Finalist 2021

Villa Santorini

Jikang Liu / Jiaheng Xu / Weiwei Tong / Xinghang Fu

Automated Low-Resolution Tectonics attempts to prove the possibility of exploration of complex terrain and automatic planning and construction.

In the future, the population explosion will lead to a shortage of housing, and the limited natural ecology has forced people to think deeply about some complex geographic environments and make it possible for people to live in through architectural means.

This project uses automated low resolution tectonic technology and concepts to explore complex terrain and build and plan a densely integrated building.

The location is assumed to be in Santorini, Greece, which has complex topographical conditions. The complex terrain is challenging, and the project also attempts to prove the possibility of the widespread use of this technology and concept.

Design Brief

In the future, many countries and regions do not seem to have enough living environments to cope with a possible population explosion. Architects had to consider planning and constructing new residential buildings on complex terrain to deal with possible population explosions in the future.

The project is designed based on the volcanic island of Santorini in Greece. Santorini has a complex terrain and environment. This project attempts to use complex geographic conditions to test the effect, rationality, and wide applicability of Automated Low-Resolution Tectonic on architectural design.

Through the final design results, it proves that Automated Low-Resolution Tectonic can help architects quickly, effectively, and reasonably plan and design dense and reasonable buildings on complex terrain.


This project was developed by:

  • Jikang Liu - RMIT University
  • Jiaheng Xu - RMIT University
  • Weiwei Tong  - RMIT University
  • Xinghang Fu  - RMIT University
  • Tutors: Professor Alisa Andrasek, Joshua Lye and Mary Spyropoulos

Design Process

1. According to the survey, some buildings in Santorini are built on the cliffs along the coast. Due to the complex terrain, low-lying local buildings usually share their personal roofs as platforms for higher buildings, and some of these platforms will serve as a kind of local circulation.

2. The address of this project was chosen in Imerovigli, Santorini. Multi agent curves are used as the direction of simulating the development of new urban areas. The final result of the selected simulation test is that it is located in the area with a gentle slope near the cliff on the left, which means it has a complex topography.

3. When multi agent curves are converted to voxels, high-density voxels will generate a huge number of aggregations generated by two components according to the law. Therefore, the number of voxels determines the shape and volume of the aggregation. Through the test, the final aggregation number has been controlled. It has different branches, and each branch has a reasonable distance, which plays a vital role in receiving sunlight in different areas. Then, according to sunlight analysis, most of the windows were adjusted to the sunny side.

4. This project inherits the characteristics of local architecture. Two different components are set up as two different rooms. The larger one is mainly used as a separate room, and the small component is set as a side bedroom or a stairwell as required. Therefore, the upper and lower floors of the indoor space can be connected in series, and the public stairs will be set up in different areas as the connection method of the upper and lower floors.

Design Excellence

This kind of building design is sustainable, and different building materials will get different results. For example, in this project, CLT can be fully used as an environmentally friendly, cheap, safe, and strong material. The scheme generated in this way can bring a unique experience to people. And the concept of this architectural design is advanced, which is different from architectural design in the traditional sense. It shows more architectural design possibilities in the form of digital technology.

When the project is delivered, the experience of the residents has the same and different points. A component may mean different apartment types of the same shape, depending on the connection logic and location of the component.

The shapes produced by multiple components may be limited, but the types of houses they produce have multiplied. From indoors, this means the possibility of more spaces in series. From the perspective of the building as a whole, it may be multiple, multi-branched, streamlined, alien, and so on. The results it presents will be ambitious and diverse.

Because the design method is different from the traditional architectural design process, almost unique design results can be obtained. Therefore, this design method seems to bring more possibilities to future architectural design, and even because of this design method, it may create more employment opportunities and a special architectural training method. This will set a new benchmark for excellence in Victorian design and bring more investment potential to the design industry.

Design Innovation

The concept of Automated Low-Resolution Tectonic used in this project is an intelligent, efficient, and automatic design tool. It is different from the traditional design process in the design method. It is based on different components. The designer only needs to design the corresponding basic component based on the characteristics and background of the survey project location and the survey results.

By testing how different components are connected, you can quickly, efficiently, and automatically obtain different results by modifying the data. And this method is suitable for different terrain environments, such as valleys, hills, cliffs, and flat places.

In addition, it easily realizes the overall layout design. Through different methods, designers can collect or vote to get the most popular interior design plan, and modify or add different components according to the results obtained. When the component is modified, the overall design will quickly get new results.

This proves that it is controllable and has wide applicability.
Because the design method is different from the traditional architectural design process, it can almost get unique design results.

Therefore, this design method seems to bring more possibilities to future architectural design, and even because of this design method, it may create more employment opportunities and a special architectural training method.

Design Impact

This project can have a positive impact on society, the environment, and business. First of all, the basis of project design is a component designed to meet the needs of the general public and society.

When the basic component can meet the needs of society and the public, it can produce unique design results. It will bring additional business and tourism value. From the appearance of the overall project, it is extremely attractive, and it can even become a landmark building in a certain area. In addition, this project is controllable, sustainable and environmentally friendly.

The CLT used in this project is an environmentally friendly and renewable material. It is easy to repair and handle, and has a long service life. As in this project, without destroying and transforming the memory of the old city, by expanding urban fabrication, it can be integrated into the old city and create a strong interaction between the old and the new.

It is worth mentioning that in this project, this design did not damage or modify the environment, did not produce additional pollution and material waste, and its cost was not expensive.

All in all, this project proves that it can improve the reputation and status of Victorian design and creative culture.

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