Free-form floor plan design using differentiable Voronoi diagram

129 pointsposted 7 hours ago
by alex_hirner
(github.com)

18 Comments

hansvm

5 hours ago

The general strategy of creating a differentiable representation of a problem and simply describing the constraints is pretty powerful. See also databases (allowing arbitrary knowledge storage to be a tightly integrated part of a larger ML problem), graph layouts (you can do _way_ better than something like graphviz if you add arbitrary differentiable characteristics as constraints in generation -- mixing and matching between the better parts of normal layout routines using your human intuition to say what's important about this graph in particular), ....

foota

6 hours ago

This is fascinating to me because I once tried to take a (vaguely) similar approach to generate a procedural city layout, taking a voronoi diagram, and then doing some modified flood fills to create buildings within the city while leavings streets.

It feels to me like their approach could be used for this as well, since there's of course nothing that requires it to only be used for generating floor plans.

geon

3 hours ago

What do the cells represent, and why are they more dense in some spots?

javier123454321

4 hours ago

Geez, as architecture these plans are absolutely horrible and produce unusable spaces. As an abstract math problem, it seems marginally useful, but I would not want to live in a place laid out by this algorithm.

pimlottc

4 hours ago

I'm no architect, but surely the precise details of the exterior walls are decided based on the floor plan, not the other way around? Seems odd to assume the walls are fixed before the floor plan has been determined.

Of course, the shape of the lot and other physical factors put general limitations on the bounds of the house, but filling the entire lot isn't usually the primary goal.

Maybe it's more useful for a renovation?

freeone3000

4 hours ago

I’m not sure why you’d assume that rather than the inverse. The house is set to fit a certain number of square feet based on economic concerns (heating and cooling costs primarily), then the ordinances on setback and separation come into play, then the very clear rectangle that results is your starting point for interior planning.

contingencies

2 hours ago

Both are used. Hence, any good design should explicitly state what the goals are (ie. what we are optimizing for) before embarking on the design process.

Commercial real estate generally optimizes for profit, which means, floor space, however this may be subject to regulation and particularly significant cost constraints (eg. maximum height before alternate structural features required, maximum height of available raw materials, HVAC/insulation, site aspect, site topography).

High end residential real estate is perhaps the most interesting, because good residential architecture facilitates aesthetic concern and draws from the full palette of commercial architecture in addition to traditional methods while not being constrained by finance. Hence, very interesting results can sometimes be obtained from good architects who will consider factors such as foliage, natural audio, etc. which are often ~ignored or afterthoughts in commercial/industrial.

IMHO good and original design in adequately resourced contexts tends to be iterative and to consider all paths toward a solution, not only a preconceived approach and a waterfall solution.

rhcom2

2 hours ago

In my experience in the arch industry this type of space planning is more used in large buildings with a lot of different spaces (think college buildings). Usually the building is already built but being "renovated". A residential house doesn't really have the need for this type of algorithmic design for < 10 rooms.

digilypse

7 hours ago

Really cool. Could see this being used for generative video game assets

codetrotter

4 hours ago

An FPS Death Match map, but every time a new match is started, the layouts of the rooms change somewhat. And maybe even like another commenter talked about, buildings themselves could be positioned using this technique too, so even the layout of the buildings and the roads change a bit every new match.

It’ll be familiar, but at the same time unfamiliar, every time a new match starts. Some strategies will be useful across matches, some strategies will not.

redandblack

6 hours ago

This will be great for deciding on voting districts

IshKebab

2 hours ago

Uhm shouldn't the rooms be rectangular? You don't see many polygonal rooms for obvious reasons...