3D printed

The spring model got 3d printed at GSD, thanks for Su Qi!

Spring System Study in 3D

Spring has been used for structural and architectural studies for a long time. This study is interested in using springs to optimize a spacial distribution. All the spots keeps searching for 4 closest neighbors (spots & anchors) and connect them with springs which push or pull those spots.

animation in Processing

By real-time changing the “initial” length of springs, the structure trys to re-organize and reach dynamic and “balanced” conditions. This feature allows the designer to have more control on this “self-organized” system.

Spring System Study

Spring has been used for structural and architectural studies for a long time. This study is interested in using springs to optimize a spacial distribution. All the spots keeps searching for 4 closest neighbors (spots & anchors) and connect them with springs which push or pull those spots. Different than fixed spring-connected structure, this program allows the spots to change its connected neighbors by calculating their distance.

Pheromone Growth (3D)

animation in Processing

Pheromone System - Lots of Ants

animation in Processing

“Ants” moves by exchanging the pheromone signals.

This program allows the agent to move by following two simple rules: try to move to the nearby point which has strongest pheromone left by others; try to move along the paths on the map. The pheromone signals left on the trails keeps fading through time.

Screen shot:

Agents do 3 calculations in each step:

Road Self-organization Study

animation in Processing


If we assume that a road system can be purely result of self-organized individual paths,  what is the rules behind that process? The later raised question would be: what is the intelligence of a road system which needed to be explored. This study utilizes the multi-agent system to mimic the process that individual paths try to interact with its neighbors. From the initial disordered condition, each segment try to find proper neighbors to join and align.

One of the essential techniques in this study is to use two (could be more) agents in the shell of one agent as that a segment has two vertexs a and b which behave individually.

Screen shots to show the process of the "self-organizing":

Swarm Urbanism - Neil Leach Studio Project

animation in Processing

Utilizing the Central Place Theory as a logical framework within which the multi-layered networks self-organize based on local rules & information exchanges. Each individual place attracts certain urban activities which are simulated by multi-layered agents’ movements which together form into swarm behaviors in a 2D urban context.

Meanwhile, those swarm behaviors trigger the possibility of emergence based on the procise calculation of popolarities to agents and densities of places. The dynamic distribution of the multi-layered networks somehow reflect the local logic of the city growth, because that the swarm behaviors follow the rules with values/weights abstracted from reality.

Path Optimization Study


Programing Planning Testing

Massing Study

Part of Processing codes and  libraries was contributed by Roland Snooks (Kokkugia).