COMPUTING CIRCULATION

This research investigates the possibility of modelling circulation in settlements using computational modelling and more specifically agent-based systems. It focuses on two different types of models that correspond to diametrically opposed architectural tasks in respect to movement. While the first model explores the case where the agents’ movement defines the circulation, the latter builds towards the argument that good circulation can be achieved via self-organisational morphogenesis within the agent colony. The first type of computational model generates solutions that are directly informed by the acts of movement. In the other type, circulation is a by-product of agents interacting with one another. The two models help drawing the distinction between two different notions of agency. On one hand agency can be seen as a group of actors that organises and modifies the geometry of its environment. On the other hand, agency can become a design solution per se.