Space Group

The Space Group was noted as the highest performer of the Bartlett (which has the highest proportion of 4*, 'world leading', research in the field of Architecture and the Built Environment), in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.

The Space group involves eleven key members of staff. Their activities have been supported since 1996 by five major EPSRC awards, enhanced with substantial industrial funding: the 'Intelligent Architecture' project (1995-97), the Virtual Reality Centre for the Built Environment (1997-2000) and three consecutive EPSRC Platform Grant awards for internationally outstanding research. It is one of only two UK research groups in any field to have done so. The group has attracted two highly strategic knowledge transfer and research networking awards, UrbanBuzz and ChamSpam. The group as a whole has a consistent track record of funded research from the UK research councils, the EC and industry, which takes place within the Space Syntax Laboratory.

The group’s technology is primarily developed within the VR Centre for the Built Environment, which develops digital technologies in architecture, construction, urban planning, retail and transport. Among other achievements, two new techniques have been developed. The first is 'visibility graph analysis' of digital models of buildings, which makes it possible to quantify what is visible and accessible from any chosen position. The second is micro-simulation of pedestrian movement by means of agents with visual awareness (Pedestrian modelling with spatially-aware agents). These techniques are being applied in national and international projects and are further developed through active engagement of MSc students in the research programme and an associated EngD programme.

Basic theoretical work in the Space Syntax Laboratory is taught on an associated MSc programme and PhD programme and also takes advantage of a close working relationship with Space Syntax Limited, a UCL spin-off consulting company. The applied projects carried out by this company provide databases of urban morphology, movement patterns etc which support new theoretical work. The company has also contributed important results on crime and spatial design. New research in the field is presented at International Space Syntax conferences – the most recent is Stockholm (2009). The group’s publications runs into the hundreds and span a diverse range of fields, including anthropology, archaeology, geography, computer science, psychology, mathematical modelling and physics.