Interactive Brickworks Design

Integrated Generative Technique for Interactive Design of Brickworks

KERESHMEH AFSARI, MATTHEW E. SWARTS AND T. RUSSELL GENTRY
Georgia Institute of Technology, North Ave., Atlanta, Georgia 30332
Email address: kafsari3@gatech.edu
Email address: matthew.swarts@coa.gatech.edu
Georgia Institute of Technology, North Ave., Atlanta, Georgia 30332
Email address: russell.gentry@coa.gatech.edu

Bricks have been used in the construction industry as a building medium for millennia. Distinct patterns of bricks depict the unique aesthetic intentions found in Roman, Gothic and Islamic architecture. In contemporary practice, the use of digital tools in design has enabled methodologies for creating new forms in architecture. CAD and BIM systems provide new opportunities for designers to create parametric objects for building form generation.

. In masonry design, there exists an inherent contradiction between traditional patterns in brick design, which are formal and prescribed, and the potential for new patterns generated using design scripting. In addition, current tools do not provide interactive techniques for the design of brickwork patterns that can manage constant changes parametrically, to inform and influence design process, by providing design feedback on the constructive and structural aspects of the proposed brick pattern and geometry.

This research by Kereshmeh Afsari, Matthew E. Swarts and T. Russell Gentry looks into the parametric techniques that can be applied to create different kinds of patterns on brick walls. It discusses a methodology for an interactive brickwork design within generative techniques. By integrating data between two computational platforms – the first based on image analysis and the second on parametric modeling, we demonstrate a methodology and application that can generate interactive arbitrary patterns and map it to the brick wall in real-time.