Workshop Aim:

Shape grammars have been researched for more than 40 years now, reaching several areas of design, most particularly architectural design, engineering, and product design. Besides the intellectual challenge involved in the development and use of a shape grammar, the potential they would have in addressing real life design problems is enormous. Several shape grammars implementations and generic shape grammar interpreters have been developed over the last years, but a true impact in the design process still needs to be proven possible.

This workshop aims at addressing both the current shape grammar interpreters and future paths of implementation towards practical use cases. We will discuss what is being left unresolved from shape grammars in recent computer implementations and how can this be addressed in future ones.

• Are shape grammars computer implementable as they were originally defined?
• What more can one do in the implementation of shape grammar interpreters to make them useful to a real life design scenario?
• To what extent is there a difference between an implemented shape grammar and a parametric design tool, or a procedural modelling tool, or a multidimensional generative design tool?

After the introduction of invited reference implementations and the usage of these systems by workshop participants, an open discussion will be accommodated, aiming to document the state of the art of available technologies in shape grammar interpreters and implementations and what these interpreters and implementations might evolve into over the coming years in real life design scenario's.