SOM architect Kat Park and senior engineer Samantha Walker took part in the 2018 Smartgeometry (sg2018) Workshop and Conference. The two developed and led a session, titled “Fresh Eyes,” with Adam Menges, founder and CEO of the artificial intelligence startup Lobe, and Kyle Steinfeld from the University of California, Berkeley. The sg2018 event took place in April at the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.
Centered on the theme of Machine Minds, sg2018 offered practitioners and developers an opportunity to explore computational intelligence—the ability of computers to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence—and its impact on our daily experiences.
In the Fresh Eyes workshop, Park, Walker, Menges, and Steinfeld discussed and experimented with recent developments in machine learning, as they relate to generative architectural design. Specifically, the group incorporated user-generated image recognition models into the evaluation step of a traditional generative design workflow. Over the course of the four-day event, they trained image-based machine learning models to evaluate design solutions based on a variety of criteria, including architectural style, spatial experience, and typological features. At the end of the workshop, the group exhibited designs created using the technology, demonstrating the impact computational intelligence holds for the field.
Learn more about the Fresh Eyes workshop and sg2018.
Source: Marc Webb, Vimeo