Explorative Design and Computational Engineering for the Built Environment

The technology and tools for computational design in the built environment have never been more powerful or progressive. To complement their specific discipline knowledge, the current and next generation of designers and engineers entering the global workforce are armed with skills ranging from sketching to programming to Building Information Modeling (BIM). As buildings have grown in complexity so too has the power and ubiquity of simulation tools used by different specialist disciplines, with information and processes getting more disconnected up until data is transferred to a common format for delivery. It is time to shift focus away from data toward the spaces between the data. By extrapolating recent innovations in structural engineering processes—such as real-time feedback and gesture-based simulation using Robot Structural Analysis software—we will explore the possibilities of multidisciplinary building simulation using visual programming applications such as Dynamo software to control Revit software and other packages.