Diversity-Based Topology Optimization of Soft Robotic Grippers

Soft grippers are ideal for grasping delicate, deformable objects with complex geometries. Universal soft grippers have proven effective for grasping common objects, however complex objects or environments require bespoke gripper designs. Multi-material printing presents a vast design-space which, when coupled with an expressive computational...

Robust additive manufacturable Ni superalloys designed by the integrated optimization of local elemental segregation and cracking susceptibility criteria

To achieve an effective design of additively manufacturable Ni superalloys with decent service performance, a hybrid computational design model has been developed, where the strategy to tailor local elemental segregations was integrated within a scheme of minimizing the cracking susceptibility. More specifically, the phase boundary of primary...

An insertability constraint for shape optimization

Patient-specific implants offer a host of benefits over their generic counterparts. Nonetheless, the design and optimization of these components present several technical challenges, among them being the need to ensure their insertability into the host bone tissue. This presents a significant challenge due to the tight-fitting nature of the...

An Integrated Workflow for Designing and Fabricating Multi-Functional Building Components through Additive Manufacturing with Clay

This article presents a project that explores the potential of Additive Manufacturing (AM) for designing and fabricating multi-functional building components for improved climate performance. In this project, an innovative façade wall design was developed by using a computational method in an attempt to integrate a displacement ventilation...

Optimal Design of new Hospitals: A Computational Workflow for Stacking, Zoning, and Routing

The paper proposes a generative design workflow for three major hospital layout planning steps to satisfy multiplex configurational requirements. The initial step is stacking through clustering functional spaces into floor plans, for which a spectral method is presented. Subsequently, a novel simultaneous process of zoning and routing is...

Bio-Cyber-Physical ‘Planetoids’ for Repopulating Residual Spaces

Minimal interventions that provide various microclimates can stimulate both biodiversity and social accessibility of leftover spaces. New habitats are often developed for different animal and plant species based on studies of the microclimates typical of such residual spaces. By introducing interventions of 0.5-1.0 m diameter ‘planetoids’ placed...

Hospital layout design renovation as a Quadratic Assignment Problem with geodesic distances

Hospital facilities are known as functionally complex buildings. There are usually configurational problems that lead to inefficient transportation processes for patients, medical staff, and/or logistics of materials. The Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP) is a well-known problem in the field of Operations Research from the category of the...

EARTHY: Generative Design for Earth and Masonry Architecture

This article explains the motivation and the theoretical underpinnings of a master's level course on generative design for earth and masonry architecture.

A Computational Workflow for Generating A Voxel-Based Design Approach Based on Subtractive Shading Envelopes and Attribute Information of Point Cloud Data

This study proposes a voxel-based design approach based on the subtractive mechanism of shading envelopes and attributes information of point cloud data in tropical climates. In particular, the proposed method evaluates a volumetric sample of new buildings based on predefined shading performance criteria. With the support of geometric and...

An integrated approach to subtractive solar envelopes based on attribute information from point cloud data

As a passive design strategy, solar envelopes play a significant role in determining building mass based on desirable sun access during a predefined period. Nowadays, advancements in the area of computational tools permit designers to develop new methods for establishing solar envelopes. However, current approaches lack an understanding of the...

OPTIMUS: Self-Adaptive Differential Evolution with Ensemble of Mutation Strategies for Grasshopper Algorithmic Modeling

Most of the architectural design problems are basically real-parameter optimization problems. So, any type of evolutionary and swarm algorithms can be used in this field. However, there is a little attention on using optimization methods within the computer aided design (CAD) programs. In this paper, we present Optimus, which is a new...

Multi-disciplinary and multi-objective optimization problem re-formulation in computational design exploration: A case of conceptual sports building design

The benefits of applying multi-objective optimization (MOO) in building design have been increasingly recognized in recent decades. The existing or traditional computational design optimization (CDO) approaches mostly focus on optimization problem solving (OPS), as they often conduct optimizations directly by assuming the optimization...

Convective Concrete: Additive Manufacturing to facilitate activation of thermal mass

This paper reports on the research-driven design process of an innovative thermal mass concept: Convective Concrete. The goal is to improve building energy efficiency and comfort levels by addressing some of the shortcomings of conventional building slabs with high thermal storage capacity. Such heavyweight constructions tend to have a slow...

A Multi-Objective Harmony Search Algorithm for Sustainable Design of Floating Settlements

This paper is concerned with the application of computational intelligence techniques to the conceptual design and development of a large-scale floating settlement. The settlement in question is a design for the area of Urla, which is a rural touristic region located on the west coast of Turkey, near the metropolis of Izmir. The problem at...

A Multi-Objective Harmony Search Algorithm for Sustainable Design of Floating Settlements

This paper is concerned with the application of computational intelligence techniques to the conceptual design and development of a large-scale floating settlement. The settlement in question is a design for the area of Urla, which is a rural touristic region located on the west coast of Turkey, near the metropolis of Izmir. The problem at hand...