Brady Peters

Acoustic Performance as a Design Driver: Sound Simulation and Parametric Modeling Using SmartGeometry

Acoustic performance is an inevitable part of architectural design. Our sonic experience is modified by the geometry and material choices of the designer. Acoustic performance must be understood both on the level of material performance and also at the level of the entire composition. With new parametric and scripting tools performance driven design is possible. Parametric design and scripting tools can be used to explore not only singular objectives, but gradient conditions. Acoustic performance is often thought of in terms of singular performance criteria. This research suggested acoustic design can be understood in terms of gradients and multiple performance parameters. Simulation and modeling techniques for computational acoustic prediction now allow architects to more fully engage with the phenomenon of sound and digital models can be studied to produce data, visualizations, animations, and auralizations of acoustic performance. SmartGeometry has promoted design methods and educational potentials of a performance-driven approach to architectural design through parametric modeling and scripting. The SmartGeometry workshops have provided links between engineering and architecture, analysis and design; they have provided parametric and scripting tools that can provide both a common platform, links between platforms, but importantly an intellectual platform where these ideas can mix. These workshops and conferences have inspired two projects that both used acoustic performance as a design driver. The Smithsonian Institution Courtyard Enclosure and the Manufacturing Parametric Acoustic Surfaces (MPAS) installation at SmartGeometry 2010 are presented as examples of projects that used sound simulation parametric modeling to create acoustically performance driven architecture.

Integrating acoustic simulation in architectural design workflows

Sound is an important part of our experience of buildings. However, architects design largely using visually based techniques and largely for visual phenomena. Aiming to address this problem, the research presented in this paper proposes four digital design workflows that integrate acoustic computer simulation into architectural design. These techniques enable architects to design for both visual and acoustic criteria. The goal is to develop rapid and accessible workflows for architects that allow acoustic performance to be tuned as geometry and materials are modified at the scale of the room, and also at the scale of the surface. The discovery and testing of these techniques takes place within the design of the FabPod, a semi-enclosed meeting room situated within an open-plan working environment. The project builds on previous research investigating the design principles, the acoustic performance, and the fabrication methods of hyperboloid surface geometry. Four design workflows were developed: two of these investigate the acoustic performance of the room and use existing acoustic simulation software, and the other two workflows investigate the acoustic performance of the surface and use custom-written scripts to calculate and visualize sound scattering. This paper presents the background to the study, outlines the digital workflows, describes how they integrate acoustic simulation, and shows some of the data produced by these simulations.

Fabpod: Universal Digital Workflow, Local Prototype Materialization

This paper reports on a research project with the dual aims of 1) linking acoustic simulation to complex custom surface design and 2) realizing a full-scale prototype meeting room within an open knowledge work environment at a very high level of craft, engineering and material specification and differentiation. Here we report on the outcomes of the novel design and materialization processes.