Generative design methods are increasingly popular and are being used by architects, engineers, and designers. It has become an emerging field that civil engineers and architects will need to learn in order to keep up with the evolving needs of their industry. Furthermore, these methods are also being adopted by the construction industry because they can help reduce costs and waste during construction. The evolution of this technology will require civil engineers and architects to learn how to use these algorithms. Many believe that learning algorithms is unnecessary for engineers and architects to use these design methods. Especially that the software solutions proposed in the market are user-friendly and not complicated to manipulate. However another group believe that these methods require engineers and architects to understand algorithms and the technology of their functioning.
What is a generative design method?
Algorithmic design harnesses the power of computation to explore a greater diversity of concepts around a particular design goal in the development process. The background knowledge, intuition, and critical judgement of the designer are still essential but are focused on different areas of the design process. This includes developing the basic abstraction of the problem, designing algorithms for the basic form and constraints, the selection of promising avenues of exploration, and the refinement of problem parameters. These activities require the same creativity, intuition, and judgement normally associated with innovative design working. The generation of the algorithms and code requires logical means of thinking and skills in software that may not be currently familiar to designers.
The generative design approach is an iterative process that starts with a predetermined set of parameters and gradually changes the input until it reaches a desired output. It uses algorithms and mathematical formulas to generate new designs. It is the process of using algorithms to create designs for buildings.
Generative design can rapidly and consistently generate architectural designs for large projects. For example, algorithms can automatically draft plans for building structures based on pre-programmed inputs such as previously designed constructions or others. These inputs can include information about the structural integrity of a building foundation or the structural integrity of a building's columns or beams. Algorithms can also be used to calculate the cost of materials or potential damage from natural disasters. By automating these calculations, civil engineers and architects will save time and money when creating designs. Moreover, architects and civil engineers may use algorithms and generative design methods in urban planning when designing green spaces. For example, algorithms can be used to calculate the best placement of trees to maximize shade for building foundations. This new approach to green spaces can be far more efficient than traditional approaches to urban planning. Algorithms can also be used to determine the best placement of solar panels or wind turbines to optimize energy generation. By applying computational methods to urban planning, architects and engineers can generate sustainable buildings that are built efficiently and cost effectively. Nevertheless, with generative design methods buildings become more efficient. For example, an algorithm could generate a building plan based on structural calculations or environmental factors, such as wind speed, pollution or noise levels. The built environment could only benefit from this revolutionary technology. Hence, this technology is only beneficial for engineers and architects in their design process. It exists pe-developed plugins and software dedicated for different design scenarios that the specialists could take and use without diving in the functioning details of the algorithm. As the generative design module that Autodesk propose in Revit. This principe doesn’t consist from the civil engineers and architects to immerse in the script.
What are the disadvantages of using a generative design method?
On the other hand, generating building designs with the generative design method can be time consuming. This is because an algorithm must first analyze pre-existing buildings before generating a new plan for construction purposes. Therefore, an algorithm must first collect data about existing structures before creating a new design plan for them. In addition, data collection may be time-consuming and cost-prohibitive if it requires gathering information from government sources. Additionally, using generative design methods may limit creativity and inhibit designers from providing new ideas for future projects. Because generative design methods automate pre-existing ideas, designers may feel limited by the pre-conceived solutions provided by generative design methods. If a designer does not provide input for an algorithm's calculations, pre-existing buildings may not change much over time. Which limits creativity in building designs and makes them look very similar over time because there is little room for improvement under these methods.
Despite limitations, algorithms can help architects and civil engineers solve problems in building construction that would otherwise be impossible with manual calculations alone. Algorithms can help architects create sustainable buildings with fewer resources than traditional approaches to green architecture allow while generating sustainable building plans quickly and consistently. While they require more time, designers training and money up front, generative design methods ultimately pay for themselves in terms of efficiency and reduced waste as well as increased creativity in building designs overall. Moreover, sometimes the absence of solutions for specific scenario cases led the designers to search for developing their own solutions. Most of the time companies tend to hire full-time or outsourced developers depending on their budget and workload. This is related to the lack of knowledge and low performance skills of the engineers and architects.