Computers have transformed architecture in remarkable ways.
They’ve made it possible to visualize designs in fully-rendered 3D graphics and to automatically check designs against building codes and other standard specifications. And they’ve made designs possible that were unthinkable or unimaginable 50 years ago, as they can crunch the numbers on complex equations and even generate plans or models from high-level requirements. Architecture, like music, art, games, and written stories can be created algorithmically.
One architect exploring this idea is Michael Hansmeyer, who is currently a visiting professor at Southeast University in Nanjing, China. He sees architecture as being at an inflection point whereby the maturation of computation and fabrication technologies means that we’re entering an era where the formerly impossible is now doable and the unimaginable is taking form.
Complexity is no longer an impediment but rather an opportunity, he writes on his website. And we see this embodied in his work, which is full of fine lines and curves and intricate patterns and shapes that look almost alien.
Most famous among his projects is Digital Grotesque, a 2013 collaboration he did with fellow computational architect Benjamin Dillenburger. To make their design, the pair wrote a program that uses a subdivision algorithm to divide the surface of each column into four smaller surfaces, each slightly different in texture (though not randomly so), and then divide those surfaces on and on to ever-smaller surfaces. In the process, the form of the structure morphed into something elaborate and alien yet also clearly rooted in geometry.
The complexity of the result wowed people who saw it in person. Hansmeyer tells Gizmag that people insisted on touching the columns, despite signs asking them not to. He finds this exciting, as it shows how algorithms can so easily encode different scales and levels of information into architecture.
Asked whether a human could have designed Digital Grotesque via a traditional method, Hansmeyer jokes that “it’s difficult to draw sections of a column with sixteen million facets using a traditional pen or a mouse,” though he concedes that it’s theoretically possible. More interesting, he notes, is that algorithmic design such as this is three-dimensional to begin with – it needs no intermediary 2D representation, as is the norm in architectural design.
Read more: Creative AI: Algorithms and robot craftsmen open new possibilities in architecture
The Latest on: Creative AI architecture
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Creative AI architecture” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Creative AI architecture
- A view of a room with VR and AI for the field of interior designon May 8, 2024 at 12:18 pm
Bringing together virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) could lead to significant advancements in the field of interior design, according to research published in the International ...
- Exclusive: Autodesk's AI turns text or still images into 3D modelson May 8, 2024 at 5:44 am
Why it matters: 3D design and modeling — an essential part of the modern creative process in fields ranging from architecture and product development to drug research and robotics — is one more realm ...
- Apple unveils ‘outrageously powerful chip for AI’ in latest iPadson May 7, 2024 at 9:35 am
New hardware signals iPhone maker’s growing focus on running artificial intelligence features on mobile devices ...
- 'Architecture by conference' is a really bad ideaon May 3, 2024 at 2:00 am
The journey toward exceptional generative AI architecture for use in or out of the cloud is challenging yet crucial. It requires a break from tradition, a commitment to deep customization ...
- Exploring Architecture: Creative paperson May 2, 2024 at 8:30 am
Exploring architecture is a monthly free event at 66 Portland Place, usually on the first of the month based in the Clore Learning Centre. Each month will take a different format, including tours, ...
- Should You Use Adobe’s AI Tools to Improve Workflows in 2024? Top 5 Use Caseson May 2, 2024 at 2:59 am
New Adobe's AI tools, powered by Firefly Image 3, improve Photoshop workflows for creatives and businesses across industries, from e-commerce to design.
- Here's how AI will change the architecture industry in Massachusettson May 2, 2024 at 2:18 am
It was barely a year ago that SGA, one of the state’s largest architecture firms, kicked off an initiative to look at how to put artificial intelligence to work. We talked to a company leader about ...
- Constructing Tomorrow: Leveraging AI In The Building Industryon May 1, 2024 at 4:30 am
The integration of AI into architectural practices has the potential to redefine how buildings are designed, constructed and operated.
- Artificial Intelligence: The Latest Architecture and Newson April 22, 2024 at 4:59 pm
While countless creative concepts are proposed ... narrative design is one of those challenges. Will Artificial Intelligence replace architects in their roles? In the May 2023 edition of Building ...
- AI will never replace the human creative sparkon April 16, 2024 at 5:01 pm
in architecture, there is no large-scale multidisciplinary collaborative approach to developing this (as far as we know). AI is a promising tool which, I believe, will enhance human capabilities, but ...
via Bing News