Parametric Morphogenesis, Robotic Fabrication, and Construction of Novel Stereotomic Hypar Morphologies

The chapter explains the studies the New Fundamentals Research Group is carrying out on the digital update of stereotomy. Between the various experiments, the chapter focuses on the group or prototypes designed by the geometry of the hyperbolic paraboloid, both at the macro (architectural organism) and micro scale (architectural elements). Several full-scale prototypes have been designed and built, using specific parametric codes, to define the geometrical morphogenesis properties of the built structural morphologies. Consequent theoretical reflections are fully explained.

Concept as the DNA for Morphogenesis

Form in architecture is a product of a complex set of layers and generators. One major generator of these is the design concept. In this context, a concept can be considered as the nexus that orchestrates all considerations and layers to keep them coherent and consistent. Furthermore, the concept represents the clearest semantic message conveyed by the designer through the building to the viewers and users. Similar to the role of DNA, concept functions as the hidden molecule that carries the instructions that the design needs to emerge and evolve. This chapter discusses the structure of form as a language, and its various generators, with a focus on the role of concept in the resultant morphological output. The discussion of form is followed by another of concept. The discussion of the impact of concept on design is supported by a contemporary case study. The case study is used to illustrate the role of a concept as a driving force and its implications in the design derivation, as well as its impacts on the various layers of the final morphology.

Representation, Design, and Management of Generative Algorithms for Architecture

This chapter critically analyses free-form generative parametric design techniques to evaluate the effectiveness of VPL (Visual Programming Language) systems, applied to existing high-geometric/formal complexity artefacts. The paneling of the South facade of the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) in Paris, designed by J. Nouvel, was chosen as a case history. This is to examine how through a complex kinematic modelling, the sunshine of indoor environments can be effectively controlled. The chapter focuses on reproduction, through reverse engineering techniques of the façade-type panel, through the most widely-used VPL platforms that determine algorithmic relationships. The generative parametric algorithms developed for the IMA Moucharabieh, indicate that identical rules can govern different geometries; in contrast, identical geometries can arise from completely different algorithmic formulae. Finally, the integration with the most widely-used BIM applications, is used to critically evaluate interoperable workflows.

The Future is Analog

This chapter traces the parallel development of the concept of standardization in architecture and of the idea of the architect as an artist / individual. The juxtaposition between the two goes back to Leon Batista Alberti, underlines modern architecture and reaches the current day where it still defines two different approaches for the production of architectural form through with the aid of digital media. The chapter proposes a third direction that breaks free from the dialectical opposition of the two and follows Deleuze's idea of the analog as a way to operate through modulation. That new direction is illustrated through an example in digital fabrication.

Interaction and Intersection Between Digital Modelling and Design in Architecture

Parametric modeling, usually considered modeling tools, has been analyzed in this chapter in a different way: as design tools for architect. First the use of parametric design has been considered from different approaches. Starting from the approach of Kas Oosterhuis Architect, in the Saltwater pavilion (1997), or Peter Cook Architect in the Kunsthaus (2003), in which the parametric tools have been used as shapes generation tools. Until the approach of the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, in the Sunny Hills building (2013), where the parametric tools have been used to rethink traditional construction techniques in a parametric way, known as chidori. After the analysis of the different parametric approaches, a new perception on the architectural design will be provided. In particular, the analytic way and the creative way, are usually separated in the architectural design, and it will enhance their interaction, in some cases, they become the same thing. This approach makes explicit and evaluable parts of the design process, reducing the gap between concept and goal in the design.

From Morphology to Morphogenesis

The chapter describes the principles behind that change and illustrates how it affects architectural education through examples of student design projects. This is through the description of how the shift from morphology to morphogenesis have marked a shift in the general understanding of form. Where morphology concerns itself with the syntax of predefined, archetypal architectural form, morphogenesis moves towards an understand of generative form production from the bottom up. That shift creates a new condition for the architect to operate in.

Anexact Paths

This chapter attempts to unfold the aspects of a design approach aimed to channel the full potential of complexity-grounded paradigms and self-organization based strategies applied through computation and algorithmic approaches, with a focus on (but not limited to) architecture. Computation is a necessary precondition to the whole discourse, not an inert tool but an integral part of the theoretical/operational apparatus, both vessel and medium of the design exploration, considering algorithms as modes of thought, logic as aesthetic operation and the implications of the inevitable limits of computability. A design process grounded in computation calls for a radical redesign of itself, a paradigm shift encompassing its full gamut, conception to fabrication. This implies an extended definition of tectonics, an intensification and redeployment of the decisional pattern scale at the metabolic level, a consequent remapping of the involved personas and a transcending of the designing- making divide.

Stadium Design in Digital Age

The chapter is divided in two sections: the first section provides a general overview of the parametric design and analysis of a bowl while the second shows key study. The chapter explores the genetic sequence of the DNA of the bowl and how it can be identified and ordered in order to build a global definition of its form. The author underlines some formal characteristics that may produce particular emotional aspects and how to control even those. Even the “arena” effect, the feeling of belonging, and at the same time the segmentation of audience categories can be parameterized. The parametric approach has been used to respond to similar needs for performance monitoring of existing stadia. The second section of the chapter describes a key study: the parametric approach used by Arup for the restructuring interventions to the bowl of the Camp Nou Stadium during the competition organized by the Catalan club. The project proposal has been designed together with the architecture studio of Ricardo Bofill.

The Fabrication of “The Cloud”

The chapter shows the optimization, rationalization, and design development process of the doubly curved wooden cladding of the main auditorium for the New Congress Center of Rome (mostly known as “the cloud”: “la nuvola”), designed by Massimiliano Fuksas, and completed in 2016. The author has been hired by the subcontractors to perform the design development of the original project and to develop a precise geometry of tessellation and a strategy for fabricating efficiently the wooden panels and the corresponding metal substructure of the cladding surfaces by preparing the geometry for direct CNC fabrication of both for a total amount of approximately 4,800 unique interior panels and 2,400 unique exterior panels. The optimization process of geometry has been conducted in parallel on rebuilding the original surface for curvature continuity and on verifying local conditions through custom tools developed within Rhinoceros to control and generate several tessellation options and compute dynamically the deformation of panels.

Optimization and Evolution in Architectural Morphogenesis

In the last century, a large number of architects and engineers developed a variety of form-finding strategies, and some of them looked to natural systems with the aim of transfering their principles into architecture. Through digital techniques, the designer can emulate or invent new processes to create architectural forms characterized by the same efficiency and beauty of natural systems. In particular, the efficiency of living systems is the result of a slow evolutionary process, as explained by Darwin's theory of evolution. The possibility to apply this process to architecture through genetic algorithms puts in the hands of the designer a powerful tool, which can be used in a wide variety of applications. In this chapter, by means of a case study, a form-finding strategy based on genetic algorithms is structured. A generative model able to adapt to different contexts is designed, and the research of the final shape is driven by a multifunctional optimization process aiming to reduce the energy consumption of the building and the weight of its structure.