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Construction
& Generative Design
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By Stephanie
Norton
A paradigm shift is happening in the
architecture, engineering & construction
industry as a new class of software tools -
collectively termed generative
design - allows humans to control intellectual
forces many times more powerful than human minds
to design and construct buildings that could not
otherwise exist. An
application of parametric modeling technology,
generative design has quickly swept
through design schools and high-end architectural
firms, and is now on the cusp of going main
stream. Parametric
modeling technology revolves around a basic
knowledge of geometry and the relationships
between components. These properties, which are
defined using elegant, powerful algorithms, can
then be altered, giving different outcomes of
form.
Parametric systems automatically update
entire drawing sets based on changes in the model
as small as the placement of a screw, or as large
as the geometry of a building's footprint.
Generative design uses the immense
computational power of computers to provide
designers and engineers with new ways to
efficiently explore - or
"generate" - alternative building
forms - without manually building the detail
design model for each scenario.Using this approach on even the most
complex designs, users can quickly explore a
virtually infinite range of alternative designs,
while still ensuring those
designs adhere to the constraints of real world
limitations.
ABOVE:
The optimal design for Beijing's
National Aquatics Centre, also known as the "Water
Cube" was determined by analyzing multiple
configurations of thousand of steel members and
connecting nodes.The multinational engineering, design,
project management, and consulting firm Arup used
MicroStation, MicroStation TriForma, Bentley
Structural, and Bentley's generative design
technology to model the Water Cube's unique
design, which is based on a natural pattern of
organic cells and the formation of soap
bubbles.
"Generative design is
not about designing a building," explained Lars
Hesselgren, "It's about designing the system that
designs a building." Hesselgren is director of
research at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), an
international design studio, and a cofounder of
the SmartGeometry Group, a nonprofit
collective that is taking the lead in bringing
generative design concepts to real-world
architectural projects, mainly through a series of
groundbreaking conferences and workshops.
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For certain
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