From: thinman@netcom.netcom.com (Lance Norskog)
Subject: APPS/BIB: The Logic Of Architecture
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 92 10:31:12 PST



There's a book "The Logic of Architecture" by ??, a UCLA architecture
professor.  He learned Prolog, and wrote a system that generates
buildings according to constraint systems.  A friend showed me
the book and explained it, so this explanation is from memory and
a little sketchy.

There's a monograph (100 or 200 years old, by Durand) on many Roman
villas of a particular period that gives the floor plans and analyzes
the aesthetics.  Apparently most architecture students have to study
this book.  The Prolog program can generate new floor plans based on
the aesthetic rules the author figured out.

Another architect who knew the monograph inside out looked at a
generated floor plan and recognized it from the monograph, but couldn't
name the particular villa.

The concept of a 3D contraint satisfier was at first startling, but it
would be very handy for taking an information topology and making it
navigable.  We can all be architects, with our own layout style and
design aesthetic.

Lance Norskog
thinman@netcom.com