Share a brief overview of your proposed tool or solution (1 page max) that outlines the essentials of your plan. It should include:
Intended users
The intended users of this tool are structural engineers and architects collaborating during the early stages of building design. The tool is intended to support coordination between architectural planning and structural system placement by evaluating the effectiveness of lateral force resisting system (LFRS) locations within conceptual building massing studies.
Need you’re trying to provide a solution or support for
Lateral force resisting systems are often introduced late in the design process after architectural layouts and massing have already been established. This can lead to inefficient structural layouts, increased material usage, poor torsional behavior, and conflicts with architectural circulation or spatial organization.
This tool aims to support earlier integration of structural systems into conceptual design workflows by providing rapid feedback on the effectiveness of potential LFRS placements. By evaluating structural performance metrics during early-stage massing studies, engineers and architects can make more informed decisions regarding system placement, efficiency, and coordination.
Tool Description
The proposed tool is a parametric design assistant developed in Dynamo that generates conceptual building massing models and evaluates potential lateral force resisting system locations across a structural grid.
The tool will iterate through possible grid-based wall or frame locations and evaluate each option using simplified structural performance metrics. Results will be visualized directly within Dynamo using a color-coded scoring system to identify more and less efficient LFRS placements.
Inputs
The tool will allow users to modify several design parameters, including:
- Building dimensions and proportions
- Structural grid spacing
- Core location
- Lateral force resisting system type
- Shear walls
- Braced frames
- Moment frames (optional future expansion)
Underlying logic of the model you’ll implement
Generate the building massing and overlay the grid spacing. Iterate through all grid locations and evaluate each one for lateral force resisting system potential from a few metrics (ability to resist torsion, etc.)
Outputs
The tool outputs a visual evaluation map of potential lateral force resisting system locations within the building massing model.
Outputs include:
- Numerical performance score for each candidate location
- Color-coded visualization ranging from red (less efficient) to green (more efficient)
- Identification of preferred LFRS placement regions
- Comparative evaluation of alternative system layouts
- Summary metrics related to torsional behavior and structural efficiency
The resulting visualization allows users to quickly identify structurally efficient locations while also considering architectural coordination and constructability during early design stages.