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Design computation has profound impact on architectural design methods. This paper explains how computational design enables the development of biomimetic design processes specific to architecture, and how they need to be significantly different from established biomimetic processes in engineering disciplines. The paper first explains the fundamental difference between computer-aided and computational design in architecture, as the understanding of this distinction is of critical importance for the research presented. Thereafter, the conceptual relation and possible transfer of principles from natural morphogenesis to design computation are introduced and the related developments of generative, feature-based, constraint-based, process-based and feedback-based computational design methods are presented. This morphogenetic design research is then related to exploratory evolutionary computation, followed by the presentation of two case studies focusing on the exemplary development of spatial envelope morphologies and urban block morphologies.

We present sequence of time-aligned edge plots (STEP) : a sequence- and edge-scalable visualization of dynamic networks and, more broadly, graph ensembles. We construct the graph sequence by ordering the individual graphs based on specific criteria, such as time for dynamic networks. To achieve scalability with respect to long sequences, we partition the sequence into equal-sized subsequences. Each subsequence is represented by a horizontal axis placed between two vertical axes. The horizontal axis depicts the order within the subsequence, while the two vertical axes depict the source and destination vertices. Edges within each subsequence are depicted as segmented lines extending from the source vertices on the left to the destination vertices on the right throughout the entire subsequence, and only the segments corresponding to the sequence members where the edges occur are drawn. By partitioning the sequence, STEP provides an overview of the graphs' structural changes and avoids aspect ratio distortion. We showcase the utility of STEP for two realistic datasets. Additionally, we evaluate our approach by qualitatively comparing it against three state-of-the-art techniques using synthetic graphs with varying complexities. Furthermore, we evaluate the generalizability of STEP by applying it to a graph ensemble dataset from the architecture domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although collective robotic construction systems are beginning to showcase how multi‐robot systems can contribute to building construction by efficiently building low‐cost, sustainable structures, the majority of research utilizes non‐structural or highly customized materials. A modular collective robotic construction system based on a robotic actuator, which leverages timber struts for the assembly of architectural artifacts as well as part of the robot body for locomotion is presented. The system is co‐designed for in‐plane assembly from an architectural, robotic, and computer science perspective in order to integrate the various hardware and software constraints into a single workflow. The system is tested using five representative physical scenarios. These proof‐of‐concept demonstrations showcase three tasks required for construction assembly: the ability of the system to locomote, dynamically change the topology of connecting robotic actuators and timber struts, and collaborate to transport timber struts. As such, the groundwork for a future autonomous collective robotic construction system that could address collective construction assembly and even further increase the flexibility of on‐site construction robots through its modularity is laid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building construction is one application of multiple robot systems (MRS) that is seeing a rise in research and is known as collective robotic construction (CRC). CRC specifically introduces a new set of research directions to those that already exist in the field of MRS, one of which is that of architectural design. As architectural design is essential to the process of construction, this paper presents a review of research related to architectural design in CRC. The reviewed literature is categorized based on three dimensions: design description, goal specification and execution. This categorization is utilized to detail approaches to architectural design and understand the implications of different approaches on the design process when considering CRC. By enabling architects with the ability to understand how to design architectural structures built by CRC systems and the implications thereof, this review aims to reduce the barrier for working with such novel construction automation systems. [Display omitted] • Review of collective robotic construction (CRC) based on architectural design. • Analysis of 122 peer-review publications. • Explanation of categorization of CRC based on approach to architectural design. • Discussion of trends and further research directions for architectural design in CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that material culture is described as the physical evidence and expression of a culture in its artefacts and architecture. As computation begins to change the conception of the material, so in architecture that will challenge the established relationship between the processes of design and the physical making of the built environment.

Advances in computation challenge established design approaches in architecture through a much deeper integration of form generation and materialisation. Tobias Schwinn, Research Associate at the Institute for Computational Design (ICD), University of Stuttgart, and Guest-Editor Achim Menges, Director of the ICD, introduce how the potentials and constraints of robotic fabrication can now be explored as generative drivers in agent-based design. This enables architectural innovation in unison with fabricability, structural capacity and spatial performance, as demonstrated by the Landesgartenschau Exhibition Hall in Schwäbisch Gmu"nd, Germany, the world's first building with a robotically fabricated segmented timber shell as its primary structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In architectural history, the advent of new fabrication and construction technologies has always been a catalyst for design innovation, and the latent next paradigm shift facilitated by the introduction of cyber-physical production systems will be no exception. What in other domains is often referred to as the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution' will also have a major impact on architecture, making possible a move away from instruction-based making towards that based on behaviour. In this article, Guest-Editor Achim Menges, Director of the Institute for Computational Design (ICD) at the University of Stuttgart, argues that these emerging technologies not only challenge our understanding of how buildings are made, but more importantly how we think about the genesis of form, tectonics and space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced design, simulation and fabrication technologies facilitate the exploration and transferring of the morphological principles of fibrous systems from biology to technology. The ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2012 pioneered such an approach for architecture. Jan Knippers, Riccardo La Magna, Achim Menges, Steffen Reichert, Tobias Schwinn and Frédéric Waimer of the Institute for Computational Design (ICD) and Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) research team at the University of Stuttgart describe how they approached the design of the pavilion, which is located on the school's campus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's race for ever more 'intelligent' materials, wood, with its long association with craft and vernacular building traditions, is all too often overlooked. But upon closer examination it reveals a spectrum of properties that constitute a smart rather than an outdated material. Based on its moisture-sensitive characteristics, Guest-Editor Achim Menges, Director of the Institute for Computational Design (ICD) at the University of Stuttgart, and Steffen Reichert, Research Associate at the ICD, have developed a number of groundbreaking weather-responsive systems. These integrate the function of sensor, motor and responsive components in strikingly simple wood elements. They demonstrate the material's capacity to replace machines and to unfold a truly ecologically embedded architecture by tapping into the abundant flows and energies of the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most attempts towards climate-responsive architecture rely heavily on elaborate technical equipment superimposed on otherwise inert material constructs. In contrast, natural systems embed all the responsive capacity in the structure of the material itself. In this article, Achim Menges and Steffen Reichert present the development of biomimetic responsive material systems that require neither the supply of external energy nor any kind of mechanical or electronic control. They introduce their research on physically programming the humidity-reactive behaviour of these systems, and explain the possibilities this opens up for a strikingly simple yet truly ecologically embedded architecture in constant feedback and interaction with its surrounding environment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a research regarding patterns in performance-oriented design at the Architectural Association and other academic institutions in London, England. It states that performance-oriented design develops from a synergetic process of pattern creation and recognition for material and environmental modulation. It notes that behavioral patterns and tendencies can become performance oriented design if they are instrumentalised. It cites that the interaction of the environment and material system yields various behavioral patterns including sonic, thermodynamic and luminous modulations. It asserts that the connection between development and behavioral patterns can be combined to performance-oriented design.

'Morpho-Ecology' is a concept and design approach that combines the notion of `morphology', and thus intrinsically 'morphogenesis', with the notion of `ecology'. In the early 19th century, in the context of his studies in botany, the poet and writer Goethe defined morphology as the study of forms; he combined the study of `Gestalt', or structured form, with the process of 'BiIdung', or formation, which acts continuously upon form. Later on in the century, the term `ecology' was coined by the German physician and zoologist Ernst Haeckel, who defined it as the science of relationships between organisms and their environment. Here Michael Hensel and Achim Menges outline their theoretical and methodological framework for `morpho-ecological design' in architecture, illustrating it further with two projects that combine research and design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In their bound form, aggregates are by far the most ubiquitous materials in architectural construction. However, there are few precedents for using loose aggregates in any significant way, despite their ability to swiftly interact with a given environment. Michael Hensel and Achim Menges argue for a better understanding of the behaviour of such materials in order that they can be used in their loose form. Aggregates are formed not through the connection of elements with joints or a binding matrix, but through the loose accumulation of separate elements. This approach therefore requires a radical departure from architectural design based on assemblies and assembly processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Membrane struckres are becoming increasingly popular in architectural design. This is exemplified by mechanically pretensioned systems, such as Foster + Partner's roof for Dresden Station and even by large-scale art installations, such as Anish Kapoor's Tarantantara or MARSYAS; and also by pneumatically pretensioned systems, such as Herzog & de Meuron's Allianz Arena in Munich or PTW's Watercube in Beijing. But how might membrane systems and their performative potential be developed further? Here, Michael Hensel and Achim Menges discuss the findings of a series of membrane-research studios that they conducted at the Architectural Association in London and the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and Urban Design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A central concern of architecture as a material practice is the way in which built and natural environments interact to provide exciting and sustainable modes of habitation. Key to this is the way in which material performance is understood and instrumentalised. In the first part of this article, Michael Hensel and Defne Sunguroğlu research the characteristics of wood in order to explore how a material's variable behaviour and its response to extrinsic stimuli might substantially contribute to performance- oriented design. This leads them to argue for a wider, more inclusive definition for `smart materials' that puts less emphasis on the new and fully recognises the potential of variable behaviour. In the second part, Achim Menges discusses a research project that demonstrates the full impact of this approach to material performance and the integral relationship between formation and materialisation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of rapid prototyping to produce scale models has in recent years become commonplace in architectural practices and universities. Employing such layer manufacturing processes at the scale of construction opens up entirely new possibilities for articulating and manufacturing a performative built environment. Achim Menges discusses Freeform Construction, a collaborative effort between Loughborough University's Civil & Building Engineering Department and Loughborough's Wolfson School of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering to develop construction-scale rapid manufacturing processes. Crossing conventional boundaries of the manufacturing domain, the research is not only concerned with developing new modes of production, but also contributes to establishing an alternative approach for designing performative architecture where form, material, structure and performance are understood as inherently related and integral aspects of the manufacturing and construction process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dictionary explanation of 'performance' is to 'carry out an action' or 'to fulfil a task'. Invariably, this definition seems to invoke a tired utilitarian debate on the correlation between form and function. Here, Michael Hensel and Achim Menges explain how in this issue of AD they aim to move the debate on entirely. In so doing, they redefine form not as the shape of a material object alone, but as the multitude of effects, the milieu of conditions, modulations and microclimates that emanate from the exchange of an object with its specific environment - a dynamic relationship that is both perceived and interacted with by a subject. Performance evolves from the synthesis of this dynamic, while morpho-ecological design concerns an instrumental approach, making form and function less of a dualism and more of a synergy that aspires to integral design solutions and an alternative model for sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the potential of generative and genetic algorithms in architecture, artificial intelligence, engineering and material science. It is observed that Genr8 is the latest instantiation design tool that uses population-based adaptation akin to evolution and generative algorithm. It explores and develops surface geometries in three-dimensional space with virtual environmental conditions that impacts the growth process.

The article offers information about Achim Menges, guest editor of the journal "Architectural Design." The work of Menges explores the reciprocity between the material and the computational in architecture, and interrelations with technology, biology and culture. He is the founding director of the Institute for Computational Design (ICD) and is a visiting professor at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design (GSD).

Collective robotic construction (CRC) is an emerging approach to construction automation based on the collaboration among teams of small mobile robots. This paper enhances an existing modular CRC system, showcasing its capability to assemble full-scale in-plane timber structures. Utilizing strategies of co-design, the robotic actuators were updated to accommodate material tolerance in the passive building material, timber struts, which they use for locomotion and assemble into structures. A custom effector was also developed to establish architecturally relevant, structural connections between struts. The enhancements address two major challenges in CRC system development: material tolerance and connections. To showcase these research findings and compare with other construction automation systems, a reinforced slab structure was assembled. With a building envelop of 0.485 m3, this is one of the largest structures assembled by a CRC system. As such, the work highlights the potential applicability of CRC in real-world architectural projects. • Present research on assembly of in-plane timber structure with a novel CRC system. • Introduce co-design methods and mechanisms for dealing with material machining tolerances. • Present the development of an effector for execution of screwed connections by mobile robots. • Evaluate and compare the assembly processes of the presented CRC system with other robotic systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades, the use of agent-based models (ABMs) to model and simulate the dynamics of complex systems has increased significantly among various scientific fields, including architecture. Based on a systematic literature review, this paper presents a classification for agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS) in architecture based on the individual entities being modeled as agents. The classification is based on a reproducible search method capable of incorporating findings from different domain-specific databases to systematically retrieve relevant literature for ABMS in architecture. Subsequently, in each of the ABMs encountered in the selected literature, we identify what entity an agent in the model represents. Based on this identification, a comprehensive classification for ABMs in architecture is achieved. By describing each of the resulting categories, we provide new insights into the field of ABMS in architecture. Finally, we discuss limitations, as well as future trends and possibilities for ABMS in architecture. [Display omitted] • We present a literature retrieval approach for domain-specific ABMS publications. • Our literature review is based on more than 600 relevant publications. • We propose an agent-centered model classification with 6 categories. • Any model encountered in the review can be classified using only 6 categories. • We identify future trends for each category and for ABMS in architecture in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]