A city modelled according to planning regulations usually presents a correlation between plots and building dimensions.To simulate the overall impact of building regulations over a large number of plots it is advantageous to use a computational tool to perform the task. Existing software can generate proxies of the would be reality, but do not accurately simulate the impact of alternative urban regulations. CityZoom is a Decision Support System for urban planning which not only provides CAD tools, but also allows users to evaluate and modify the city model according to different constraints such as solar radiation, luminance, terrain's pervious conditions, etc. . By simulating specific urban regulations and addressing environmental comfort issues, CityZoom helps architects to simultaneously evaluate the different attributes of a particular design. Coupled with GIS tools, CityZoom allows users to perform multiple analyses over the existing database and use the resultant feedback to optimize proposed solutions. Future developments envisage giving CityZoom a more autonomous role, using artificial intelligence to optimize building shapes and dimensions.

Prefabricated Modular Volumetric Architecture (PMVA) needs to combine industrial-made modules with limited dimensions due to transport restrictions to attend to programs, increase space, and generate forms. Different compositions change the position and quantity of structural components and require other attributes for the connections used to fix the modules and define the building at the building site. In this study, a connective model is proposed enabling multiple compositional alternatives along with the corresponding connective guidelines. Four generic connective sets are used to simulate and define the connective guidelines, and they are then applied to three types of prisms: rectangular, trapezoidal, and triangular. The methodology, which is based on shape grammar, confirms that the use of compositional alternatives with this system depend on the geometric and constructive attributes of the connective set used to fix the modules together. The compositional variation is therefore closely linked to a compositional-connective relation and to connective sets submitted to different degrees of adjustment. The proposed model opens the way for the industry to change the connective sets used and broaden the combinatorial capacity of chassis and thereby increase the capability for mass customization.

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In architectural design, pencil and paper remain the most frequently used media to create freehand drawings to support early design stages. Digital tools conventionally used by architects lack appropriate functionalities and do not offer friendly interfaces for the early stages of architectural design. These are the bad news. The good news are twofold: A) hardware already available can help freehand designers to digitally express their first ideas; and b) functionality principles present in experimental software combined with appropriate hardware could successfully provide a friendly and intuitive human-computer interaction in the early stages of architectural design. This paper takes special attention to the way architects interact with computers, how input devices constrain possible interactions and how functionalities can be explored through these interactions. The article summarizes basic principles to be considered in the development of an all-in-one software and create a scenario whereby these principles are simulated on a hypothetical software to be used during the early stages of architectural design.