Digital Doxiadis: Parametric Thinking for Human Settlements

Abstract

AbstractThis paper presents the output of ‘Digital Doxiadis: Parametric thinking for Human Settlements’, an architectural design workshop that took place in Chania on July 2015 with 25 participants. It was part of a two-year preliminary research project on the future of Doxiadis’ unique European industrial settlement and based on the findings of two intensive workshops in Aspra Spitia and Athens on January 2015 and April 2015. One of its main goals was to bring Doxiadis’s approach on the study and development of human settlements in the context of contemporary tools and associative parametric modeling. Custom design tools attempt to simulate the function and evolution of Aspra Spitia in Boeotia combined with industrial districts, assuming programmatic benefits through the application of selected cluster theory concepts, expressed as spatial rules. Reflecting on the experience and the workshop results, we suggest that employing procedural parametric master planning offers the possibility of revisiting Doxiadis’ pioneering analysis-based and data-driven anthropocentric ekistics, while the advantage of calculating directly output data for every design choice taken augments the design process, shifting beyond the flexible urban configuration parametric model into an informed spatial exploration and quantitative decision-making tool.KeywordsParametric modelingDoxiadisEkistics