AZA — Algorithmic Zoning Architect

An Experimental Exploration of Voronoi-Based Space Planning for Interior Architecture

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DOWNLOAD STANDALONE v0.1.0-ALPHA (.ZIP)

Standalone Windows Binary | No Python Required | Zero Dependencies

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About This Experiment

AZA is a conceptual research instrument that investigates how weighted Voronoi mass studies and capacity-constrained power diagrams can be applied to early-stage architectural space planning and interior zoning.

In architectural practice, the transition from a written brief into a spatial concept is often intuition-driven. AZA asks: what if that process could be partially automated through computational geometry, producing concept lines and zone boundaries that respond to area constraints in real time?

Core Capabilities

Capability	Description
Area-Constrained Solving	Iterative weight optimization ensures each zone meets its m² target with high precision (<1% error). Real-time convergence stats.
Adjacency-Aware Zoning	P/S/X/N relationship matrix translates into attraction and repulsion forces — zones that must share a wall are pulled together; conflicting zones are pushed apart. Satisfaction score after each solve.
Subzones (Nested Zones)	Two-level zone hierarchy with a deductive area model — children are carved out of the parent's area. A mini power diagram partitions each parent cell among its children.
Per-Zone Corridor Widths	Each zone can override the global gap width, enabling mixed-width circulation within the same solve.
Column Alignment	Import structural column positions from SVG. A configurable weight nudges seeds to align with the structural grid.
Entrance Access	Place entrance points on the boundary. Entrance weight pulls circulation-sensitive zones toward access points.
Aspect Ratio Constraint	Prevents spaghetti-shaped cells via a corrective force when the oriented bounding rectangle exceeds a configurable length/width threshold.
Cell Locking	Lock any zone's seed so the solver skips it during optimization while still claiming area and influencing neighbors. Ideal for Cores, MEP risers, stairs, and voids.
Passthrough Spines	Flag zones as circulation corridors — PCA finds the dominant axis and buffers a clear path through the zone.
Dual Circulation Networks	Assign zones to "public" or "service" spine networks with conflict detection for shared walls without buffer.
dB-Based Auto-Buffer	Acoustic noise ratings per zone. Pre-solve computes pairwise dB deltas and sizes corridor buffers automatically. Critical conflicts rendered with red outlines.
Interactive Seed Manipulation	Drag anchors to reshape the partition in real time (~30 ms quick solve). Parent zones carry children when dragged.
Multi-Select & Group Drag	Shift+Click or box-drag to select multiple seeds. Dragging moves the whole group.
World-Space Labels	Zone name and area labels scale naturally with zoom, proportional to cell geometry. HUD panels (stats, legends) remain screen-anchored.
Label Collision Resolver	Iterative bounding-rect repulsion prevents overlapping labels. Leader lines connect displaced labels to their zone centroids.
CAD-Ready Export	Layered DXF and SVG output for AutoCAD, Rhino, Revit, or Illustrator.
Vector PDF Export	Multi-page PDF (parents / subzones / combined) with native vector text and polygons — searchable and crisp at any zoom.
High-DPI Image Export	Clean white-background PNG/JPEG at 4x resolution, matching SVG colour palette.
Floor Program Import	Load a complete architectural brief — zones, categories, areas, adjacency, subzone hierarchy, locked state, passthrough spines, noise dB — from a structured JSON file.
Project Persistence	Save and load full project state including zones, subzone hierarchy, columns, entrances, per-zone settings, and solver config.
Keyboard Shortcuts	Ctrl+S (save), Ctrl+O (open), Ctrl+Z (undo), Delete (remove zone), Escape (cancel), F (fit view).
Dockable Panel System	Float, re-dock, and toggle all major panels via the Windows menu. QPainter vector icons — no image resources.

The Computational Engine

Power Diagram Construction

AZA utilizes the 3D Lifting Trick: each weighted 2D point is projected onto a paraboloid (z = x² + y² - w). The lower convex hull of these lifted points, projected back to 2D, yields the power diagram — a weighted Voronoi partition where boundaries respond to the relative "pressure" of each generator.

The Iterative Solver Loop

The solver executes a multi-objective optimization per step:

1. Weight Adjustment: Compares actual cell areas against targets, adjusting "pressure" weights with normalized learning rates.
2. Adjacency Forces:
   • P — Primary: (Must share wall/door) Continuous attraction force.
   • S — Secondary: (Should be nearby) Proximity-based attraction.
   • X — Conflict: (Needs separation) Repulsion force for noise/hygiene buffers.
3. Column Alignment Forces: Pulls seeds toward structural grid positions.
4. Entrance Access Forces: Pulls seeds toward boundary access points.
5. Aspect Ratio Forces: Corrective push perpendicular to the long axis of elongated cells.
6. Lloyd Relaxation: Gently pulls seeds toward cell centroids for compact geometries.
7. Cell Locking: Frozen seeds still tessellate and adjust weights — zero positional drift guaranteed.
8. Convergence: Iterates until max area error < 1% or iteration limit reached. Reports adjacency satisfaction and column alignment scores.

Floor Program JSON Format

AZA loads a complete architectural brief from a single JSON file.

{
  "zone_categories": {
    "CREATE": { "color": "#9B5DE5", "label": "Workspace" },
    "CHILL":  { "color": "#81B29A", "label": "Wellbeing" }
  },
  "zones": [
    { "id": "GF01", "name": "Lobby", "category": "CREATE", "target_area": 200 }
  ],
  "adjacency": {
    "relationships": [
      ["GF01", "GF02", "P", "Primary circulation connection"]
    ]
  }
}

Usage Instructions

1. Download & Extract: Get the latest release and unzip it.
2. Launch: Run AlgorithmicZoningArchitect.exe.
3. Define Site: Input total area or import an SVG boundary.
4. Program: Add zones manually or load a JSON brief via File > Load Floor Program.
5. Solve: Click "Run Solver" and watch the area convergence stats in real-time.
6. Export: DXF, SVG, multi-page PDF, or high-DPI PNG/JPEG.

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Research Context

This work sits at the intersection of computational design, operations research, and architectural programming. It draws on:

• Power Diagrams (Aurenhammer, 1987)
• Capacity-Constrained Point Distributions (Balzer et al., 2009)
• Centroidal Voronoi Tessellations (Du et al., 1999)

License

Proprietary Software Distribution. Copyright 2026 Ibrahim-3d. All Rights Reserved. This binary distribution is provided for research and evaluation purposes. Unauthorized redistribution or reverse engineering is strictly prohibited.

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