Traditionally, buildings have been very static elements within society, however, technological advancements in recent years have allowed faster, smaller, and cheaper electronics to be embedded within architectural systems. As a result, coded infrastructures are emerging, allowing the creation of dynamic architectural spaces throughout the world. Now as humanity enters the information age, new tools, knowledge, and technologies have made it possible to create and visualize new forms of architectural spaces unlike ever before.

These new spaces bring about complexities both in operation and design, which in turn demands a higher standard of visualization to fully portray the occupant interactions within the space. The inherent dynamics of human occupancy are already challenging to portray with current visualization methods—especially within the ‘fast-paced’ design phases of most architectural projects—but becomes even more so with the introduction of these increasingly complex interactions within these increasingly dynamic spaces.

A solution to these problems may lie within the game design industry. Since video games rely largely on real-time interactions, the tools for their creation require an emphasis on both rendering speed and scripting. These characteristics are in line with the requirements of simulating and visualizing occupancy interactions within dynamic architectural spaces, and as such offer a valid direction of investigation.

This section of the thesis will investigate these claims to provide a foundation for this thesis. Chapter 1.1 will first define the interpretation of dynamic architecture within the context of this thesis. It will then investigate the formalities of what makes a space dynamic by supporting it with various logical tests and real-world examples. Chapter 1.2 will then investigate the progression of visualization both within the world and within architectural visualization. From this, it intends to deduce the reasons behind the current inadequacies of current visualizations in portraying these new dynamic spaces, as well as the lack of crowd dynamics within them. Chapter 1.3 will then investigate the advent of the game engine and examine why it may be a suitable tool to make up for these shortcomings. Chapter 1.4 will then consider all these points and propose a methodology and framework for this thesis.