





























Chapter_1_Algorithmic Modelling
2	Associative Modelling






















Chapter_1_Algorithmic Modelling


If we look at architecture as an object represented in the space, we always 
deal with geometry and a
bit  of  math  to  understand  and  design  this  object.  In  the  History 
 of  architecture,  different architectural styles have presented multiple 
types of geometry and logic of articulation and each period  have  found  a 
 way  to  deal  with  its  geometrical  problems  and  questions.  Since  
computers started to help architects, simulate the space and geometrical 
articulations, it became an integral tool  in  the  design  process.  
Computational  Geometry  became  an  interesting  subject  to  study  and 
combination  of  programming  algorithms  with  geometry yielded  
algorithmic  geometries  known  as Generative Algorithm. Although 3D 
softwares helped to simulate almost any space visualized, it is the  
Generative  Algorithm  notion  that  brings  the  current  possibilities  
of  design,  like  ‘parametric design’ in the realm of architecture.

Architects started to use free form curves and surfaces to design and 
investigate spaces beyond the limitations  of  the  conventional  
geometries  of  the  “Euclidian  space”.  It  was  the  combination  of 
Architecture and  Digital  that brought  ‘Blobs’  on  the table  and  then  
push  it  further. Although  the progress of the computation is extremely 
fast, architecture has been tried to keep track with this digital fast pace 
progress.

Contemporary architecture after the age of “Blob” seems to be even more 
complex. Architectural design  is  being  affected  by  the  potentials  of 
 algorithmic  computational  geometries  with  multiple hierarchies and 
high level of complexity. Designing and modelling free‐form surfaces and 
curves as building elements which are associated with different components 
and have multiple patterns is not
an  easy  job  to  do  with  traditional  methods.  This  is  the  time  of 
 algorithms  and  scripts  which  are
forward  pushing  the  limits.  It  is  obvious  that  even  to  think  
about  a  complex  geometry,  we  need appropriate  tools,  especially  
softwares,  which  are  capable  of  simulating  these  geometries  and 
controlling  their  properties.  As  the  result  architects  feel  
interested  to  use  Swarms  or  Cellular Automata or Genetic Algorithms to 
generate algorithmic designs and go beyond the current pallet of available  
forms  and  spaces.  The  horizon  is  a  full  catalogue  of  complexity  
and  multiplicity  that combines creativity and ambition together.
3	Associative Modelling



Fig.1.1.  Parametric  Modelling  for  Evolutionary  Computation  and  
Genetic  Algorithm,  Mohamad
khabazi, Emergence Seminar, AA, conducted by Michael Weinstock, fall 2008.




A step even forward, now embedding the properties of material systems in 
design algorithms seems
to be more possible in this parametric notion. Looking forward material 
effects and their responses
to the hosting environment in the design phase, now the inherent potentials 
of the components and systems should  be  applied  to  the  parametric 
models  of  the  design.  So  not  only  these  generative algorithms does 
not dealing only with form generation, but also there is a great potential 
to embed the logic of material systems in them.

“The underlying logic of the parametric design can be instrumentalised here 
as an alternative design method, one in which the geometric rigour of 
parametric modelling can be deployed first to integrate manufacturing 
constraints, assembly logics and material characteristics in the definition 
of simple components, and then to proliferate the components into larger 
systems and assemblies. This
approach employs the exploration of parametric variables to understand the 
behaviour of such a system and then uses this understanding to strategise 
the system’s response to environmental conditions and external forces” 
(Hensel, Menges, 2008).




To work with the complex objects, usually a design process starts from a 
very simple first level and then  other  layers  being  added  to  it;  
complex  forms  are  comprised  of  different  hierarchies,  each 
associated with its logics and details. These levels are also 
interconnected and their members affect each other and in that sense this 
method called ‘Associative’.

Generally speaking, Associative modelling relates to a method in which 
elements of design being built gradually in multiple hierarchies and at 
each level, some parameters of these elements being extracted to be the 
generator for other elements in the next level and this goes on, step by 
step to produce the whole geometry. So basically the end point of one curve 
could be the center point of another  circle  and  any  change  in  the  
curve  would  change  the  circle  accordingly.  Basically  this method of 
design deals with the huge amount of data and calculations and runs through 
the flow of algorithms.

Instead   of   drawing   objects,   Generative   Algorithmic   modelling   
usually   starts   with   numbers, mathematics and calculations  as the 
base data to generate objects. Even starting with objects, it extracts 
parametric data of that object to move on. Any object of design has 
infinite positions inside,
4	Associative Modelling


and these positions could be used as the base data for the next step and 
provide more possibilities
to grow the design. The process called ‘Algorithmic’ because of this 
possibility that each object in the algorithm  generated  by  previously  
prepared  data  as  input  and  has  output  for  other  steps  of  the 
algorithm as well.

The point is that all these geometries are easily adjustable after the 
process. The designer always has access to the elements of the design 
product from the start point up to details. Actually, since the design 
product is the result of an algorithm, the inputs of the algorithm could be 
changed and the result would also be updated accordingly. In conventional 
methods we used to modify models and designs  on  paper  and  model  the  
final  product  digitally,  to  avoid  changes  which  was  so  time‐ 
consuming. Any change in the design affected the other geometries and it 
was dreadful to fix the problems occurred to the other elements connected 
with the changed element and all those items should be re‐adjusted, 
re‐scaled, and re‐orientated if not happened to re‐draw.

It is now possible to digitally sketch the model and generate hundreds of 
variations of the project by adjusting some very basic geometrical 
parameters. It is now possible to embed the properties of material systems, 
Fabrication constraints and assembly logics in parameters. It is now even 
possible
to respond to the environment and be associative in larger sense. “… 
Parametric design enables the recognition of patterns of geometric 
behaviour and related performative capacities and tendencies of the system. 
In continued feedback with the external environment, these behavioural 
tendencies can then   inform   the   ontogenetic   development   of   one   
specific   system   through   the   parametric differentiation of its 
sub‐locations” (Hensel, Menges, 2008).


















Fig.1.2. A. form‐finding in membranes and minimal surfaces, physical model, 
B. membrane’s
movement modelled with Grasshopper, Mohamad Khabazi, EmTech Core‐Studio, 
AA, Conducted by
Michael Hensel and Achim Menges, fall 2008.






Grasshopper  is  a  platform  in  Rhino  to  deal  with  this  Generative  
Algorithms  and  Associative modelling.  The  following  chapters  are  
designed  in  order  to  combine  geometrical  subjects  with algorithms 
and to address some design issues in architecture in an ‘Algorithmic’ 
method.
