Parametric Design

Floral Street Bridge
by Wilkinson Eyre Architects



I'm interested in a software called "Digital Project".
As far as I know what it does are

1. to allow designers to modify the shape easily
using D.P. I could treat my project as if it is a mathematical functions. The 3D models are nothing like sculptures that you cannot change the shape. Imagine the graph Y=X2, Y=3X2, Y=X2+3. By multiplying or adding some number to the original function, the parabola shape changes accordingly. I have to be capable of analyzing what geometry or modification (rotation, scaling, moving...) decide the FORM of a project.

2. to optimize the manual aspects of structural calculation
D.P. has amazing ability to estimate the material properties. If you assign wood to a shape, it will act totally different from the case I assign steel to it. That means I can leave the structural calculation up to the software. Of course not 100%, but reliable amount.

3. to minimize the loss of information throughout the process
Design Documentation, Construction Documentation, Fabrication Process...Many professionals get involved till the completion of an architecture project. So communication method is very crucial. D.P. is the software that allows the detailed and updated communication without making it overwhelming. The more the shape of the project is complicated, the more D.P. can help architects.

But here is my concerns.
Architects at SCI-Arc are not the best mathematicians.

Scripting has been a HOT stuff here, but nobody really know enough to wright one. I'm messing around with it recently and have found that I cannot write the level of script that exceeds the level of the math I can comprehend. I believe the same applies to D.P.

Architects tend to be someone that knows enough to ask somebody professional, but not enough to do it themselves.

高校の三角関数の時間、三木先生が三つ葉のクローバの形になる数式を見せて、どうです？美しいでしょう？と言ったときは、ただただふ～む、と聞いていただけでしたが、まるで数式を扱うようにカタチが扱えるソフトのお話でした。