Document Type
Article
Source of Publication
Buildings
Publication Date
8-1-2026
Abstract
Façade design has long oscillated between repetitive order and visual disorder, and computational tools now make controlled irregularity easy to generate but hard to build; comparatively few studies follow a stochastic envelope from algorithm to a completed building. This paper examines controlled randomness as a deliberate, constructible strategy for façade composition. A parametric Grasshopper workflow erodes a square grid of wall modules through a seeded random-reduction rule—a deterministic, rule-based procedure that uses no machine learning or artificial intelligence—whose intensity increases up the building, producing a depth-modulated, quarry-like relief realized with one ordinary product—40 × 20 cm concrete blocks in four thicknesses—set to a color-coded projection key. The method is documented through a completed mid-rise residential building in Aramoun, Mount Lebanon, and evaluated for aesthetics, environmental function, structure, and constructability. Across 200 seeds, box-counting fractal dimension and lacunarity show that the generated pattern occupies a narrow, reproducible band of complexity—stable to within about 0.5%—statistically distinct from both periodic order and free disorder. A module-by-module comparison of the as-built record against the model shows the designed pattern reproduced across all 2978 units without projection-class error, the only departures being sub-centimeter positional shifts in the base plane absorbed from a structural tolerance. Bounded by explicit rules and parameterized in a standard masonry block, randomness behaves as a controllable, buildable design parameter rather than noise.
DOI Link
ISSN
Publisher
MDPI AG
Volume
16
Issue
15
Disciplines
Architecture
Keywords
computational architecture, controlled randomness, design-to-construction, fractal dimension, generative design, Grasshopper, parametric façade, stochastic geometry
Scopus ID
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Halabi, Maruan, "Designing by Chance: Controlled Randomness as a Generative and Constructible Strategy for Architectural Façade Composition—A Case Study" (2026). All Works. 8277.
https://zuscholars.zu.ac.ae/works/8277
Indexed in Scopus
yes
Open Access
yes
Open Access Type
Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series