Research

α+β research projects 

• Team  Yongjun Song, Hongju Yang, Yongje Byeon (Mind Computation Lab)

• Advisor  Professor Seung Wan Hong, Inha University

• This project was awarded the Top Prize (Digital Design & Fabrication category) at the 2021 Digital Architecture Competition hosted by the Architectural Institute of Korea. 

Our team conducted design experiments in architectural program hybridization, utilizing virtual users to simulate human behavior for merging two or more distinct architectural programs and services. Recently, both domestically and internationally, architectural works have been introduced that blend new, disparate programs into existing design schemes. This trend is not only seen in experimental buildings but also in remodeling projects, such as those in Ikseon-dong. For architects, the fusion of architectural programs represents a creative endeavor to present new architectural styles. However, interpreting and adjusting user behavior and satisfaction arising from the friction between different programs is a challenging task. Although analyses based on human behavior simulation are being attempted, it is difficult to reproduce storytelling that serves as clues for architectural imagination beyond the physical analysis of user behavior.

To support these experiments in architectural program fusion, our team has developed the "Imagine-Toolkit." With the help of artificial intelligence, this toolkit employs virtual users to compute the behavior of humans and animals within physical and social environments, conducting two projects. In particular, in one project, not only the behavior of human users but also that of animal users sharing the artificial environment was simulated, exploring methods of coexistence that the designer might not have considered.

Ultimately, our team’s use of virtual user simulations in these two projects allowed us to boldly integrate different architectural programs, proposing creative and experimental designs. Beyond the physical and spatial aspects of design, our experiments highlighted the importance of architectural values such as consideration for users, coexistence, and the potential for warm, humane architectural imagination through rich storytelling and interaction between virtual users.