CELLULAR AUTOMATA

SUBMITTED BY
GREETY MARIA THOMAS C
ADLINE MELRIBHA
CHRIS
ELAKIYA
M ARCH,( first semester )EXCEL College of Architecture and Planning, Erode
 INTRODUCTION
Cellular automata is the computational method which can simulate the process of growth by
describing a complex system by simple individuals following simple rules. This concept of simulating
growth was introduced by John von Neumann and further developed by Ulam in the area of
simulating multi-state machines.

The universe for cellular automata has evolved
over a number of dimensions, Wolfram, one-
dimensional, Conway, two-dimensional, and
Ulam, three-dimensional. The three-
dimensional universe is the one that we are
most interested in.
The connection to architecture is the
ability of cellular automata to generate
patterns, from organized patterns we
might be able to suggest architectural
forms.

We can see that the Borobudur, the biggest Buddhist temple and heritage from ancient Indonesian
civilization, use some sort of ratio conjectured to be used by the architect of the temple in
overcoming the lacking standard of measurement. In the latter, the algorithmically built temple has
fractal geometry with dimension ± 2.3252. The self-similarity of the building is shown to be emerged
from the way of building stupa, Buddhist’s relic as the basic shape from which the Borobudur was
built. Apparently, the shape of the stupa, with the hypothesized ratio applied, is obvious in a lot of
sizes, from a small 3-dimensional ornaments to the shape of the temple itself.
 BASIC CELLULAR AUTOMATA TERMINOLOGY

The basics
The three-dimensional universe, of cellular automata Figure b. displays two common
consists of a unlimited lattice of cells. Each cell has a methods of determining which
specific state, occupied or empty, represented by a adjacent cells to consider. The rule
marker recording its location. The transitional process is to check each occupied cells
begins with an initial state of occupied cells and neighborhood.
progresses by a set of rules to each succeeding
generation.
 THREE-DIMENSIONAL CELLULAR AUTOMATA

An early example of 3 dimensional pattern

development is the wooden block model created
by Schrandt and Ulam,
Figure a. Investigating repeating patterns as
Conway had found in two-dimensions is Bays,
Figure b. an highly inspirational architectural
application by Coates.
Figure c. The most recent methods develops by
Wolfram.

The striking similarity in these is the explicit

representation of the cellular automata, even though Figure d. a stacking method is
each had taken a different approach and had a different explored, as well as, one similar to
application as an investigative goal. Bays.
 ARCHITECTURAL INTERPRETATION
The pure mathematical
translation of a cellular
automata into architectural
form includes a number issues
that do not consider built
reality.
An initial review of the results
highlighted a number of other issues;
some cells were not connected
horizontally to others and some cells
had no vertical support. Also the cells
do not have an architectural scale or
suggest any interior space.
Sample generation
For example, this displays an initial configuration,
(a ) its raw results at the 8th generation,
(b) The interpretation or translation to a possible built
form can be dealt with after the form has evolved or it
can be considered from the very beginning.
A boundary is placed on the lattice to represent a site,
along with a ground plane, and an orientation of
growth that is vertical and to the sides, but not below.
The cells are stacked over each other to create a
vertical connection without a vertical displacement
between layers of cells.
HORIZONTAL CONNECTION OF CELLS
Figure displays a typical layer of
cells and a series of interpretations
that were made to address these
issues, all of which are of interest
architecturally.
Figure (a) displays the initial cell
configuration at a typical layer, each cell
is adjacent to another.
In (b) the cell remains a square unit
but is scaled so to overlap its
neighbors. When joined, a small
connector at the diagonals appears.
In (c) and (d), the scale of the square
unit is increased to further develop a
connector. The entire character of the
exterior edge of the initial cells changes
by these interpretations, as well as,
addressing the interior horizontal
connections between unit spaces.
 VARIATION OF UNIT SHAPE

Figure displays a series of possible unit shapes: circular, super ellipse,

rotated square, and a hexagon. The joining of the units spaces, in addition to
creating large contiguous areas, also creates a series of edge points, an envelope,
that can be further given an interpretation or transformed.
ENVELOPE INTERPRETATION

Figure - Depending on the

type of unit shape, a variety
of curved edges begin to
develop. the initial cell
configuration also lacked
in having vertical supports.
This issue could be addressed
in the growth rules by limiting
growth that had cell
supporting it from below or to
add supports to the final
configuration.
 CELL SUPPORTS
Figure- displays two possible
support strategies, one with
columns at the each cell corner
and the second, columns located
at the center of each cell.

BASIC ARCHITECTURAL FORM SERIES

Figure- is the raw cell
configuration with supports
represented as a mass model and
with the cells represented as
spatial modules of three floors
each.
In (b) and (c) are the curve and
spline versions. One of the
interesting aspects on this
particular interpretation is the
interior spaces created by the
merging of the cells.
 CELLS OF RANDOM SIZE

Highlights an approach where the size of the unit cell is given a minimum and maximum, the actual size
is selected randomly.

CELLS WITH RANDOM OFFSET OF VERTICES

A minimum and maximum offset was defined for each vertex of a cell, then selected randomly. The
shape in both of these cases remain approximately the same to the original.
 CELLS AS VERTICAL VOLUMES

An entirely different approach was also investigated in that the vertical aspect of the stacked cells was
considered as primary after the basic horizontal connections were made.

CELLS WITH RETAINED GROWTH

In this case, called retained growth, in each generation when a cell survives, it increases in size. This
approach considers the actual growth process in the cellular automata and interprets it directly.
 SKINNED ENVELOPE

The entire three-dimensional cell configuration is skinned with an envelope. The challenge would be
to use this method but still embed the floor and unit space concept
EXAMPLE 2

The mechanism within the method of cellular

automata is able to generate interrelated
three-dimensional patterns. These patterns
can then have an architectural interpretation.
The mechanism can also be conditioned to
consider basic architectural concepts and
elements. These include: boundary, ground,
gravity, and spatial connection. The
interpretative step can also include horizontal
and vertical connections in a variety of spatial
modules. The resulting mass can then include
edge articulation, engulfing the original cells
which created it. A transformation of the
merged lineal edges to curves and splines
further enhance the edge condition and
develops a more coherent horizontal
relationship of cells. Finally, supports are
suggested, as well as, the elements of
exterior wall and floor plates.
This experiment explores the concept that at
each generation a mutation is applied by
randomly selecting a new rule and
neighborhood count. Architecturally, the
concept explores a method to break any
evolving pattern so the forms are further
unpredictable and offer an even wider range
of configurations without introducing a
natural style The boundary is set to unlimited
throughout with the random selection using
all thirty-seven rules and all four
neighborhood types. In this series the life
span is set to six generations and the space
module is represented as a cube. The initial
configuration consists of eight cells in a square
arrangement having the center cell empty.
The cells are represented as rectangular
volumes.
 EXAMPLE 3
BOROBUDUR TEMPLE,INDONESIA
The utilization of three-dimensional cellular automata employing the two dimensional totalistic
cellular automata to simulate how simple rules could emerge a highly complex architectural designs of
some Indonesian heritages. The simple rules applied in Borobudur Temple, the largest ancient Buddhist
temple in the country with very complex detailed designs within. The simulation confirms some previous
findings related to measurement of the temple as well as some other ancient buildings in Indonesia. This
happens to open further exploitation of the explanatory power presented by cellular automata for
complex architectural designs built by civilization not having any supporting sophisticated tools, even
standard measurement systems.
There are no evidence that ancient Indonesian society had a metric standard for the precisions and
geometry on which they built the civilian constructions. Yet, ruins of buildings and artifacts expressing
complex mega-constructions are there, spreading throughout the archipelago.
The Borobudur, the biggest Buddhist temple and heritage from ancient Indonesian civilization, use
some sort of ratio conjectured to be used by the architect of the temple in overcoming the
lacking standard of measurement.

the function for n-th rules of 9-neighbors totalistic cellular automata as,
 Figure 2
Generic steps of cellular automata rule C=816
the shape that is hypothetically corresponded
to Borobudur Temple in Indonesia.
 VARIOUS TEMPLES WITH CELLULAR AUTOMATA

Figure 5
Various temples from Indonesian ancient times that can be observed as complex structures of yielded with rules of
totalistic cellular automata.