Martin Bechthold

Integrated Environmental Design and Robotic Fabrication Workflow for Ceramic Shading Systems

The current design practice for high performance, custom facade systems disconnects the initial facade design from the fabrication phase. The early design phases typically involve a series of iterative tests during which the environmental performance of different design variants is verified through simulations or physical measurements. After completing the environmental design, construction and fabrication constraints are incorporated. Time, budget constraints, and workflow incompatibilities are common obstacles that prevent design teams from verifying, through environmental analysis, that the final design still ‘works’. This paper presents an integrated environmental design and digital fabrication workflow for a custom ceramic shading system. Using the CAD environment Rhinoceros as a shared platform the process allows the design team to rapidly migrate between the environmental and the fabrication models. The recently developed DIVA plug-in for Rhinoceros allows for a seamless performance assessment of the facade in terms of daylight. Glare and annual energy use are addressed through connections to Radiance, Daysim and EnergyPlus simulations. A custom Grasshopper component and additional Rhino scripts were developed to link the environmentally optimized CAD file via Rapid code to a novel ceramic production process based on a 6-axis industrial robot. The resulting environmental design-tomanufacturing process was tested during the generation of a prototypical high performance ceramic shading system.

Designing Biologically-Inspired Smart Building Systems: Processes and Guidelines

This paper investigates design processes of and guidelines for biologically-inspired smart building systems (BISBS). Within the functional and performance requirements of building systems, biologically-inspired design is explored as the key approach and smart technology as the enabling technology. The Soft Modular Pneumatic System (SMoPS) is developed as a design experiment in order to verify the effectiveness of the BISBS design process. Similarly to how independent cells coordinate with each other to undergo certain tasks in multicellular systems, the SMoPS consists of autonomous modules that collectively achieve assigned functions. Within the soft body of each SMoPS module, sensor, actuation, and control components are integrated which enables the module to kinetically respond to and interact with its environment. The modular design and hierarchical assembly logic contribute to creating a flexible as well as robust building system. Throughout the design process, prototyping, simulation, and animation are utilized as an iterative and diversified development method.

Sobre cáscaras y blobs: Superficies estructurales de la era digital

Resumen es: Las nuevas tecnicas de representacion en arquitectura han ampliado las posibilidades de exploracion formal hacia lo que algunos interpretan como un mayor...

Spatial Print Trajectory

Current digital clay fabrication techniques comply with the innate material behavior of clay by extruding in two-dimensional layers. This method inevitably uses an excess amount of material and is a time-consuming process that does not take advantage of the viscous properties of clay. However, by utilizing spatial print trajectories with embedded print parameters (e.g. print speed and extrusion rate), the extrusion behavior of the material can be controlled via simulating actions like anchor, drag, and pull of the clay at the nozzle tip. The aforementioned spatial print trajectory can then form a voxel that can be heterogeneously controlled in order to quickly form self-supporting complex geometries with different density, macro-porosity, and structural rigidity. The print path can also be scaled up to exploit the potential of digital fabrication at the construction scale.

Development of policy metrics for circularity assessment in building assemblies

Design for material recovery is drawing increased interest as a strategy for eliminating landfill waste outputs from building end-of-life operations. Yet, a lack of comprehensive performance evaluation methods in this field is preventing policymakers and stakeholders from setting verifiable recovery goals for new construction and retrofitting. Responding to this problem, the following paper proposes an evaluation framework and a material recovery potential index (MRPI) for building assemblies. The system evaluates recovery potential at both the material and assembly levels through a series of categories and subcategories. Assessment approaches from other design and engineering disciplines are introduced and selectively adapted to reflect the unique recovery challenges that are characteristic of buildings and infrastructure. A weighting strategy is developed using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method and the entire system is successfully tested using output validation. Lastly, the MRPI is applied in a comparative recovery potential study of 12 typical envelope assemblies. Results indicate a strong correlation between MRPI scores and other environmental indicators such as embodied energy levels and global warming potential values.

More Bang for the Buck

Over the last decade design interests have begun shifting away from complex overall forms towards the tessellated worlds of scripted and parametrically defined structures. The blob may be dead, but the challenge of complex geometries in architecture remains. Blob or pattern — advanced computational techniques are becoming indispensable in supporting design, fabrication and process management.