TY - JOUR
T1 - Unveiling the structure of the Marrakech Medina
T2 - A shape grammar and an interpreter for generating urban form
AU - Duarte, José P.
AU - Rocha, João M.
AU - Soares, Gonçalo Ducla
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Rodrigo Correia, André Valverde, and João Cardoso for their work in the development of the Marrakech urban grammar interpreter. André’s and João’s work evolved within the course entitled Programming and Computation for Architecture (DAC II) taught at IST by José P. Duarte. We also thank Abied Driss, Chef du Département des Études de le Ministère de l’Interieur, Agence Urbaine de Marrakech, and Faissal Cherradi and Abdellatif Marou, Inspection Régionale des Monuments Historiques et des Sites, for providing valuable graphic and historical information regarding the history of Marrakech. This research was carried out within the framework of Project POCTI/AUR/42147/2001, coordinated by Luisa Caldas, with the financial support of FCT, Portugal. We thank Luisa for her participation in the initial discussions on the development of the grammar described in this paper.
PY - 2007/10
Y1 - 2007/10
N2 - This paper describes research carried out to develop a parametric urban shape grammar for the Zaouiat Lakhdar quarter of the Medina of Marrakech in Morocco. The goal is to create the basis for a system that could capture some features of the existing urban fabric and apply them in contemporary urban planning and architectural design. The methodology used is described, from the initial historical analysis and fieldwork to the identification of three subgrammars necessary to encode the complexity of the urban preexistences: the urban grammar, the negotiation grammar, and the housing grammar. Topdown and bottom-up approaches to grammar design are analyzed and compared. The bottom-up urban grammar developed is then described, and a hand derivation of the existing urban fabric is proposed. Visual, symbolic, and tagged computer implementations of shape grammars are briefly discussed and a novel design generated by the tagged interpreter is presented.
AB - This paper describes research carried out to develop a parametric urban shape grammar for the Zaouiat Lakhdar quarter of the Medina of Marrakech in Morocco. The goal is to create the basis for a system that could capture some features of the existing urban fabric and apply them in contemporary urban planning and architectural design. The methodology used is described, from the initial historical analysis and fieldwork to the identification of three subgrammars necessary to encode the complexity of the urban preexistences: the urban grammar, the negotiation grammar, and the housing grammar. Topdown and bottom-up approaches to grammar design are analyzed and compared. The bottom-up urban grammar developed is then described, and a hand derivation of the existing urban fabric is proposed. Visual, symbolic, and tagged computer implementations of shape grammars are briefly discussed and a novel design generated by the tagged interpreter is presented.
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U2 - 10.1017/S0890060407000315
DO - 10.1017/S0890060407000315
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:34548713410
SN - 0890-0604
VL - 21
SP - 317
EP - 349
JO - Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing: AIEDAM
JF - Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing: AIEDAM
IS - 4
ER -