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Parametric BIM As A Generative Design Tool: Andrzej Zarzycki New Jersey Institute of Technology
Parametric BIM As A Generative Design Tool: Andrzej Zarzycki New Jersey Institute of Technology
Parametric BIM As A Generative Design Tool: Andrzej Zarzycki New Jersey Institute of Technology
ANDRZEJ ZARZYCKI
New Jersey Institute of Technology
This discontinuity in the creative process between Parametric definitions of architectural components
generative and implementive design stages exem- become fluid modifiers that facilitate exploring de-
plifies a significant limitation of digital tools.1 signs and testing design assumptions against es-
tablished validation criteria. BIM in conjunction
To bridge this gap, this paper investigates genera- with physically based parametric design allows for
tive qualities of the BIM platform through a relatively the alternative design process that parallels tradi-
narrow but potent set of examples of parametrically tional creating/making processes.
controlled constructional details and physically ac-
curate material simulations. It proposes extending These new tools create opportunities to expand
BIM interoperability and parametric qualities into the conventional design process characterized
early, generative design phases, thus introducing by the hierarchical (didactic) thinking that starts
two-directionality to a traditional process that fol- with the general and gradually progresses towards
lows a general-to-specific way of conceptualizing. the specific. With the parametrically defined BIM,
broadened by physically behaving components and
DESIGN OPPORTUNITIES materials, there is an opportunity to establish the
interoperability of data, or a bidirectional design
This paper focuses on the appropriation of BIM tools process with designers simultaneously working on
for architectural curriculum teaching, from the de- the general and the specific, within all phases and
sign studio to building technology courses. It spe- scales of the project. This would allow for the spe-
cifically focuses on BIM-based parametric modeling cific—a detail, assembly, or material—to shape the
in discussing construction details, assemblies, and design outcomes. This inductive design thinking
design explorations in the design studio context. is already indirectly present in designs of Antonio
Gaudi and Frei Otto in what we call today form-
The introduction of parametric thinking into building finding or form-making.
technology and design courses promotes qualita-
tive and analytic thinking in lieu of the descriptive The following student projects extend these prece-
or metaphorical. Transcoding conceptual design into dents of form-making by kinetic and adaptive designs
highly interdependent and parametric sets of rela- as well as material and physics-based simulations.
tionships confronts us with the need to understand
design in a comprehensive way. While there is still CLASS METHODOLOGY
a space for the imaginary, unknown, and unspoken,
these are often predetermined by initial design as- All projects discussed here follow a design method-
sumptions in discrete ways defined by performance ology that starts with a construction component or
expectations. This not only allows for understanding material properties and pursues designs that natu-
the interdependencies between various elements of rally emerge out of the assembly of initial compo-
a building assembly, but also opens doors for “What nents. While this is an established approach2, this
if...?” speculative exploration. This second aspect of study broadens this method by considering a broad-
parametric thinking encourages students to bridge er set of design solutions resulting from parametric
technical knowledge with creativity. These new cre- alterations and alternations of original components.
ative factors reflect technical, functional, program- It discusses the use of simulations as self-normal-
matic, or code knowledge as necessary competen- izing design validators that in some instances allow
cies feeding into the design process. these components to exemplify their intrinsic con-
structional logic, as is the case with physically be-
With bidirectionally interacting parameters and de- having materials and assembled components.
pendencies, the cause-and-effect sequences can
be reversed and tested for new possibilities. The The final design project emerges through a se-
initial design criteria (ideas) can be defined in the ries of explorations with fragments informing the
context of the ultimate design goals and perfor- entirety of the architectural design solution: frag-
mance values. Design becomes a logical, cause- ments that are representative of the overall design.
and-effect sequence that can be executed in both
didactic (general to specific) and inductive (specific To facilitate the effective learning in the context of
to general) ways. digital tools, the course focused on selected BIM and
754 DIGITAL APTITUDES + OTHER OPENINGS
parametric software capabilities that allow for open one another. After selecting projects and particu-
creativity with flexible design language. Defining ap- lar assembly components or construction details,
propriate architectural precedents became critical. students were asked to study these precedents,
Students were given contemporary designs repre- model partial assemblies, and test them as a three-
senting high quality practices, which naturally trans- dimensional BIM models.
lated into parametric and BIM platforms. Projects
by Nicholas Grimshaw, Norman Foster, and Santiago CASE STUDY: CONSTRUCTION DETAIL
Calatrava were just a few of the designs that fit well
into the class methodology and were relatively easy This assignment had two distinct phases. The first
to handle using digital tools. In each case, structural portion of the assignment—knowledge building—
system and expression were clearly delineated with focused on research and modeling of an architec-
visually interesting and structurally accurate logic. turally significant precedent. Through the modeling
students became familiar with construction detail,
Waterloo Station, by Nicholas Grimshaw, was given assembly, and the interface between architectural
as such an example, with trusses naturally morph- and structural systems.
ing their shapes and thus responding to the overall
design of the station [fig.1]. Such designed truss- The second phase—design formation—used the in-
es, while each of them can be different, all follow trinsic ability of a parametric object (detail) to de-
the same parametric logic and could allow for de- velop design scenarios that allowed for new design
sign efficiencies associated with modular or adap- concept formation by transcending precedent into
tive components. This diversity of designs achieved qualitatively new designs.
through parametric variations of a single adaptive
component could allow for new ways of integrating When choosing examples for their explorations,
structures with architecture. students were asked to consider the open-ended-
ness of their particular designs and their ability to
develop meaningful variations.
ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES
However, in the long run, visual parametric environ- students to better understand mechanical and spa-
ments such as those used in Grasshopper for Rhino tial relationships of their adaptive design.
allow more for the development of customer/user-
driven features as compared with conventional, out-
of-the-box BIM software. A number of third-party
plug-ins and components are presently available.
One of them, Kangaroo, is a physics engine with
components that account for the simulation of a
number of forces and material properties. This open
SDK-like (software development kit) environment al-
lows for dynamic development of the BIM platform.
DISCUSSION
Students investigated a number of designs by para-
metrically manipulating their geometry. This is the
With parametric analysis, designers can immediately
point where many design studio projects end. How-
trace design changes and see how they impact other
ever, in this case, considering the requirements of a
components in the assembly. Combining or nesting
building technology course, students continued their
parametric components not only allows for an ease
investigations by bringing a model geometry into
of modeling and a greater flexibility, but also allows
Kangaroo, a dynamics-based component in Grass-
understanding of how individual changes impact an
hopper. Students used a Kangaroo component for
overall design. Once a single parameter was changed
form-finding and developing a form that considers
in an overall, often complex, assembly of individual
material properties and physical forces. Since this
components, students were able to trace the propa-
approach combines parametric functionalities with
gation of changes throughout the database model
physical behavior, it allowed students to practice the
and immediately evaluate the consequences of this
interactive form-making that mimics and extends
particular change. Also, they could propose new de-
that done in a traditional context. Students could
signs through interactive manipulations of parame-
parametrically fine-tune their designs and instanta-
PARAMETRIC BIM AS A GENERATIVE DESIGN TOOL 761
ters and see changes propagated through the entire At the same time, it is evident that the parametric
assembly. This dual use of parametric digital mod- capabilities of digital models allow for deferring spe-
els—for understanding of a significant architectural cific design decisions while still considering a para-
precedent (construction knowledge building) and for metric component as an interdependent element of
speculative explorations of design propositions—al- an overall system. In this application, parametric
lows for greater integration between building science objects serve as intelligent placeholders for design.
courses and the design studio. This is particularly These placeholders can be changed if necessary,
applicable in the upper-level comprehensive studios but, independent of the accuracy of their numeric
where generative and implemental aspects of design values, they still function effectively as active ele-
need to be reconciled. In parametrically defined BIM ments of a larger interdependent system.
environments, students can explore designs that are
native to the world of construction—that do not have This property of parametric objects becomes a criti-
to be translated or reinvented as a result of the pro- cal characteristic of BIM construction models, not
gression from a conceptual idea to a real product. only in understanding the models’ assembly but
also in applying them as explorative and genera-
As a result of new digital tools and developments in tive tools for architectural design. This dual ability
professional practices, students increasingly develop of BIM models—allowing designers to introduce con-
designs that exceed their technological knowledge. structional considerations in the early design stages,
This has the potential to further fragment expertise and later, due to the components’ parametric defini-
and weaken design practice by driving it toward pa- tion, to develop variations and generate alternatives
per-based architecture. It also has immediate impli- at the very end of the design process—reunites the
cations for the education process and specifically for act of conceptualizing with the act of making. It also
changes in technology teaching methods. renegotiates the boundary between design genera-
tion and design implementation. This renegotiated
Parametric design follows an interesting paradox. A boundary will impact architectural practice and de-
common argument for BIM, and for digital design in sign team dynamics by increasing the requirement
general, is that it allows for early decision making. for each team member to contribute equally to the
Thus, BIM facilitates effective design progression design and constructability of the project. Since de-
from the conceptual to more concrete development sign and implementation in BIM become more tightly
and implementation stages. The other argument that intertwined, the separation into designer and detail-
is often put forward is that BIM allows for deferral of ers becomes meaningless. The next level of the de-
design decisions exactly because of its parametric sign production integration removes architectural
properties. This paradox can be solved with real bidi- drafters from a design team structure.
rectional interoperability of BIM software. However,
the real answer may lie in the way designers use CLOSING POINTS
software, not in its capabilities. Are we able to com-
mit to early decision making, or would we rather pro- The renewed interest in creating-making in archi-
crastinate and delay thinking about details? tecture, as evident in works of many contempo-
rary designers, brings a new attention to materi-
While both arguments are reasonable in their par- ality and process in design. While the interest in
ticular rationales, they also seem to exemplify both the design process is the legacy of last couple of
blessings and impediments to the design process. decades of practice and teaching, the current ver-
Depending on circumstances, early decision mak- sion of this idea moves away from the conceptual
ing may limit the procrastination and idle version- and visual toward the actual and performative. It is
ing common in architectural production, where a closely connected with the physicality of architec-
lack of direction or infinitesimal small variations in ture through understanding the performance and
design alternatives effectively loop a designer into impact of constructions on user behavior.
a closed design circle. Early decision making allows
an experienced designer to validate his or her sce- The component-based design approach for archi-
narios by introducing the constructability compo- tecture, advocated in this paper, stands in contrast
nent into design. to past concept-centered design process as well
as recent trends in which the weight of concep-
762 DIGITAL APTITUDES + OTHER OPENINGS
tual thinking, either in architecture or in the visual Karl Wallick and Michael Zaretsky. “Fragmentation and
(fine) arts,6 has often taken precedence over tac- Interrogation as an Approach to Integration.” ACSA
Proceedings, Value of Design, Annual Conference
tile or material considerations. This has been evi-
March 2009.
dent both with traditional (analog) and with digital-
based creativity. However, recent developments
NOTES
in fabrication, particularly in conjunction with the
parametric BIM platform, create opportunities for
Figure References
balancing this emphasis on conceptual thinking by Figures 1,5, 19 by the author
bringing material and assembly considerations to Figure 4: Hernando Florez, NJIT
the forefront of architectural discourse. Architec- Figures 3,4: George Miller, NJIT
ture returns to the realm of making, rather than Figure 6, 10: Wikipedia, Creative Commons
Figure 7,8: Eli Maltzer, NJIT
conceptualizing. Traditional or digital form making Figure 9: Elvira Hoxha, Michael Middleton, Travis
not only considers the structural behaviors of par- Stracquadanio, NJIT
ticular geometries, as was the case with Antonio Figure 11,12: Norbert Chang, Xiong Chen, Timothy Man,
Gaudi’s or Frei Otto’s works, but also starts con- NJIT
Figures 13,14: Cassidy, Bryan, Brahimaj, NJIT
sidering material properties that could only be par- Figures 15-18: Benson, D’Angelo, Daring, Emara,
tially accounted for in Otto’s soap-bubble models. Morrow, Piccone, Siegel, Tait, NJIT
Computational environments not only allow for re-
addressing materiality that is often missing from ENDNOTES
the design process, but also allow for asking specu-
lative “What if…” questions. Material properties can 1 A recent introduction of conceptual massing
be parametrically investigated in similar ways to tools into BIM software, such as Revit, indicated that
the industry starts responding to the conceptual design
tectonics or building performance characteristics needs. Also, a simplified BIM plug-in recently became
such as lighting or thermal behavior. available for Grasshopper/Rhino software.
2 Karl Wallick and Michael Zaretsky, 2009
This paper discusses where BIM software should be, 3 Image source Wikipedia, CC 3.0 by Philippe
Gisselbrecht
not necessarily what it presently is capable. It high- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Centre_Pompidou-
lights BIM potentialities, not today’s level of software Metz_(Ete_2010)_(c)_Philippe_Gisselbrecht.jpg
or designers’ ability to use it effectively. The above 4 http://www.strandbeest.com/ (accessed, June
examples show educational projects that take ad- 28, 2011)
5 Quote by Cassidy, Bryan, Brahimaj, NJIT
vantage of various software capabilities, which are Structures 1, Spring 2011.
already present or possible in today’s practice. 6 Conceptual art, as defined by LeWitt.
REFERENCES