The aesthetics of topology optimisation and non-standard analysis

Abstract

Over the last few years, architects have been given access to a myriad of new generative tools that are unprecedented in both number and capacity. Some design professionals are describing the ability they provide to generate new architecture as a paradigm shift. The best of these processes allows for innovative new forms that bring architecture back to us through a series of processes that mimic nature’s own evolutionary optimisation systems. However, it is misguided to think that these programmes can be loaded up, set loose and adequately, let alone optimally, resolve complex design problems without intervention by the architect at critical stages of the design process. Failure to intervene, adapt, or simply understand an algorithm’s form-giving qualities entirely is to blame for the unfortunate series of mystical optimisation and analysis systems computational architecture has spawned thus far. One thing that is clear is the definite convergence occurring between architecture and engineering disciplines, facilitated fundamentally by the interchange of data via parametric modelling software. The aim of this research is to establish creative methodologies that celebrate the necessary symbiotic relationship between architect and computer/scientist by way of experimentation. The aesthetic implications of this are certainly unprecedented.