Structural Optimization That Architects Don't Hate

Modern structural optimization based on reducing materials has facilitated improvements for some structures like canopies and bridges. However, when applied to buildings, these approaches to optimization are less appropriate, as they can impact internal building layouts, frustrating our architectural colleagues. Procedural generation—a method for using algorithms to generate geometry—when combined with more familiar structural optimization like Generative Design in Refinery, offers us a new methodology that can drastically reduce the complexity of the problem. It achieves this by mimicking human processes and applying them to the option generation process, such as aligning the building's structural frame with key features in the building layout, like cores and atria. This technique also offers the opportunity to include multidisciplinary constraints by adjusting the building structural frame to match the position of internal features, such as internal walls and corridors.