Parametric Design's Influence on Today's Architecture

 

Parametric Design’s Influence on Today’s Architecture

 

Parametric designing or the use if artificial intelligence in designing is increasing over the years. It is a form of generative designing based on a given set of algorithms, codes and scripts which are fed into a software to create responsive forms. Most used software for this form of designing are Robert McNeel & Associates’ Grasshopper, Bentley Systems’ Generative Components, and Revit Autodesk’s Dynamo.

Parametric design considers the given variables, codes, data and how they interact with each other and their collective response to these variations. It helps the student and designers in understanding the impact each variable can have on a design. Multiple parameters are used to define the bounds of a generated design which encourages the designers to think about multiple ways to resolve issues that may arise during said designing. The amount of creative engagement with design is also increased because each step in the code can have a large impact on the final design.  

It helps in visualization of the final product and can also aid in the fabrication or manufacturing process of the project. Since it makes use of artificial intelligence, the designs produced are usually highly complex and more often than not, too complicated for the human mind to comprehend unaided.

Parametric software aid in understanding the relationship between human beings, the built environment and the natural forces and their subsequent interaction. It helps in producing designs that effectively incorporate the problems and challenges with their proposed solutions within given bounds which are capable of responding to variable site conditions.

If we take an example of urban planning, we see that traditional ways of design thinking often fails to predict the future needs related to growth of population, immigration, cultural or climatic shifts and propose a plan that can effectively respond to these criteria. With parametric design, a new method of planning can be developed which could address these issues. Not only can it help in predicting the future population growth and challenges that may arise, but also be able to incorporate these variables in order to modify the design and produce a plan that evolves as needed.

Spatial needs like human interaction with the built space and natural forces like sunlight intensity, wind flow and direction, and seismic activities can be predicted and incorporated in the code to create forms that provide solutions for these problems. Variations in rainfall pattern, snow loads, climatic change and challenges like global warming can be dealt with parametric designing as it is also capable of producing sustainable and energy efficient interventions.

If we look at the proposed structure ‘Flow Fields’ developed in PAACADEMY’s studio workshop on ‘Eco-Parametric Structures’. The proposed design takes into consideration, the placement of trees and their obstruction and other existing elements like large, immovable rocks. Furthermore, the size of the openings took into consideration the sun intensity, wind pattern and optimal visibility to the natural surroundings.

It is modular and makes use of bamboo which is highly flexible and is sustainable due to its high growth rate. It also helped in achieving the organic curves which resulted in a highly accurate and a clean construction process, since fabrication was largely done through computational designing.

To conclude, parametric designing has the potential to create highly complex forms which can easily surpass the designs created by the human mind. It paves the way forward for sustainable and responsive design which have the capability to evolve with the natural and built environment, and the needs of humans.

 

Citations:

Koumari, Luka. “What Is Parametric Design in Architecture?” ParametricArchitecture, 18 Feb. 2022, parametric-architecture.com/what-is-parametric-design-in-architecture/.

Hassansadeh, Hamid. “Flow Fields - Eco-Parametric Structures - PAACADEMY.” ParametricArchitecture, 28 Apr. 2021, parametric-architecture.com/flow-fields-eco-parametric-structures-paacademy/.

Sawantt, Saili. “8 Spectacular Parametric Designs Generating Sustainable Architecture – Parametric Architecture.” Parametric Architecture, 13 Sept. 2022, parametric-architecture.com/8-spectacular-parametric-designs-generating-sustainable-architecture/.

Marc Aurel Schnable.  “Parametric Designing in Architecture - A parametric design studio -             University of Sydney, Australia”