A researcher at the University of Tokyo and a structural engineer based in the United States have created a new computational form-finding method that may significantly influence how large, lightweight architectural structures are designed. The approach is tailored for gridshells, which are thin, curved surfaces formed from a network of intersecting structural members. Their technique relies on NURBS surfaces, a familiar digital surface format in computer-aided design (CAD), and greatly cuts down on the amount of computing required. A process that once needed 90 hours on a high-end GPU now finishes in roughly 90 minutes on a standard CPU.
Architects place great importance on surfaces that can hold their own weight. Many visually striking structures fall into the category of shells, which have traditionally been built from reinforced concrete. Today, however, designers are trying to limit concrete use because of cost, waste, and growing interest in more transparent or visually appealing materials such as glass. This shift has encouraged wider exploration of gridshells, which use intersecting curves made of metal, glass or timber to span large areas without internal supports.
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