resolution, at one instant in’timo, of many forces that are governed by rates of change. Design is thorofore iterative: and the most successful allocation programs are dynamic, interactive and graphic in nature. In’addition, prograns are most Successful when emphasis on man/machine interaction is present rather than man or machine action alone. In the case of computer augmented space planning at an urban scale, successful Pyograng such as Topaz? Pius “and EWPIRIC! usually have at additional ability to define the utilization of land in terms of physical and geographical significance (sueh’as land types including residential, commercial, educational, industrial, open space, etc.). A second’ requisite for be~ ing able to successfully use a computer for urban space planning is that the urban fabric must consist of an aggregation of homogenous areas which are classified into land use categories (and sub-categories), each of which can be associated with an environnental "archetype" (Albert and Seaman, 1975). 11, _TDER-AND_OVER-CONSTRAINED PROGRAMS, One way of classifying space planning pro- blens ts according to whether’ the planning situation is "under:" or Tover-cons~ trained." Design criteria are satisfied by many possible alternatives and have pany solutions. tnder-constrained Situations will usually, therefore, involve randon nunber generators to supply aissing information: fesign alternatives” fuse be evaluated using Nineuitive" means usually by selection criteria not explicit of Mot easily defined to a machine. In the over-constrained situation, which is the more conmon one in design, 'no form or physical solution can satisfy’all the Criteria, In the case of planning, sone of the criteria might be non-quantifiable, This would be the case, for exanple, for socio-economic patterns where it is’possi- ble, at best, to assenble a statistical model of the geographic area under consid~ eration. The generating mechanism for this situation does a a search, often heuristic, for the solution that best re- laxes constraints to the point of least Nftiction,"” As a system grows, events or decisions become increasingly determinis- tic end alternatives are diminished. In over-constrained situations, conputer prograns can present designers with a:wider Tange of alternative problen solutions and, in some cases, evaluate then accor- Ging to specific etiteria. Because desipn assumptions are frequently included on the part of the planners, sensitivity analyses are sonetines used to supply the problen solver with information Fegarding the degrees of latitude he has with errors. INPROVENENT AD CONSTRUCTION UL In order to further classify space alloca tion programs and relevant conputer tech~ niques beyond the under and over-cons~ trained categories, we will return to the analogy of facilities, or plant Layout, 333 design for analyzing ané allocating both tual itative and quantitative data,” In the Case of plant design Layout, for example, worker safety and norgley efthetics and Sther qualities must be evaluated just as productian schedules, trip distances Between departments, and other quantities must be collected afd ueilized tte design process. [A second classification system for Computer prograns used in facility design are called inprovenent-type and construct Hlon-type prograns.. ‘These categories are independent of the under= and over-cons~ trained classification, Inprovement-type or permutational algorithms. start with an existing plan or layout ag input and Aetenpe. to rearrange and iverace, through alternative plans according to the optin~ Ulatlon of specific criteria. the addi tive of Construction-type aligcation propran, on the other herd, will attempt Eorgenctate spaces or aroas into a tayout or Plan according to sono generat criteria but’ starting with an onpty site or floor plans. The construction: type algorithn TAIT usually not produce results. that are entirely acceptiie to the designer. The Solutions generated will, however, often form the basis of additional work’ and per- haps provide a wide range of altemative designs and evaluations that will stim Yate"the designer to produce new and Improved solutions, ‘The improvenont-type program is perhaps hore Connon in urban planning in’ that conranhie locations wsualiy, except per~ fiape inthe case of mew communities, exist for many Land use funetions. Even then this"is the case, however, & proper objec- ive or design approach must be explicitly Hately “in the case of planing, this could be transiated into the stazonent that environmental data only becomes use~ ful as a basis of Isnd development. deci s- ion making when the purpose oF nurposes folwhich that land will be put sre known. Iv. _Tecimrques There are a variety of techniques used Tor space allocation that are incorporated into aigorithns for computer programs. Host of the current, sophisticated pro- frans are hybrid" in that nore than one fechnique is’used ina single progran, Briefly, space allocation prograns can be neneraiized as-foliowss 1, Neighbor-Searching This constructive technique will often use a proximinity or relationship natrix as input. Scores or Interactions are calculated for each of the clenents and the most active (interactive) element is placed in the middle of the layout space. Each successive activity unit is

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