Computational Design Technologies

Computational Design Technologies

Among the wide landscape of digital design tools, the computational ones emerge as those that can promote non-standard design approaches to architectural conception, development and construction.

Table of Contents

In the scope of the introductory activities of the project, the present task surveys the current state-of-the art in computational design technologies. Among the wide landscape of digital design tools, the computational ones emerge as those that can promote non-standard design approaches to architectural conception, development and construction. Going beyond of the simple representation of fixed geometries in the screen, computational design technologies allow architects to use calculation as a generative design strategy to conceive, edit and transform geometries in the screen. But this possibility must not be considered solely in the design domain.

To make viable the exploration of variation and uniqueness in architectural design and construction, the whole architectural process should embrace those technologies. For instance, the exploration of a certain complex geometry would require specific engineering calculation procedures and flexible manufacturing processes for its materialization.  William  J.  Mitchell,  Branko  Kolarevic  and  Daniel  Shodeck  wrote seminal publications where this computational ecosystem for architectural design is analyzed, both in terms of its historical precedents and its future directions.

Leave a Reply

Related Post

The Airshell Prototype

This paper by Alessandro Liuti, Sofia Colabella, and Alberto Pugnale, presents the construction of Airshell, a small timber gridshell prototype erected by employing a pneumatic formwork.

Read More »

Strained Grid Shells

In this paper by Gregory Charles Quinn, Chris J K Williams, and Christoph Gengnagel, a detailed comparison is carried out between established as well as novel erection methods for strained grid shells by means of FE simulations and a 3D-scanned scaled physical model in order to evaluate key performance criteria such as bending stresses during erection and the distance between shell nodes and their spatial target geometry.

Read More »

Gridshell Structure

In this paper by Frederic Tayeb, Olivier Baverel, Jean-François Caron, Lionel du Peloux, ductility aspects of a light-weight composite gridshell are developed.

Read More »