Multi-dimensional Form Finding: Structure, Construction and Sustainability

The constructive dimension of structures becomes more important today as its inclusion within the digital design process is enabled in novel and disruptive manners, and the question of sustainability encompasses a broader meaning in regards to the material resources. The question of "building light" has fascinated several generation of architects and engineers, and it captures new meaning through sustainability concepts related to material usage, carbon footprint, and embodied energy of a building. Form-finding is one operational approach aiming to determine the (optimal) structural shape from an inverse formulation of equilibrium. However, in the context of built architectural structures, one cannot separate the shape design from the construction design, one being strongly interlinked to the other. The construction process and method have an equally strong impact on the sustainability of a structure. Therefore the authors propose that the determination of the optimality of a built structure should be evaluated globally including material usage, construction efficiency, detailing and construction time. Novel approaches to structural optimization, that encompass material use, construction methods and structural performance are discussed through two case studies: a greenhouse designed to maximize the reuse of a stock of available material, and a reciprocal form finding tool suitable for multi-dimensional search.