PROGRAM
Conventional approaches to the use of architectural spaces focus on the activities within as event-based performances (the act of doing something), thus leading to spatial compositions fit to maximizing utility. In order to create thermodynamic architecture, the notion of performance must be
reconfigured to describe the heat flows and thermal capacities of the space. This requires shifting the conception of architecture from prescriptive use-based functionality, a legacy of the
Modern era, to a more contemporary inclination towards variability imbedded within networks of exchange. Program is therefore reinstated as the matching of exergy efficiencies - the designnation of space-type use by the interchanges between the thermal body and the built form.
In FITNESS, interior spaces are occupied by program types. These types are derived from a matrix of parameters that affect the internal loads of the space pertaining to the habitation of the space: Activity Level, Metabolic Efficiency (represented by Age), and Population Density. Each space can accommodate a single or multiple program types depending on the conditions of that space in regards to exergistic matching, thus maximizing the body's engagement with the space. The architectural effect is a symbiotic thermal machine.
To illustrate the concept of dynamic programming for the prototype, two spaces are diagrammed per climate orienation relating the thermodynamics of the space to the habitation of the space. The Exergistic Efficiency map indicates the conditions for an average occupant (average adult male). This evaluation is then expanded for the application of different population densities (number of individuals per square footage of the space), the activity level, and the metabolic efficiencies of the occupants. Generally, population density increases produce additional heat to the space, and high activity levels also increase temperatures with an increase in humidity. The metabolic effiency is an registration of the energy available for physical activity after maintaining homeostatis. Those with high metabolic effiecieny rates absorb more energy from calories and therefore are able to produce more energy that could be dedicated to the heating and cooling of the body.