Humanising the computational design process: Integrating parametric models with qualitative dimensions

Parametric design is a computational based approach used for understanding the logic and the language embedded in the design process algorithmically and mathematically. Currently, the main focus of computational models, such as shape grammar and space syntax, is primarily limited to formal and spatial requirements of the design problem. Yet, qualitative factors, such as social, cultural and contextual aspects are also important dimensions in solving architectural design problems. In this paper, an overview of the advantages and implications of the current methods is presented. It also puts forward a ‘structured analytical system’ that combines the formal and geometric properties of the design, with descriptions that reflect the spatial, social, and environmental patterns. This syntactic-discursive model is applied for encoding vernacular courtyard houses in the hot-arid regions of the Middle-East and North-Africa, and utilising the potentials of these cases in reflecting the life-style and the cultural values of the society, such as privacy, human-spatial behaviour, the social life inside the house, the hierarchy of spaces, the segregation and seclusion of family members from visitors, and the orientation of spaces. The output of this analytical phase prepares the ground work for the development of socio-spatial grammar for contemporary tall residential buildings that gives the designer the ability to reveal logical spatial topologies based on social-environmental restrictions, and to produce alternatives that have an identity, and at the same time respect the context, the place, and the needs of users