(Photo Credit: Guillermo Vasquez de Velasco)

Wei Yan, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Architecture
Texas A&M University

Email: wyan 'at' archmail.tamu.edu
Telephone: (979) 845 0584

Teaching

Undergraduate courses:

ENDS 170 - Computer Technologies for Design Visualization
Fall 2005, Spring 2006, Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Spring 2008

ENDS 370 - Virtual Architecture
Spring 2006

ENDS 489 - Special Topics in Game Prototypes
Spring 2007

Graduate courses:

VIZA 654/CPSC 646 - The Digital Image
Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Fall 2008

VIZA 627 - Industry Course (Computer Graphics Production Studio, with Dr. Fred Parke and Reel FX Creative Studio)
Summer 2007

ARCH652 Facility Information Technology (Focusing on BIM)
Fall 2008

Research

My research areas of interest are in design computing, visualization, building technologies, and applications of computer vision and games in design.

Prior to joining Texas A&M University, I had participated in research projects as a graduate student researcher or intern in Computer Science Division and the Department of Architecture at UC Berkeley, Building Technologies Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 3cim, Inc., CA, and Department of Architecture at Tianjin University, China.

Awards and recognition

Best Paper Prize - Yan, W. and Kalay, Y.E. “Geometric, Cognitive, and Behavioral Modeling of Environmental Users”, in Design Computing and Cognition 2006 by Springer, the Second International Conference on Design Computing and Cognition (DCC'06), Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands, 10-12 July 2006.

Certificate of Science and Technology Achievement - Shen, T., Ma, J., Wang, L., Yuan, J., Meng, T., Yan, F., Ni, M., Wang, J., Yan, W., “Lighting Visualization and Measurement System”, issued by Municipal Science and Technology Commission of Tianjin, China, April 1999.

Refereed publications

Yan, W. and Rajan, P. “Towards Digitizing Colours Of Architectural Heritage”, Proceedings of The Conference on Virtual Systems and MultiMedia (VSMM) '08: Dedicated to Digital Heritage, October 20 - 25th, 2008, Limassol, Cyprus. Forthcoming.

Yan, W. “Environment-Behavior Simulation: from CAD to BIM and Beyond”, Proceedings of The Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) 2008, Minneapolis, MN. Forthcoming.

Graf, R. and Yan, W. "Automatic Walkthrough Utilizing Building Information Modeling to Facilitate Architectural Visualization", Proceedings of Conference of Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe (eCAADe) 2008, Antwerp Belgium. Forthcoming.

Yan, W. and Liu, G. “BIMGame: A New Way to Enhance Sustainable Design and Education”, Chinese translation: Chuanfei Yu, in journal of New Architecture, 03/2008, Vol.118, Special Issue in Digital Architecture, pp 28-31. ISSN 1000-3959 CN 42-1155/TU, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, 2008.

Yan, W. and Liu, G. “BIMGame: Integrating Building Information Modeling and Games to Enhance Sustainable Design and Education”, in the Proceedings of Conference of Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe (eCAADe) 2007, Frankford, Germany.

Yan, W. and He, W. “Interpreting Architectural Space through Camera Movement”, in Proceedings of Computer-Aided Architectural Design Futures (CAAD Futures) 2007, Sydney, Australia.

Yan, W. "Design Thinking Visualization", in the Proceedings of Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) 2007, April 19-22, 2007, Nanjing, China.

Yan, W. "Integrating Video Tracking and Virtual Reality in Environmental Behavior Study", in the Proceeding of The ACADIA (The Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture) 2006 International Conference, Louisville, Kentucky, USA, October 12-15, 2006.

Yan, W. and Kalay, Y.E. "A Usability-Based Building Model for Environmental Behavior Simulation", in the Proceeding of the Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe (eCAADe 2006) , Volos , Greece , September 6-9, 2006.

Yan, W. and Kalay, Y.E. "Geometric, Cognitive, and Behavioral Modeling of Environmental Users", in Design Computing and Cognition 2006 by Springer, for the Second International Conference on Design Computing and Cognition (DCC'06), 10-12 July 2006, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands. Best Paper Prize.

Yan, W. "Integrating Web 2D and 3D Technologies for Architectural Visualization: Applications of SVG and X3D/VRML in Environmental Behavior Simulation", in the Proceeding of the Eleventh International Conference on 3D Web Technology , Web3D 2006, Columbia, Maryland, USA, April 18-21, 2006. ACM Press. Image selected for Proceedings book cover.

Yan, W. "Balancing Freedom and Control for Walkthrough in Virtual Architecture: A Smart and Comprehensive Navigation System", in the Proceeding of Computer-Aided Architectural Design in Asia (CAADIA) 2006 , March 31-April 2, 2006, Kumamoto , Japan .

Yan, W. and Forsyth, D. "Learning the Behavior of Users in a Public Space through Video Tracking", in Proceedings of IEEE Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV) , 2005, Breckenridge Colorado.

Yan, W. and Kalay, Y.E. "Simulating Human Behavior in Built Environments", CAAD Futures 2005, Vienna , Austria.

Yan, W. and Forsyth, D. "People Tracking in a Public Space: A Novel Application of Computer Vision in Evaluating Architectural Design", poster, CAAD Futures 2005 , Vienna , Austria.

Yan, W. and Kalay, Y.E. "Simulating the Behavior of Users in Built Environments", in Journal of Architectural and Planning Research (JAPR) 21:4, winter 2004. Locke Science Publishing Company, Inc.

Dissertation and theses

2005 - Dissertation for Ph.D. in Architecture, "Simulating the Behavior of Users in Built Environments ", Department of Architecture, University of California , Berkeley . Supervisor: Prof. Yehuda Kalay.

2004 - Project Report for M.S. in Computer Science, "Learning the Behavior of Users in a Public Space through Video Tracking" , Computer Science Division, University of California , Berkeley. Supervisor: Prof. David Forsyth.

1999 - Thesis for Postgraduate Certificate in Architecture and Computer-Aided Architectural Design, "Navigation in Virtual Architectural Space", Chair of Architecture and CAAD (Prof. Gerhard Schmitt and Prof. Maia Engili), Faculty of Architecture, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). Supervisor: Prof. Leandro Madrazo. (Score: 6/6)

1996 - Thesis for M.E. in Architectural Science and Technology, "Lighting CAD and Visualization", Department of Architecture, Tianjin University, China. Supervisor: Prof. Tianxing Shen.

Video demos of tracking and simulation of environmental users and BIM-Game (avi format)

1. Video tracking of people sitting by a fountain at a UC Berkeley campus plaza (11.3MB)

2. Video tracking of people walking in the plaza (12.4MB)

3. Simulation of people in the plaza (1.95MB)

4. Simulation of people in a plaza without a fountain (3.63MB)

5. Simulation of people using detailed models (20.0MB)


Other selected projects

Grants

Project Director, Preserving Chromaticity Information of Architectural Heritage, National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant, 2007-2009.

Principal Investigator, Integrating Video Tracking and Virtual Reality in Environmental Behavior Study: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Program to Enhance Scholarly and Creative Activities, office of the Vice President for Research, Texas A&M University, 2006-2007.

Principal Investigator, Preserving Chromaticity Information of Architectural Heritage, College Research and Interdisciplinary Council Grant, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, 2007.

Principal Investigator, IEEF Competitive Grant – “Game Development Course for College of Architecture”, College of Architecture IEEF Committee, Taxas A&M University, 2007.

Professional activities

Member of Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA)
Member of Computer-Aided Architectural Design and Research in Asia (CAADRIA)
Member of Education and research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe (eCAADe)

Reviewer for journal Automation in Construction, Elsevier.
Reviewer for International Journal of Architectural Computing (IJAC), Multi Science Publ Co Ltd.