Jinu Kitchley - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Jinu Kitchley

Computation and design capturing The complexity of fishing Settlements through generative Evolutionary design techniques

The Integrated Effects of Urban Form and Trees on the Microclimate: A Case Study

The Integrated Effects of Urban Form and Trees on the Microclimate: A Case Study Urban greening a... more The Integrated Effects of Urban Form and Trees on the Microclimate: A Case Study Urban greening and urban planning strategies play pivotal roles in creating cooler urban environments. This research is aimed at the optimization of urban planning strategies to achieve cooler micro climate. It investigates the integrated effect of street geometry (with respect to aspect ratio), street orientation, and type of urban canyons (linear wall to wall construction and detached buildings) along with the presence of vegetation, in the microclimate of Madurai, Tamilnadu, India. The parametric study employs three dimensional, holistic, microclimate model with field measurements to identify the effects of the above said conditions on the microclimate. Parameters such as Potential Temperature and Universal Thermal Comfort Index are recorded as criteria for evaluating human comfort and microclimate cooling. The results of the study have proven that there is a direct relationship between the type of c...

Study and analysis of efficient green cover types for mitigating the air temperature and urban heat island effect

International Journal of Global Warming

Urbanisation has a dynamic relationship with land surface temperature (LST), which leads to urban... more Urbanisation has a dynamic relationship with land surface temperature (LST), which leads to urban heat island (UHI) effect. Madurai, a temple city in Tamilnadu, India has experienced rapid urbanisation that has been resulting in an UHI since 1990. This present study examines changes in LST as an indicator of UHI by analysing the changes in land use land cover (LULC) and normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI). The analysis of these parameters indicates that higher LST is experienced in built up areas whereas lower LST is experienced in areas where green cover is more. This study further investigates the efficiency of various green cover types (trees and turfs) and optimum green plot ratio to mitigate air temperature by using Envi-met simulation software for the particular context. The findings of this study and further explorations on green spaces can be applied theoretically for improving urban planning and for mitigating the UHI effects.

Architectural education has seen a sudden boom lately in the country. There are 240 departments i... more Architectural education has seen a sudden boom lately in the country. There are 240 departments i imparting architectural education in the country in 2011 as opposed to around 50 departments in the 1990s. This phenomenal growth is attributed to various factors such as the increase in the economical level of the average Indian to the rapid real estate developments that is happening throughout the country. Analysing this sudden binge for architectural education in the country is out of the purview of this paper. Catering to the ever growing demand is addressed by many public and private institutions allover India but it is high time the quality of architectural education offered to these students is taken a relook. The need for quality architectural education is high given the availability of sophisticated specializations in the field of architecture and beyond. The Department of Architecture, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, undertook a review of the B.Arch. syllabus and curriculum with an objective to form a wholesome curriculum for the undergraduate Architectural Education. This paper attempts to review this methodology qualitatively and track its efficiency.

Abstract This paper implores the possible intervention of computers in the generative (concept) s... more Abstract This paper implores the possible intervention of computers in the generative (concept) stage of settlement planning. The objective was to capture the complexity and character of naturally grown fishing settlements through simple rules and incorporate them in the process of design. A design tool was developed for this purpose. This design tool used a generative evolutionary design technique, which is based on multidisciplinary methods. Facets of designing addressed in this research are: • allocation of each design element’s space and geometry, • defining the rules, constraints and relationships governing the elements of design, • the purposeful search for better alternative solutions, • quantitative evaluation of the solution based on spatial, comfort, complexity criterions to ensure the needed complexity, usability in the solutions. Generative design methods such as geometric optimisation, shape grammars and genetic algorithms have been combined for achieving the above purp...

This project proposes a generative model for a layout of an organic settlement, in particular fis... more This project proposes a generative model for a layout of an organic settlement, in particular fishermen?s settlements. It attempts to harness and integrate some of the qualities of organic design process into computer-aided design, capture the complexities of an organic solution and apply it to the housing design decisions. The two complementary fields of Shape Grammar and Generative Evolutionary Design have been converged for this purpose. Shape Grammar is used to extract the style and aspects of organically evolved fisherman?s housing settlement. Generative Evolutionary Design which uses genetic algorithms as a search mechanism is used to explore alternatives and to evaluate the generated design for its functional and usability values and identify the fitter solutions.

Many settlements like the fishermen?s habitat have organically developed and embody the complex r... more Many settlements like the fishermen?s habitat have organically developed and embody the complex relation between land characteristics, functional activities and social aspirations. However, the recent rehabilitation and planning projects, constrained by technical and inscriptional rigidities, have become relatively fixed, formal and monotonous. This research attempts to harness and integrate some of the qualities of organic design process into computer aided design. The two complementary fields of Shape Grammar and Genetic algorithm have been converged for this purpose.

Applied Soft Computing Journal, 2014

This paper implores the possible intervention of computers in the generative (concept) stage of s... more This paper implores the possible intervention of computers in the generative (concept) stage of settlement planning. The objective was to capture the complexity and character of naturally grown fishing settlements through simple rules and incorporate them in the process of design. A design tool was developed for this purpose. This design tool used a generative evolutionary design technique, which is based on multidisciplinary methods. Facets of designing addressed in this research are … * allocation of each design element's space and geometry, * defining the rules, constraints and relationships governing the elements of design, * the purposeful search for better alternative solutions, * quantitative evaluation of the solution based on spatial, comfort, complexity criterions to ensure the needed complexity, usability in the solutions. Generative design methods such as geometric optimisation, shape grammars and genetic algorithms have been combined for achieving the above purposes. The allocation of space has been achieved by geometric optimisation techniques, which allocate spaces by proliferation of a simple shape unit. This research conducts an analysis of various naturally grown fishing settlements and identifies the features that would be essential to recreate such an environment. Features such as the essential elements, their relationships, hierarchy, and order in the settlement pattern, which resulted due to the occupational and cultural demands of the fisher folk, are analysed. The random but ordered growth of the settlement is captured as rules and relations. These rules propel and guide the whole process of design generation. These rules and certain constraints, restrictions control the random arrangement of the shape units. This research limits itself to conducting exhaustive search in the prescribed solution search space defined a priori by the rules and relationships. This search within a bounded space can be compared to the purposeful, constrained decision making process involved in designing. The generated solutions use the evolutionary concept of genetic algorithms to deduce solutions within the predefined design solution search space. Simple evolutionary concepts such as reproduction, crossover and mutation aid this search process. These concepts transform by swapping/interchanging the genetic properties (the constituent data/material making up the solution) of two generated solutions to produce alternate solutions. Thus the genetic algorithm finds a series of new solutions. With such a tool in hand various possibilities of design solutions could be analysed and compared. A thorough search of possible solutions ensures a deeper probe essential for a good design. The spatial quality, comfort quality of the solutions are compared and graded (fitness value) against the standard stipulations. These parameters look at the solution in the context of the whole and not as parts and most of these parameters could be improved only at the expense of another. The tool is able to produce multiple equally good solutions to the same problem, possibly with one candidate solution optimizing one parameter and another candidate optimizing a different one. The final choice of the suitable solution is made based on the user's preferences and objectives. The tool is tested for an existing fishing settlement. This was done to check for its credibility and to see if better alternatives evolved. The existing settlement is analysed based on the evaluation parameters used in the tool and compared with the generated solutions. The results of the tool has proved that simple rules when applied recursively within constraints would provide solutions that are unpredictable and also would resonate the qualities of the knowledge from which the rules were distilled from. The complex whole generated has often exhibited emergent properties and thus opens up new avenues of thinking.