Computational Approach Integrates Contextual Data in Design

A summer residence perched on the rocky shoreline was digitally conceived to highlight how contextual parameters – such as weather and topography – can be the main drivers of design.

Seaside Second Home was the master’s degree project of Joakim Hoen, undertaken at The Oslo School of Architecture and Design. By creating a model for digitally fabricated houses, Hoen argued that processes which lead to the final architectural designare prioritised. This project attempts to integrate contextual data and human dimensions in the digital conception of a series of second homes.

The homes in question are often designed as specific responses to particular sites found along the Norwegian coastline, characterised by bare rocks, marine climate and spectacular views. Instead of designing a single discrete cabin, the project establishes data structures, describing the relationship between the various needs of the inhabitants and the extrinsic data that articulates the layers of the building envelope.

A series of custom software tools were developed. The first set interfaced with Meteorologisk Institutt and Statens Kartverk to effectively gather and prepare weather and light detection data for use in the design process. The next used this data in a generative process leading to similar but different designs for each site.

Simultaneously, a spatial idea was developed based on a continuous space where vertical communication is the space and that this space is divided by inclining the floor and ceiling surfaces to block off or provide visual contact between functions as one moves through the building. This challenged not only the way we look at ‘the floor’ but also the cellular room arrangement.

Photos courtesy of Joakim Hoen.