Computational Design – Are we missing an opportunity?

Overview

Buildings were traditionally designed on a large, flat piece of paper. Then computers came along, and buildings began to be designed on a large, flat monitor screen. But very little else changed.

The complexity of modern buildings is such that it is no longer sufficient to design in 2D where change is relatively time-consuming to implement. Luckily, modern computers are so powerful that it is no longer necessary to do so either.

In this talk, Paul Shepherd will use case studies of the research council-funded projects he is working on to explain how next-generation computational design and optimisation tools can help optimise building designs in response to sustainability and productivity drivers. To finish, he will give a broad overview of where he thinks the opportunities lie for future research and development in this area.