Description:
Key Words:
Skeletal Structures,Generative Design,Structural Optimization,Node Design
Required Skills:
Rhinoceros intermediate, Grasshopper beginner
Required Software:
Rhinoceros 7, Grasshopper
Required Hardware:
PC or Mac
Maximum number of participating students:
10
The “Fractum” workshop aims to investigate the potential of computational tools and generative systems in designing artefacts that involve complex skeletal structures. Participants will develop an understanding of how the design of skeletal structures can be informed by structural optimization tools, and discover how these structures can in turn create aesthetic, functional and structurally efficient design objects using computational systems. We will be focusing on generative design, structural optimization and node design.
Throughout the workshop we will develop three design projects each of which will be on a different scale, ranging from product design to fashion and finally to architecture. Participants will design a table, a body wearable and a pavilion, and thus will be able to apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills to three different design areas.
The workshop will consist of three stages each of which will focus on a different aspect of the design process. The first stage will be the form design, where we will use computational tools to design the volume of the design object. The second stage will be the skeleton design, where participants will be acquainted with structural optimization through the method of graphic statics. They will apply these methods to the forms they have created at the previous stage. And finally at the third stage, we will be developing node generation algorithms where we will combine visual scripting with custom scripting. By the end of this workshop participants will have acquired advanced knowledge on designing skeletal structures using computational design tools.