Cubic Journal

Toward Innocence

Tian Tian Sky Lo — 2025-12-01

Currently, the role of design and its significance is being drowned in gimmicks, as digital technologies Philosophical Grounding – Beyond Digital Gimmickry now play a significant role in shaping the behaviours, performances and standards of societies, communi- ties, organizations and individuals (Denning & Tedre, 2019).

That stark observation, opening the call for Cubic Journal Issue #8, frames the dilemma of twenty-first-century computation. Digital technologies have woven themselves so completely into contemporary practice that it is now possible, and alarmingly common, for the craft of design to be mistaken for a talent show of software tricks (Caetano & Leitão, 2020). Parametric engines pump out ever-thicker lattices, immersive headsets allow us to rehearse projects before they exist, and generative models To move out of the above cul-de-sac, the present issue of Cubic Journal proposes that we “search for innocence” inside the very computational milieu that so often corrodes it.

Innocence here is not a nostalgic return to drafting tables; rather, it is the discipline of approaching each digital operation as provisional. Every line of code must remain open to revision, every data set negotiable, every interface a two-way conversation instead of a one-way funnel. The ambition is straightforward: let the machine’s plasticity remain a servant to human sense-making rather than an autonomous generator of spectacle. pour shapely novelties onto our screens faster than we can develop opinions about them (LÓpez-LÓpezet al., 2023; Oxman, 2017).

Yet the brighter the spectacle, the more easily it obscures the purpose that once animated design: the careful alignment of material possibility, cultural meaning and lived need. Complexity produced first and explained later is the new cliché (Frické, 2009). A script churns overnight, a form appears at dawn, and the day is then spent inventing a story to justify what the algorithm decided while no one was looking. In that moment authorship blurs: is the designed entity the geometry, the code that birthed it, or the opaque commercial platform that still owns the underlying parameters? When the engine is sealed, we are left admiring not insight but vendor capacity.

This editorial argues for a refram-ing of computational design—not as a pursuit of spectacle or optimization, but as a relational, ethical, and materially grounded practice. We call this shift Design 3.0. This editorial unfolds in three acts (fig. 1): first, a critique of spectacle and a call to recover ethical authorship; second, ten case studies of compu- tational design in practice that ascend the DIKW ladder—from data, through information and knowledge, to wisdom (Ackoff, 1989); and third, a proposal for Design 3.0—an open, reflexive, recipro- cal paradigm for the future.

Integrating Immersive Technology into Micro-Scale Spatial Design for Urban Villages

Xinrui Gao — 2025-12-01

Rapid urbanisation in China has led to urban villages, presenting challenges in spatial governance and renewal. Advanced digital and parametric methodologies can extend beyond traditional building-focused strategies to address public space vitality and resident demand issues. However, their effectiveness in capturing and responding to intricate spaces and individual needs within urban villages remains underexplored. This study investigates how mixed reality (MR) in experiential design systems can revitalise urban villages. We review existing literature and design projects using digital tools in the survey, analysis, and design phases of urban village regeneration. We then propose a design framework that leverages immersive technology to revitalise public spaces. Using Shenzhen’s Baishizhou as a case site, the research focuses on four types of highly utilised public spaces from the perspective of migrant renters. Integrating MR technology, this multi-port framework effectively bridges the gap inherent in existing digital tools, thereby enhancing designer productivity.

Exploring Photogrammetry for Documentation and Conservation

Fatih Uzun — 2025-12-01

Photogrammetry, the process of producing detailed 3D models using photographs, is an indispensable tool in heritage conservation and construction due to its capacity for documentation. It can benefit professionals across various fields of design and computation to efficiently generate digital renditions that can be used for documentation, dissemination, education and entertainment. This paper describes a feasible and cost-effective workflow for creating and processing high-quality photogrammetry-based models and a series of workshops that introduce architecture students and researchers to it. The proposed framework strives to document objects and spatial elements by streamlining the terrestrial photogrammetry process in the face of modern challenges, focusing on the necessity of model optimisation for the longevity of documentation. In this spirit, the workshop seeks to empower participants to actively engage in the preservation of cultural heritage.

Reinventing the Freshwater Shelter

Chen Xi — 2025-12-01

After an era of rapid development, Hong Kong has reached a critical juncture at which urbanisation is saturated and in urgent need of transition. Hong Kong’s freshwater resources are in a state of scarcity due to its small geographical size, limited surface watersheds, ageing building services and extensive reclamation. Under the guidance of the Sustainable Development Goals, planning for the utilisation of Hong Kong’s existing resources and the introduction of emerging technological tools provide development opportunities for the experimental remodelling of Hong Kong’s freshwater system. The concept for a shelter is based on the ageing infrastructure and impending collapse of the freshwater system in the To Kwa Wan area of Hong Kong. The objective of this paper is to experimentally reconfigure a freshwater system in a densely populated area through novel bio-building materials, modular design systems and computational modelling. Moreover, this paper provides design concepts for future cities to cope with the complexities of climate change and sudden-onset disasters. The validity of the design results is assessed through experimental modelling and scenario simulations.

Three Creative Methods for High-Rise Building Design

Xi Deng — 2025-12-01

This paper explores three innovative high-rise building design concepts to enrich urban environments by enhancing human perception, integrating cultural heritage and promoting sustainability. Runxin Fu’s ‘The Perceptual Condenser’ disrupts typical spatial experiences through composite wall systems and angled shear walls, encouraging active exploration and improving the human experience in vertical environments through Structuralism. Shiyao Feng’s ‘The Landscape City’ integrates elements of traditional Chinese shanshui gardens and paintings, using masking techniques and spatial contrasts to create a distinctive and culturally enriched spatial experience. Biaoqing Tao’s ‘Arching’ concept employs biomimetic modular methods, emphasising sustainability and reducing carbon emissions through the use of wood and modular construction. These approaches propose a transformative vision for high-rise buildings that aims to break free from homogenised urban architecture and foster diverse, sustainable and culturally rich urban spaces.

Digital Design and Simulation of Knit Panels for Transforming Scissor Structures

Virginia Ellyn Melnyk — 2025-12-01

As architecture faces demands for adaptability, transformable design offers vital strategies for dynamic spatial configurations. This research explores the integration of knitted textiles with transformable scissor grids to create collapsible architectural walls. By utilising the elasticity of knitted materials, the project optimises expansion and retraction of the surface membranes, enhancing adaptability. Digital simulations are used to predict the textile behaviours and informed he material development and patterning. The final design incorporates two offset scissor grids, adding depth and dynamic interplay between colour and pattern. Using nylon yarns and nylon-covered elastic yarns created a range of elastic responses, enabling the membrane to stretch and contract with the transformable grid whilst maintaining tension. This integration enhanced the visual expression of movement, allowing colours and patterns to shift during transformation. The study demonstrates how knitted membranes can infill scissor grids creating enclosure, providing stability, whilst enabling dynamic, responsive surfaces for adaptive architectural design.

The Digital Print Matrix

Xiaoqiao Li — 2025-12-01

The integration of digital print matrix technologies with traditional printmaking practices presents both opportunities and challenges in contemporary art production. This paper explores the potential and limitations of digital print matrix technology, demonstrating its ability to enable artists to create intricate designs, iterate quickly and blend digital and analogue approaches. Artists can generate innovative forms, patterns and textures by integrating computational design and algorithmic approaches. While these technologies offer new creative possibilities, they also raise important questions about the nature of craftsmanship and artistic authenticity. Using laser cutters or XY pen-plotters adds a distinctive aesthetic dimension, and incorporating the PRINT command in programming bridges digital creations with the materiality of printmaking. The digital print matrix fosters a culture of experimentation, collaboration and conceptual innovation, ultimately reshaping the landscape of creative expression. This evolution in printmaking pushes the boundaries of the medium and encourages artists to reconsider the essence of digital imagery and its connection to the physical realm.

Emotional Resonance and Interactive Experience

Xinyi Chen — 2025-12-01

This study explores the integration of emotional resonance and interactive experience in design and proposes a systematic framework that combines affective computing, multisensory design and ethical considerations. Grounded in emotional design (Norman 2004) and affective computing (Picard 1997), this framework is validated through case studies in smart home systems, emotional support interfaces and interactive pet care. The findings indicate that emotion-aware design significantly improves user engagement (32% increase in smart plant care interactions) and fosters ethical reflection (41% decrease in support for cosmetic pet surgeries). Despite the potential of emotion-aware design, challenges remain in terms of privacy concerns, cultural adaptation and technological feasibility. This research contributes to empathetic design by offering a structured approach to emotion-driven user interactions, with implications for future developments in AI-driven emotional modulation and cross-cultural applications.

Intelligent Shelter System Designed to Prevent Crime and Recidivism among Rural Women

Chuteng Hwang — 2025-12-01

Currently, most crime prevention efforts focus on social services, such as behaviour correction and resocialisation, with limited emphasis on the role of social support systems for rural women. Although the proportion of crimes committed by women is not significantly high, such crimes inflict deep harm on families and society. This paper aims to design and study an intelligent shelter system for rural women to address their support needs in the face of family and social problems and to indirectly prevent the occurrence of crime. Based on case studies of rural women offenders and an analysis of existing shelters, this research employs stakeholder mapping, user journey mapping and service blueprints to examine interaction dynamics. In addition, the addition of speech emotion recognition technology facilitates long-term support and crime prevention strategies. This approach enables the organic integration of resources and network connectivity for the prevention of crime by rural women and provides immediate guidance to them.

Scenes of Computational Transcoding – or How Technology Listens to a Fish Farm

Marcel Zaes Sagesser — 2025-12-01

In South China’s Greater Bay Area, an idiosyncratic low-tech sound emanates, primarily from mechanical impeller aerators – air propellers used in local fish farms. The author’s creative approach integrates audio recording, soundscape mapping, computational analysis and translation across media with performative reinterpretation by singers, resulting in a museum gallery installation. This method, presented as computational transcoding, utilises technology to listen with a difference. An interdisciplinary theoretical framework is applied to demonstrate that computational and vocal transcoding of audio from a fish pond offers new perspectives yet also renders the transcoding process itself audible. The methodological scenes blend an artistic narrative with audio-visual media to offer an original perspective on urban soundscapes. This approach emphasises human vocalists’ role in contrasting computational limitations and algorithmic artefacts in interpreting these environments. Presented in scenes, the piece guides the audience through the outskirts of South China, with a video backdrop available to the reader to provide the soundtrack.

Beyond Artificiality

Serdar Aydin — 2026-04-04

Architecture is undergoing a new digital turn prompted by the use of artificial intelligence, which has sparked both enthusiasm and concern—particularly regarding the notion that computers may replace architects. However, the repositioning of architects provides an opportunity to incorporate a new modus operandi with new forms of production. This paper proposes an alternative approach for human–computer interaction within the framework of discrete architecture – a topical production model for building components. The study relies on a collaborative and forward-thinking approach rather than artificiality, which often distances actors in the architecture field from emerging concepts, terminologies, and methods. It introduces the concept of synergistic design intelligence based on an improvised approach applied to a design studio experiment. The results signify a transition to a hyperspatial paradigm while demonstrating how heterogeneous computational strategies can enhance designers’ engagement with new concepts of computational thinking in architecture.

Supporting Creative Design for 3D Cinematic Composition with Generative Artificial Intelligence

Rui He — 2025-12-01

Cinematic composition plays a pivotal role in creating compelling visual storytelling and evoking emotional impact in filmmaking. With the emergence of game-engine-based filmmaking, directors can now explore and evaluate cinematic designs within a real-time 3D virtual environment. However, achieving creative outcomes remains a challenging task, as filmmakers must navigate vast 3D spaces and carefully manipulate virtual cameras to achieve their vision.Existing automated systems often fall short, producing either context-insensitive results or overly conventional designs that fail to inspire creativity.

In response to these challenges, my PhD study introduces Cinemassist, a generative AI- based creativity support tool (CST) designed to facilitate creative cinematic composition in game-engine-based filmmaking (He et al., 2024a). Informed by a formative study conducted with professional filmmakers, the system provides a diverse range of real-time cinematic composition suggestions that transcend conventional paradigms. These suggestions operate at two levels of storytelling granularity: the frame level (the smallest unit of film production and display) and the scene level (a continuous sequence of frames depicting a single story event within a film). By offering design possibilities across these levels, Cinemassist empowers filmmakers to explore and experiment with innovative cinematic compositions. Figure 1 illustrates the user interface of the CST system.

Despite the potential of assistive tools, present rule-based and generative AI–based applications were often implemented as black boxes and struggled to adapt to the unique needs of creative cinematic design tasks. As such, this research explored the technical affordances of existing AI techniques—as design materials—and developed a technically viable solution, ensuring the technical feasibility of the system’s functionality and interaction design. Particularly, a machine learning model was constructed by integrating multiple AI techniques appropriately (He et al., 2024b). The model was trained on a diverse dataset of real film footage spanning various genres and emotional contexts. This approach enables the system to generate camera poses and sequences conditioned on animations and input semantics, affording the core functionality of the Cinemassist system.

A summative user study evaluated the effectiveness of the CST system and its impact on filmmakers’ creative thinking. This led to the development of the novel AISEE (pronounced “I see”) model, shown in Figure 2. The AISEE model introduces a novel creative thinking workflow assisted by AI that emphasizes user performance, system feedback, and previously unidentified needs in AI-assisted filmmaking. It also offers three key design implications for generative AI-based CST systems: (1) addressing the domain knowledge disparity between users of different expertise levels through coach mode and assistant mode, (2) enabling communication of vague design requirements through multi-modal inputs, and (3) supporting divergent exploration by allowing users to refine AI suggestions within a real-time spatial adjustment space.