Discrete Optimization in Architecture

This book presents three projects that demonstrate thefundamental problems of architectural design and urban composition – the layoutdesign, evaluation and optimization. Part I describes the functional layoutdesign of a residential building, and an evaluation of the quality of a townsquare (plaza).

The algorithm for the functional layout design is based onbacktracking using a constraint satisfaction approach combined with coarse griddiscretization. The algorithm for the town square evaluation is based ongeometrical properties derived directly from its plan.

Part II introduces a crowd-simulation application for theanalysis of escape routes on floor plans, and optimization of a floor plan forsmooth crowd flow. The algorithms presented employ agent-based modeling andcellular automata.