Tsung-Hsien Wang

Modeling Water Use for Sustainable Urban Design

Achieving sustainability on an urban scale is an overwhelming problem. We can address this by dividing the problem into manageable proportions. Environmental impacts of urban design fall into measurable categories, for example, air quality, biodiversity, solid wastes, water and wastewater, hazardous materials, and impacts of nonrenewable energy use. Such measures are incorporated into building rating systems as a way of codifying sustainability. In this chapter, to illustrate such codification, we examine water use as well as generated wastewater according to the requirements of a specific sustainable building rating system. Conventional calculations are coupled with building information modeling to illustrate the overall effects of parametrically selecting fixtures, systems and materials to control the use of potable water. We further demonstrate how this approach of combining parametric building information modeling with measures of their environmental impacts can be employed on an urban scale, thereby, guiding the design of sustainable urban spaces.

Encoding bamboo’s nature for freeform structure design

Bamboo is a construction material that is renewable, environmentally friendly and widely available. It has long been used in various projects, ranging from temporary, easily assembled and rectilinear structures to complex freeform pavilions. Design with bamboo has never been easy to architects and engineers due to its irregular shape and round section. This prompts the need to develop a new design process that can accommodate those properties that hinder bamboo to be used by designers. In this article, we take a close look at freeform structure design and specifically demonstrate how systematically and algorithmically parametric modelling can be used to tackle bamboo material irregularities and bamboo jointing challenges. A two-stage optimization process is proposed to support a fabricable freeform structure design through encoding material properties and freeform shape optimization. The approach approximates the given freeform shape using a finite set of unique bamboo elements while maintaining the aesthetic design intention. By limiting the number of bamboo elements, it will provide insight to both designers and engineers on the efficiency and cost benefits of producing required structure elements for the final assembly.

Parametric Modeling of Bamboo Pole Joints

This paper describes the development of a parametric modeling system that enables the design of customized bamboo pole joints, where the geometry of each bamboo piece becomes the main design constraint. Rules of design are identified in traditional bamboo-jointing practice through the analysis of a bamboo catalogue. This knowledge informs the constructive principles of the system. Output data of the system successfully formulates the design of a customized bamboo jointing system. The effort of this paper suggests that further development of an application or software to facilitate the design of parametric bamboo joints is a feasible project that could help bamboo to have a solid presence in modern building industry. Lastly, the paper hints that transference of parametric technology is a promising domain that could potentially be applied to streamline the use of other natural materials.