Complex Geometry in Architecture

PhD student Sebastian Gmelin, Prof. Kristian Agger, Aarhus School of Architecture – Double curved surfaces became common practice in architectural design. While their digital creation is well supported through a wide range of computer software, crafting them remains a specialist task – expensive and laborious. Building information modeling (BIM) lifts computer drawings from being pure geometrical descriptions to a representation of real building objects. It will be researched to use the additional information supplied to create complex geometry within a certain range of parameters, given by a specific construction material or structural system. The result will not only be a geometrical shape but also a specific construction method or even a set of interacting forces. B-processor is an open-source BIM software, currently being developed by the Aarhus School of Architecture (Prof. Kristian Agger) and the Alexandra Institute (Michael Lassen). It creates a platform to develop modeling tools as described above and will form the base for the PhD thesis.

Archive for the ‘scripting’ Category

Bauhaus exhibition in Berlin

Sunday, October 4th, 2009

: 091003-bauhaus-exhibit-01, image from exhibition flyer

While visiting the Bauhaus exhibition with some of the new PhD students, Niels and I came up with the idea of running a parametric design class at the school using a similar education strategy as it was done in the 1920ies at the Bauhaus. As a preparation for a design work, the students will be introduced to the methodology of parametric design and get introductions to different (parametric design) software tools. They then chose a master class – sculpture of painting. They use one or more tools to experiment in either field and design a parametric art object that might be produced with 3d printing technology of laser cutters. During this exercise a design language and working method should be established that is then taken to an architectural design project. In teams of four students, knowledge about different tools will be joined to work on a more complex project.