Architectural Geometry

Short Summary

The objective of this project is to investigate mathematical concepts, robust algorithms, scalable geometric optimization techniques, and flexible data structures to form a comprehensive toolset for architectural freeform surface design taking into account construction processes and rationalization.

Project Description

”With the use of digital technologies, the design information is the construction information. (...) It is the digitally-based convergence of representation and production processes that represents the most important opportunity for a profound transformation of the profession...”
Architecture in the digital age: Design and Manufacturing - Branko Kolarevic

Recent advances in construction and material technology have enabled the use of freeform surfaces as striking elements in contemporary architecture. Today’s Computer Aided Design software provides intuitive interfaces for the design of arbitrarily complex freeform surfaces. The construction of freeform surfaces, however, requires a segmentation of the surface into many small pieces that are then separately manufactured and mounted onto a support structure. Despite its high practical relevance for freeform architecture, this rationalization process remains a challenging problem with many fundamental questions still unsolved.

The objective of this project is to investigate mathematical concepts, robust algorithms, scalable geometric optimization techniques, and flexible data structures to form a comprehensive toolset for constructive variational freeform surface design. The goal is to enable the design of complex freeform surfaces with immediate feedback on its rationalization. We investigate new complexity reduction techniques to enable interactive, construction-aware design that bridges the gap between design and production.

Symmetry

Symmetry and regularity abound in architectural models, often as a result of economical, manufacturing, functional, or aesthetic considerations. This project investigates how recent work on symmetry detection and structure discovery can be utilized to analyze architectural designs and real-world artifacts digitized using 3D scanning technology. This allows reverse engineering of procedural models that facilitate effective exploration of the underlying design space and the synthesis of new models by modifying the parameters of the extracted structures and symmetries.

Publications

Symmetry for Architectural Design
Niloy Mitra, Mark Pauly
Advances in Architectural Geometry 2008
[paper]

Participating Researchers

Michael Eigensatz, Mario Deuss, Martin Kilian, Alexander Schiftner, Niloy Mitra, Helmut Pottmann, Mark Pauly