Quantifying Goodness
“How Good Are We?” is a joint studio between Tsinghua and MVRDV Next that explores the quantification of goodness and the methods to assess parameters through computational means. It is done through a 4-week workshop measuring the context and impact of a design proposal of varying scales (from a room to a city). The project entails usage of basic scripting tools (Rhino & Grasshopper) in order to articulate a personal vision of a digital design tool.

How Close Are We?
In a group of 4, students select a key parameter that matters to them and would like to further explore upon. My chosen parameter was the question of “closeness”, an idea first introduced by Edward Hall in the term he coined “proxemics”. I wanted to explore the correlation of proxemics and different cultures as they express different preferences to what each perceive as their “social distances”. Together in a group, closeness became a key parameter to observe the bigger topic of “trust” expressed within an urban street environment.

How Trusting Are We?
As a group, we developed a computational tool to measure the chosen parameter of trust by developing an early metagram. The key topic of trust can be derived from the parameters of closeness, equity, accessibility and visibility. The goal of the tool was to measure the trust of a 1sqkm neighborhood. The main project statement was “a trusting neighborhood is a vibrant and active one that supports all kinds of users to foster different kinds of interactions through the physical and visual connection of a variety of spaces”.

We then enlisted a domain under the 4 parameters of specific measurable items such as dimensions of space, porosity of streets, proximity to third places or the presence of street lights. These different dimensions helped us quantify a heat map that could be projected unto the site as well as provide an overall score for the trust of a neighborhood. The locality was also considered to determine the variations of culture and density.

Generative Design
The projected heat map helped us identify problematic areas on site to be addressed with a catalogue of an urban tool kit. We proposed 3 levels of design (humble, comprehensive, radical) that ranges based on project budget, speed and degree of change. The corresponding design changes were then fed back into the measurement tool to reevaluate a site’s trust score.