Analog to Al Futures: Pioneering SynBio Nexus Design

Thomas Spiegelhalter

Analog to Al Futures: Pioneering SynBio Nexus Design

Concepts, Tools, Workflows, Protocols and Architectural Explorations, 1985-2100

This book is not merely a historical record but a forward-looking manifesto advocating for interdisciplinary collaboration to tackle the complex challenges of climate change within the energy, food, and water nexus. With projects ranging from solarpowered buildings, green-blue-infrastructural digital twin scenario designs from 2018 to 2100 in Miami to 3Dprinted structures and bridges globally, and discussions on disruptive technologies like BIM and generative AI design algorithms, this book is a vital resource for anyone interested in the future of resilient, and adaptive urban design.

Printed Edition

60.00

Pages: 326

ISBN: 9788835161257

Edition: in preparazione 1a edizione 2024

Publisher code: 1098.2.80

Analog to AI Futures: Pioneering SynBio Nexus Design is a unique journey authored by Prof. Thomas Spiegelhalter. It takes us from the origins of tools to the bio-inspired, evolving digital design world, showcasing the transition from analogue precision to the limitless potential of AI and synthetic biology. This witness-driven research volume spans half a century, from 1974 to 2100, and documents a profound transformation in multidisciplinary design practices within biodiversity contexts.
Spiegelhalter's exploration of architectural innovation goes beyond theory. It's a practical guide where traditional design meets cutting-edge science, including generative AI, machine learning, and synthetic biology. This visionary approach leads to creating of biomass-integrated, carbonpositive, renewable energy-powered buildings and cities. These structures seamlessly blend with the natural world, fostering interorganismal communication between nature and the growing infrastructure.
Through a captivating personal narrative enriched by decades of practice and research, Spiegelhalter navigates from his roots in analogue sculpture and design to pioneering explorations in bio-inspired architecture.
This book is not merely a historical record but a forward-looking manifesto advocating for interdisciplinary collaboration to tackle the complex challenges of climate change within the energy, food, and water nexus.
With projects ranging from solarpowered buildings, green-blue-infrastructural digital twin scenario designs from 2018 to 2100 in Miami to 3Dprinted structures and bridges globally, and discussions on disruptive technologies like BIM and generative AI design algorithms, this book is a vital resource for anyone interested in the future of resilient, and adaptive urban design.

Thomas Spiegelhalter (tspiege@fiu.edu) is a Full-Tenured Professor, PhD, licensed German-US architect, engineer, and urban planner who has been the Principal of Spiegelhalter Studio + Associates since 1990. He has designed and built research projects in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and the US on numerous solar, carbon-neutral, passive architectural projects, large-scale master planning and post-industrial infrastructures, landscapes, and engineered suspension bridges. As a result of his 35 years of awarded designs and built work, consulting, research, and teaching, he has received 57 prizes, awards, and honours in competitions individually and in collaboration with engineers and landscape architects. He was a DAAD, Italian Erasmus Plus, and US Fullbright Specialist Program Awardee in the US and Italy. His current research work as a Professor at FIU involves geospatial and climatic data repositories with AI-ML-data-driven generative nexus design workflows, mostly BIM-Dynamo-Grasshopper coding with bionics and biomimetics. His current bio-inspired research (http://crunch.fiu.edu/) focuses on optimising carbon-positive buildings and city design and planning scenarios towards carbon neutrality on a timeline from 2018 to 2100. He has already published three volumes on this topic with FrancoAngeli. Spiegelhalter participated twice in the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021 and 2023 and taught at several universities in Germany, Italy, Costa Rica, the US and Japan. He is currently a professor and co-director of Florida International University in Miami's structures and environmental technologies lab. He was the Global Visiting Professor at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan, from 2023 to 2024.

Diane Ghirardo, Foreword
Neil Leach, Foreword
Introduction
Part I. Foundations and Evolution of Design
From Analog to Digital Tools: A Multidisciplinary Design Journey
(Introduction - How it all began: Origins of Analog Training and Theories, A Legacy Spanning from 1975 to 1988; Radical Transformation in Design and Fabrication: Transitioning from Analog to Digital Tools and Algorithms in the '80s; Multidisciplinary Transitions from the Arts to 3D-Media, and to Architectural Engineering in the '90s; Exploring Analog Training, Design Research Narratives in Contextual Units)
Nature's Blueprint: Bionics, Design Paradigms, and Cultural Intersections
(Design Evolution: Tools, Agents, and Methodologies through a Genius Loci Lens, 1985-2023; The Exploratory Design Middle-Out-Approach Top-Down and Bottom-Up Paradigms; Interpretations through the Lens of Epistemology and Ontology; The "Dreilaendereck" and Its Italian Connections: A German-French-Swiss Nexus; Form follows Nature: Tools, Protocols of the Living and Non Living Nature; The Evolution of Microscopy and X-ray to Microanalysis Tools; Bionics in Practice: Research Tools, Applications, and Workflows; The Anthropologic Epoch - Integrating Bionics at the 38th eCAADe in Berlin, 2020)
Part II. Digital Transformation, Culture and Sensory Expansion
The Transitional Cold War Uncertainties and the Rise of Digital Design Domains
(The Birth of the Internet: Shifting from the Analog to Digital Nexus, 1982-1989; Navigating Cold War Realities: Life, Education, and Exploration in West Berlin; Berlin's Boundary-Pushing Ventures: Exploring Novel Inquiry Tools Approaches; Design Hackers' Night Shifts and the future Billion Dollar Code Syndrome)
Expanding Multisensory Tools, Design Philosophies, and Digital Disruptions
(The Digital Revolution: A Journey from CAD to BIM, 1990-2012; Sensory Landscape: Investigating Gravel Pit Architecture and Mediatectures, 1980-1992; Disruptive Mediatectures and Autopoietic Wetware Design Tools: Theories and Philosophies, 1990-1992; Wrapping up: Reflecting on Multisensory, Neurobiologically driven Adaptive Tools)
Part III. Bioinspired Design Projects and Experiments
Nexus of Bioinspired Design/Built Evolution and Science: Awarded Research Projects
(Adaptable Technologies - Le archittetura di Thomas Spiegelhalter; The Scienti?c Committee - Le Architetture della Tecnologia; Beyond Non-liquid Technologies: Gianmichele Panarelli and Luigi Cavallari Analysis; Gianmichele Panarelli Insights on Selected Projects; Manifesting Concepts into Reality: Selected Design and Built Projects, 1988-2018; Experimental Masterplan Designs for Coal Mining Bridges in Leipzig, Rackwitz and Klettwitz, Germany, 1993-1997; Two Awarded Suspension Bridges at Expo Hannover, Germany, and Over the Maas, Belgium, 2000-2002; Selected Solar Powered Mixed-Use Buildings in Germany, US and China, 1997-2018; Engaging in Solar Decathlon Competitions in the USA and China, 2002-2018; Large-Scale Carbon-Neutrality Infrastructural Project: Catalina Island, California,2002-2003; Design Vanguard Award 2003 - Ten of the ?rms shape the Globe, 2003)
Part IV. Performative AI-Data-Driven Architecture Nexus Trends
The confluence of Big Data Algorithms, Case Studies, Autopoietic Tools
(Driving Architectural Advancements: The Integration and Impact of AI and ML Tools from 2009 to 2022 and Beyond; Best Practices Training Modules in Sustainable Building Design, 2009-2012; Selected Applied Research at FIU Miami Beach Urban Design Studios, 2009-ongoing; Unveiling Post Parametric Automation in Design and Construction Innovations, 2012-2014;From Parametric to Autopoietic Tools: How the AI-Evolution Transforms the AEC Industry, 1950-2023; Conclusion and Future Prospects: Can Algorithms and Generative AI Systems be Trusted?)
Part V. Investigating Natural & SynBio Experimentations
AI-ML, Robotics and Climate Sensitive Projects from Costa Rica, Africa to Germany
(AI-ML Enabled Design/Build Projects and Research Period, 2015-2024; Generative BIM designed and built Case Studies in Costa Rica, the US, Japan, Rwanda and Germany; Conclusion and Outlook for Future Tools, Workflows and n-d Manufacturing Programmable Matter and Autopoietic AGI Bio-Printing)
The Fusion of Climate, Computation, and SynBio in Architectural Innovation
(Transcending Boundaries: The Synergistic Growth of Big Data-Funded Tool Set Development Research in Germany and the US, 1990-2024; Introduction and Overview of the Selected Research and Contributions to AEC; Climate-Resilient-Urban-Nexus-CHoices (CRUNCH) Research, 2018-2024; Genetic Food-Water-Energy Nexus Design Research for Miami's Greater Islands, Scripting and Coding AI-ML Algorithms, 2018-2100; Conclusion and Moonshot Thinking)
Part VI. Thoughts, Manifesto and Future Visions
New Explorations with SynBio-AI tools, Quantum and the Unfathomable Universe
(Manifesto: Technological Disruption and Industrial Evolution in a Computational Biology Landscape; Present Realm: Disruptive Technologies, Synthetic Biology and the Current Industrial Revolutions; Bridging Fiction and Reality: Unleashing the Potential of AI-SynBio, Autopoietic Wetware, and Neuromorphic Computing; Transcending Traditional Tools: The Intersection of Design and Transhumanist Technologies; Quantum Realities and Neural Networks of Codes: Tracing the Evolution of Science Tools from 2022 to 2100 and Beyond; Tracing the Evolution of Science Tools from 2022 to 2100 and Beyond; Unveiling the Mathematical Universe: The Intrinsic Nature of Mathematics in Nature and the Cosmos; Tools of Inter-Organismal Communication: Bridging Biological Scales and Buildings; Reflective Insights, Philosophy and Future Hypotheses)
Novel Approaches and Contributions to the Disciplines

Contributors: Diane Ghirardo, Neil Leach

Serie: Nuova Serie di Architettura

Subjects: Architectural and Urban Design

Level: Scholarly Research

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