Transformation grammar for housing rehabilitation: from a specific to a general grammar

Abstract

This article focuses on the use of both shape grammar and space syntax as tools to identify and encode the principles and rules behind the adaptation of existing houses to new requirements. The idea is to use such rules as part of a transformation grammar-based methodology for the rehabilitation of existing dwellings. The developed grammar is a specific grammar to inform the rehabilitation of a particular type of building in Portugal – “rabo-de-bacalhau”. In this article the goal is to explore how the “rabo-the-bacalhau” transformation grammar can be transformed in a general rehabilitation grammar in order to inform the rehabilitation of various types of housing buildings.