Year; 2006

The objective of this research is to develop a method, from the designer’s point of view, for using the embodied specialized knowledge of Finite Element Analysis [FEA] software to study the behavior of materials, geometries, and configurations in order to create an iterative design feedback loop that uses structural performance as a primary evaluation criteria and point of departure for generating and refining complex formo-techtonic configurations of form-active surfaces while ensuring constructability, improved structural performance, and syntactic consistency.  Instead of the 2-dimensional [planar] technology which drove modernist analysis towards the structural hyper-rationality of the trabeated system, this new process should compile and synthesize computational speed, mathematic principles, mechanical knowledge, and material logics within a digital 3-dimensional [spatial] analytical environment in order to realize a new paradigm of constructible complex surface structures. The research focuses on the development of structural performance criteria for form-active structures and interoperability techniques/protocols between advanced CAD systems and advanced structural analysis systems in order to create a fluid design + analysis process of generating and engineering complex form-active designs.    In other words, the research focuses on the development of intricately designed, geometrically complex, and materially sophisticated structural skins.