The integration of basic geometrical acoustics into architectural design is not new. The arrival of 3D modelling packages such as Grasshopper has certainly increased the consultants’ efficiency and dialogues within the design team. It has also forced the designers to go back to the basics. Efficient algorithms are complex and their development time is consuming.

At first, Grasshopper’s apparent limitation in complex calculus seems to confine its use to basic trigonometry, but this is not the case anymore. Much has been said about geometry analysis. But few acoustic designs are driven by actual parametric design. Recent collaborations with architects well versed in parametric design presented opportunities for the further development of acoustic concepts into real input of parametric design.

Grasshopper can indeed be used to resolve inverse problems for which the output is assumed. The unknown to the problem is the ‘precise geometry of the hall’. This paper by Dr Thomas Scelo describes the collaborative approach to develop a single algorithm for both acoustic and architectural form generation.