Fallingwater designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Pennylvania, USA.

Last semester’s architecture design studio water required us to place ourselves in the shoes of another architect’s shoes. I was assigned to study Frank Lloyd Wright throughout the whole semester. Naturally, I became very familiar with his works; particularly his organic designs. Organic architecture is primarily fo-cused on nature and therefore growth, His Fallingwater design, pictured above, is the very epitome of organic architecture.

The result of placing myself in Frank Lloyd wwWright’s shoes is the design pictured below. My design is based on his ideas of what organic architecture is, but instead of just using pen and paper to design, I used SketchUp to facilitate me in the design process. What really interested me when working with SketchUp was the ability to freely move planes around. This gave me a chance to play around with the geometry and ma-nipulate it freely.

With the new era of technology, I believe the parametric design is a very fertile . I would like to embrace this technology to take what I already know about modelling one step further. Parametric design is generative and computational based design and is responsible for opening new doors and reinventing the limit that existed with the conventional way of paper and pen that architecture once was. I believe parametric design is advanc-ing design to a new architectural discourse for this reason.

New Czech National Library by OCEAN NORTH and Scheffler + Partner in the Prague, Republic of Czech.

Danish Pavilion designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in Shanghai, China.

A prime example of what parametric design can achieve is this masterpiece, the New Czech National Library, pictured above by OCEAN NORTH and Schef-fler + Partner. Parametric design allows complex de-signs such as this to be realised where it is normally difficult or impossible to do via the conventional mod-elling methods. This kind of complexity is only possible via computational means to create the branching that exists in this design. It was modelled to resemble the lime tree which symbolises life in Czech. A new era of architectural design begs for a new means to go about it, and it seems that parametric design fits the bill.

The highly complex design pictured below is the Danish Pavilion by the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and once again, only exists due to the in-creased possibilities for complex geometrical shapes that is provided by parametric designs. The result is a complex but elegant and clean design that is very aesthetically pleasing and modern. These designs once again assert me that parametric design is the way to go when it comes to advancing architectural discourse.

Computers, as their name implies, are made to compute, and unlike humans, their ability to store and recall memories are not limited. They are also able to process thousands of sequences of information much more quickly and more effi ciently than humans can and without error. They are able to represent the results of these manipulations in the form most suitable for human comprehension: in textual reports, tables of num-bers, charts, graphical constructions. Computers are there for humans when our brains capacities fall short when it comes to these tasks.

Although computers are spectacular at carrying out instructions, they cannot form instructions for them-selves; this is their only major fl aw. However, humans on the other hand, although we cannot perform com-plicated calculations like computers can, we possss both rational and creative abilities that can come up with instructions for computers to carry out the complex algorithms to formulate our design. In other words, hu-mans and computers can form very potent symbiotic design systems capable of amazing designs by comple-menting each others’ limitations.

One of the many contempoary innovations associated with parametric desogn was the ability to play with the parameters of the design to tightly control shape, form and size. An example where this innovation is used is in the Aviva Stadium located in Dublin, Ireland. There were many constraints associated with the boundary conditions of where the statdium could be placed. Parametric modeling allowed variations in constraints to be accommodated and then communicated between the architects and engineers. The parametric technology allowed for the building geometry to form a dynamic cross-disciplinary link between architectural and structural design at the detailed design phase of a complex project. This allowed for architects to retain a lot of gemoetrical control over the stadium through the use of these constrains in the parameters.

Another contemporary innovation provided by new computational design techniques is FEM (finite elemental method). The method involves the geometric model being divided into small, interconnected mesh elements which are then used to accurately perform structural, energy, and fluid dynamics analyses for designs. An example of this innovation being put into use is for the ‘Kunsthaus in Graz’ by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier pictured below. The orginal blobby shape of the design was altered after digital structural analysis revealed that the structure overall could be improved by making minor changes in the shape of the design. This kind of technology will go a long way in architecture because it isn’t just important for the architectural design stage of the project, but also potentially improves the design in the real world to make it more stable and functional.

The Brussels airport connector project is a design that was realised through contemporary script-ing and programming means. It was designed by the architecture firm UNStudio and as its name implies, the project is an airport connector meaning that it connects to part of the existing airport.

The design philosophy of the group when it came to this design was to come up with a design that fits in with the existing architectural style that was already present with the airport. Contemporary scripting and programming created the opportunity and satisfied the conditions for a design to be fit physically between the existing airport structure. It allows this through the allowance of setting parameters to deal with physical constraints when it comes to dimensions and space.

Another motive for the group to utilise scripting and programming techniques is that it allows for deeper engagement between computers and users by automating routine aspects and repetitive activities and hasten the overall design process and thus lower production costs.

The Brussels airport connector project is a design that was realised through contemporary script-ing and programming means. It was designed by the architecture firm UNStudio and as its name implies, the project is an airport connector meaning that it connects to part of the existing airport.

The design philosophy of the group when it came to this design was to come up with a design that fits in with the existing architectural style that was already present with the airport. Contemporary scripting and programming created the opportunity and satisfied the conditions for a design to be fit physically between the existing airport structure. It allows this through the allowance of setting parameters to deal with physical constraints when it comes to dimensions and space.

Another motive for the group to utilise scripting and programming techniques is that it allows for deeper engagement between computers and users by automating routine aspects and repetitive activities and hasten the overall design process and thus lower production costs.