Constraint-Based Design in Participatory Housing Planning

We introduce some novel ideas for a constraint-based design strategy to support participatory housing planning processes in Latin America. The following lines intend to open the discussion on the requirements and effect of the computer implementation of a constraint satisfaction approach to solve elementary design problems in architectural practice. The case study applies to the building massing design problem posed by the Chilean urban regulatory framework that addresses single-family affordable houses. Two different implementation criteria are being tested in an ongoing series of trials providing further considerations. One prototype uses MAXON's CINEMA4D XPRESSO ® visual scripting environment to set up a semi-automated design environment which allows users to edit one feature-based 3D model of massing alternative at a time. The other prototype uses ILOG's OPL STUDIO ® constraint programming environment to achieve fully automated search and 2D visualization of all possible solution alternatives to separate subdomains of the building massing design problem.