Immersive Environments

Virtual and Augmented Reality for building design and simulation

Net Zero Energy and sustainable design

Parametric and generative design systems for sustainable architecture

Daylighting in buildings

Luisa Caldas is Professor in the Department of Architecture and director of the XR Lab. She holds a PhD in Architecture and Building Technology from MIT and a MSc from the Bartlett Graduate School, University College London. Caldas received her professional architecture degree from the University of Lisbon and practiced as a licensed architect before becoming a researcher, educator and immersive environments creator. 

Caldas has held teaching or visiting research appoitments at MIT, Tokyo Institute of Technology, University of Lisbon, PUC Chile, Universidade do Minho and Frederico Santa Maria Technical Univesity. Prior to coming to Berkeley in 2012 she was Professor at the School of Architecture of the University of Lisbon. She was previously the Head of the Architecture course of the School of Engineering of the University of Lisbon. Caldas was also a Fulbright scholar and a member of the MIT Portugal program.

At Berkeley Caldas founded and directs the XR Lab - Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality Laboratory at UC Berkeley. The lab's research focuses on the use of immersive environments for building design and simulation, healthcare design, ADA, parametric and generative design, UI/UX, narrative and storytelling. Teaching students new modes of communication and representation in immersive enviroments is also a major focus of the lab. She is a member of the HTC Center for Enhanced Reality at UC Berkeley.

The XR Lab most recent project is Virtual Bauer Wurster, a multiplayer remote collaboration platform in Virtual Reality. Another recent production is the Rupp Prize exhibition Building for a Decarceration Nation, by Deanna van Buren.

Caldas is the creator of BAMPFA AR, an Augmented Reality project for the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, focusing on the history and construction of the new museum building by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Media coverage of BAMPFA AR include the Architect's Newspaper, the Daily Californian and ArtForum Magazine.

Luisa Caldas has been active for more than twenty years in the field of sustainable design and green building, both in academia and as an energy consultant for large commercial buildings. She was the principal of SoftEnergies, an energy consulting company, for over 10 years. Her sustainability research work focuses on the use of advanced computational tools to support sustainability input in early design decision making. One of her main areas of research in this field is the integration of complex geometry architectural solutions with sustainability, by developing the conceptual processes, workflows, and computational tools that allow multiple scale integration, from master planning to building design to facade components.

Caldas research is also directed to the field of generative design systems. She is the author of GENE_ARCH, the first generative design system developed for search and generation of energy efficient buildings, integrating Energy Plus as a simulation engine. GENE_ARCH currently includes other simulation engines, such as Radiance and Daysim. Recent software developments include Painting with Light, a user-guided interactive system for daylighting design that allows architects to use color to specify desired daylight levels in space and then searches for building geometry and materials to achieve those goals; and Sun_Carve, a software that informs architects where to carve openings in buildings to capture sun and minimize energy use.

ARCH 240: Advanced Topics in Energy and Environment, SP 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021

ARCH 203: Integrated Design Studio, FA 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019

ARCH 202 Studio: Crafting Light (with Raveevarn Choksombatchai), SP 2020

ARCH 229: Space and Media

Arch 129/229: XR Maps of Berkeley: Learning in Virtual Reality

ARCH 249: Building Narratives in Virtual Environments, Fall 2017

ARCH 249: Physical . Digital . Virtual . Spring 2017, 2018

ARCH 249: Light as Form Generator, Spring 2013

ARCH 249: Evolving Skins: Materials, Energy and Light, Spring 2014

ARCH 249: Integrated Tools for Sustainable Design (with Autodesk), FA 2013

ARCH 249: The Fabric of Space and Light, SP 2016

Keshavarzi, Mohammad, Luisa Caldas, and Luis Santos. "RadVR: A 6DOF Virtual Reality Daylighting Analysis Tool." Automation in Construction 125 (2021): 103623

Adeline Stals & Luisa Caldas (2020) State of XR research in architecture with focus on professional practice – a systematic literature review, Architectural Science Review, DOI: 10.1080/00038628.2020.1838258

Keshavarzi, K., Ko, W., Yang, A., Caldas, L., Optimization and Manipulation of Contextual Mutual Spaces for Multi-User Virtual and Augmented Reality Interaction, IEEEVR 2020, Atlanta

Caldas, L., Keshavarzi, M., 2019, Design Immersion and Virtual Presence, Technology, Architecture and Design Journal, Issue 4:1 

Santos, L., Schleicher, S., & Caldas, L., 2019. Automatic Simplification Of Complex Building Geometry For Whole-building Energy Simulations. 16th IBPSA International Conference & Exhibition Building Simulation 2019, Rome, Italy.

Caldas, L., Andaloro, A., Calafiore, G., Munechika, K., Cabrini, S., 2018, Water Harvesting from Fog using Building Envelopes, Part I, Water and Environment Journal, Vol. 32 (4), pp. 493-499.

Caldas, L., Andaloro, A., Calafiore, G., Munechika, K., Taube, B., Oliveira, M., Cabrini, S., 2018, Water Harvesting from Fog using Building Envelopes, Part II, Water and Environment Journal, Vol. 32 (3), pp. 466-475.

L. Santos, and L. Caldas, 2018, Assessing the Glare Potential of Complex Fenestration Systems: A Heuristic Approach Based on Spatial and Time Sampling, in Passive Low Energy Architecture (PLEA) 2018: Smart and Healthy within the 2-degree Limit, Hong Kong, December 10-12, 2018, vol.1 pp. 446-451.

Santos, L., Schleicher, S., & Caldas, L., 2017, Automation of CAD models to BEM models for performance based goal-oriented design methods. Building and Environment, 112, 144-158.

Schleicher, S., Santos, L., & Caldas, L. , 2017,  Data-driven shading systems: Application in curved glass facades. Facade Tectonics World Congress 2018, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Wang, J., Caldas, L., 2016, Selection of Energy Efficient Windows for Hot Climates Using Genetic Algorithms Optimization, proceedings of PLEA 2016, Cities, Buildings, People: Towards Regenerative Environments, Los Angeles, July 11-13, 2016, pp. 29-34

Wang, J., Caldas, L., 2016, Simulation-Based Optimization of Window Properties Based on Existing Products, Proceedings of BSO’16, International Conference on Building Simulation & Optimization 2016, Newcastle, UK, Sep 12-14 2016

Caldas L, Santos L, 2016, Painting with Light: An Interactive Evolutionary System for Daylighting Design, Building and Environment, Vol. 109, Nov. 2016, pp. 154-174

Caldas, L., Santos, L., 2016, Painting with Light: A Generative Design System for Daylighting Design, proceedings of PLEA 2016,  Cities, Buildings, People: Towards Regenerative Environments, Los Angeles, July 11-13, 2016, pp. 634-639

Caldas, L., Stavridi, E., 2016, Light as Form Generator: Workflows for Performance-Based Generative Design , Facade Tectonics 2016 World Congress, Los Angeles, October 10-11, 2016

Song, Y., Wang, J., Caldas, L., Zhu, N., Lin, Z., 2014, Indoor Comfort and Energy Saving Building Performance Created by Envelope Materials, Time + Architecture, 2014 (3). 77-81

Caldas, L., Santos, L., 2012, "Generation of Energy-Efficient Houses with GENE_ARCH: combining an Evolutionary Generative Design System with a Shape Grammar" in: 30th eCAADe Proc: Prague, v.1, pp. 459-470

Arsénio, A., Oliveira, M., Caldas, L., 2011: Social Interaction and the Development of Artificial Consciousness, in Introduction to Modern Robotics, eds. Chugo, D., Yokota, S., iConcept Press, pp. 93-118

L. Caldas, 2008: Generation of Energy-Efficient Architecture Solutions Applying GENE_ARCH: An Evolution-Based Generative Design System", in Advanced Engineering Informatics, Vol. 22 (1), pp. 59-70, Elsevier

L. Caldas, 2006: GENE_ARCH: An Evolution-Based Generative Design System for Sustainable Architecture, in Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Lecture Notes in Computer Science Series, I.F.C. Smith (Ed.): EG-ICE, LNAI 4200, pp. 109-118, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Caldas, M., Caldas, L. e Semião, V., 2006: Multicriteria Optimization of Gasification Operational Parameters Using a Pareto Genetic Algorithm, Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, Vol. 3, nº 2, pp.69-74

Duarte, J.P., Rocha, J., Ducla-Soares, G., Caldas, L., 2006: “An Urban Grammar for the Medina of Marrakech”, in Gero, J. (ed.), Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Design Computing and Cognition, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, July 2006, pp 483-502, Springer, The Netherlands.

Caldas, L., Duarte, J., 2005: “Fabricating Innovative Ceramic Covers: Re-Thinking Roof Tiles in a Contemporary Context”, Proc. ECAADE’05, September 21-24, Lisbon

Caldas, L., 2005: “Three-Dimensional Shape Generation of Low-Energy Architecture Solutions using Pareto Genetic Algorithms”, Proc. ECAADE’05, Sep 21-24, Lisbon

Caldas, L., Norford, L., 2004: Shape Generation Using Pareto Genetic Algorithms: Integrating Conflicting Design Objectives in Low-Energy Architecture, International Journal of Architectural Computing, Vol. 1, N.4, pp. 503-515

Duarte, J.P, Caldas, L.G., Rocha, J.M., 2004: “Free-Form Ceramics: Design and Production of Complex Forms with Ceramic Elements”, Proceedings of ECAADE’04, September 15-18, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 174-183.

Caldas, L.G., Norford, L.K., 2003: Genetic Algorithms for Optimization of Building Envelopes and the Design and Control of HVAC Systems, Journal of Solar Engineering – Transactions of the ASME, August 2003, Volume 125, Number 3, pp. 343-351

Caldas, L., Norford, L., Rocha, J., 2003: An Evolutionary Model for Sustainable Design, Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, Volume 14, Number 3, pp. 383-397

Caldas, L., 2003: “Shape Generation Using Pareto Genetic Algorithms: Integrating Conflicting Design Objectives in Low-Energy Architecture”, Proceedings of CAADRIA 2003, October 18-21, Bangkok, Thailand

Caldas, L., Rocha, J., 2002: A Generative Design System Applied to Siza’s School of Architecture at Oporto, The International Journal of Design Computing, 2000-2001, Vol.3

Caldas, L.G., Norford, L.K., 2002: Energy Design Optimization Using a Genetic Algorithm, Automation in Construction, Elsevier, Volume 11, Number 2, pp. 173-184

Caldas, L., 2002: Evolving Three-Dimensional Architecture Form: An Application to Low-Energy Design, in: Artificial Intelligence in Design 2002, ed. by Gero, J.,S., (Cambridge, UK: Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht) , pp. 351-370

Caldas, L., 2002: Pareto Genetic Algorithms in Architecture Design: An Application to Multicriteria Optimization Problems. Proceedings of PLEA’02 (The 19th Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture), Toulouse, France, July 2002, pp.37-45

Caldas, L., Norford, L., Rocha, J., 2001: An Evolutionary Model for Sustainable Design, Proceedings of PLEA'01, Florianópolis, Brazil, November 7-9 [Best Paper Award]

Caldas, L., Norford, L., 2001: Architectural Design Constraints in a Generative Design System: Interpreting Energy Levels, Proceedings of Building Simulation 2001, IBPSA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 13-15, Vol. 2, pp. 1397-1404

Caldas, L., Rocha, J., 2001: A Generative Design System Applied to Siza’s School of Architecture at Oporto, Proceedings of CAADRIA’01, Sydney, Australia, April 19-21, pp. 253-264 [Commended Paper Award]

Caldas, L.G., Norford, L.K., 1999: A Genetic Algorithm Tool for Design Optimization, Proceedings of ACADIA ’99, Salt Lake City, October 28-31, USA, pp. 260-271

Patents

PT103137: Discontinuous system for covering roofs and facades with coplanar ceramic elements
PT103020: Ceramic bricks generators of freestanding walls with complex double-curvature shapes
PT103141: Roof coating system in discontinuous ceramic glazed elements

PT103138: Double-faced building coverage system
PT103140: Building coverage system in ceramic material
PT103139: Circular discontinuous ceramic coating of circular shape

PT103019: Rotating Ceramic Tile