This project concerns the development of a computation-based form-finding method that aims to maximize the structural efficiency of user defined surfaces in 3-dimensional space.
The proposed method allows for the overall form of a surface to be maintained and it’s thickness distribution to be optimized to achieve structural efficiency. It relies on simple mathematical principles and can produce design variations rapidly.
"surfkit" is the digital tool that implements the method. The tool operates on arbitrary surfaces supplied by the user in the form of a polygonal mesh and produces an enriched egg-crate or dual-surface (sandwich) representation of the surface geometry considering parameters of structural efficiency such as stiffness. The output of the process can be exported for further use.
Given it's realtime, interactive nature, it can also be of use as an educational tool, demonstrating the process of structural optimization.
The project was initiated as part of the StandUp Architecture course at TU Delft.
Release 2 of surfkit uses the following libraries:
- volatileprototypes' own fvlib physics library for Dynamic Relaxation-based strain simulation.
- An early version of volatileprototypes' Exporting library.
- An early version of volatileprototypes' Panel4P interface panel.
- peasycam
- objimport
Finally, this release addresses numerous bugs.
In future releases import/export functionality will be improved and streamlined.
Released under the BSD License.
The method and implementation were presented at the 2010 Generative Arts Conference in Milan, as a paper entitled "Computational Optimization as means for exploring structurally efficient surfaces".
