Interactive tables come in many shapes and forms and are created for different interaction styles and concepts. Many examples of interactive tables exist and recently, commercially available interactive tabletops have been introduced to the consumer, such as the Microsoft Surface, Philips Entertaible and NUI. However, discussion about how these tables were designed has not been adequately disseminated. In fact, little has been reported in the literature about the different design decisions and trade-offs that are made when constructing interactive tables despite the fact that such decisions can have a profound impact on a successful outcome.

Author: George Roussos
Author: Abel Maciel
Author: James Tompkin
Author: Jennifer G. Sheridan

Publication: Proceedings of 23rd Conference on Human Computer Interaction, pages 485-493, Cambridge, UK, 2009 | full text (PDF)

Year: 2009

The human eye is intuitively drawn to the organic shapes of sand dunes, curling vines, rolling hills and other natural phenomena. Because of its strong aesthetic appeal, our particular interest is in generating biologically inspired form for architects. In the past, architectural form was constrained by material and structure and was able to re ect only a small degree of natural form in examples such as rounded pillars and domed roofs. In an exciting paradigm shift in architecture, contemporary computer aided design and manufacturing in interaction with integrated, human designed materials have largely unleashed today's architects from these shackles. They can now move beyond simply appreciating the graceful form of an emerging ower that bends in response to the sun's position or admiring the evolved shape of a natural shelter that responds to seasonal elements.

Author: Martin Hemberg
Author: Una-May O’Reilly
Author: Achim Menges
Author: Katrin Jonas
Author: Michel da Costa Gonçalves
Author: Steven R. Fuchs

Publication:Juan Romero and Penousal Machado (eds) The Art of Artificial Evolution: A Handbook on Evolutionary Art and Music, Springer - Natural Computing | full text (PDF)

Year: 2008

In nature, species have evolved to best suit their niches. Monkeys have evolved to have long arms and dextrous hands that enable them to climb trees and pick fruit. Lions, on the other hand, have evolved to be strong and fast so as to most effectively catch prey in the open savannah. Each species has therefore evolved in order to best cope with typical tasks that are encountered. This can be thought of as optimising to a narrow range of tasks. Human beings have the ability to live almost anywhere. Even early man was found in nearly all climates and surroundings. He is not the strongest, nor fastest, and he is not especially good at climbing trees either. What he has is the ability to think. Moreover, the ability to use tools to transform his body into what is needed for the environment. Weapons for hunting allow him to exceed the lion’s power, and clothing can keep him warm in otherwise inhospitable climates. Therefore he has a very wide range of skills, though none are of great magnitude.

Author: Sean Hanna
Author: Mahdavi S Haroun

Publication: Proceedings of ICARCV 2004 | full text (PDF)

Year: 2004

File to factory processes, direct fabrication and the technologies that drive them are often described by a number of perceived outcomes.

• First, they seem to be flexible throughout the process of design. By controlling designs parametrically, many design decisions can be deferred to a later point in the process, adjusted by altering parameters at any time.
• Second, they appear to provide a unique ability to create non-standard architecture. Individual elements may be entirely unique, and change in every instance of their application.
• Finally, the resulting products of construction are highly complex, and this results both in an unprecedented ability to adapt to functional requirements and to a new aesthetic in its own right.

Author: Sean Hanna

Publication: Proceedings of International Symposium File to Factory 2010

Year: 2010

Style is a broad term that could potentially refer to any features of a work, as well as a fluid concept that is subject to change and disagreement. The idea of a style in any discipline is a fluid concept that is always subject to change, and therefore suited to a flexible representation. What is suggested here is that it can nevertheless be accurately represented and emulated. This work has presented an algorithmic method for both deriving a stylistic definition automatically from examples, and using it to generate new designs. Architectural examples were used, and were investigated primarily in terms of their spatial features, but it is intended as a general model in that other forms of input and classification algorithms may be used. Likewise, axial analysis and the aggregation model are not essential to the method, but the principles of feature space reduction and archetype should apply to a variety of analysis and synthesis techniques.

Author: Sean Hanna

Publication: Design Computing and Cognition '06. Springer. pp. 3-22 | full text (PDF)

Year: 2006

Design problems, if they can be called problems at all, are complex. Disciplines such as architecture and planning are described as dealing almost exclusively with situa-tions in which the brief is relatively ill -defined relative to the real range of problem considerations, the perception of the problem itself may change radically as design progresses, and the solution is typically arrived at by a unique process that cannot be predicted in advance.

Author: Sean Hanna

Publication: Design Computing and Cognition '10 Workshop on Assessing the Impact of Complexity Science in Design: Alexiou K and Zamenopoulos T (eds.) | full text (PDF)

Year: 2010