Then, share your Design Journal entry here (replacing these instructions) ... Click the text area below the headers and just start typing your response. There's no need to add new properties.
Please include:
Step 1 - Generative Design Framework
I opted to investigate 3 design decisions related to structural engineering as this is the field that my background is in.
- Design Decision 1: Steel vs. Concrete vs. Timber
- Design Variables
- Bay size
- Materials cost
- Can account for region in country - eg. mass timber might be cheaper in the PNW, areas closer to concrete plant might get cheaper concrete, etc.
- Evaluators
- Total building cost
- Total embodied carbon
- Structural performance (deflection)
- Most Important Tradeoffs to Consider
- Budget
- Architectural constraints (long spans, wide bays, etc)
- Sustainability or carbon goals
- Design Decision 2: Steel moment frame vs. Steel braced frame
- Design Variables
- Lateral system type
- Brace/frame location within building
- Bays used for lateral system
- Evaluators
- Drift performance
- Steel tonnage for lateral system
- Brace cost
- Fabrication and installation cost
- Most Important Tradeoffs to Consider
- Structural efficiency vs. architectural freedom
- Initial cost vs. operational flexibility
- Stiffness vs. ductility → period effects
- Design Decision 3: Ease of construction vs. Optimized member conditions
- Design Variables
- How many unique members are allowed
- Optimization tolerance
- Structural steel budget
- Evaluators
- Total steel tonnage
- Number of unique pieces
- Total installation time per floor
- Number of unique connection details
- Most Important Tradeoffs to Consider
- Material savings vs. fabrication premium
- Structural efficiency vs. constructibility risk
- Design effort vs. construction savings
Step 2 - Generative Design Study
- A more detailed description of the design decision from Step 2 that you decided to run a Generative Design Study with.
- Use the Generative Design Framework structure to explain how you’ve set up your Generative Design Study to keep it consistent.
I opted to study Design Decision 3: Ease of construction vs. Optimized member conditions. The reason I chose this decision is because this is a common issue that structural designers face; given an unlimited amount of time and unlimited budget, most designers could make a highly optimized building that could both potentially be cheaper (construction-wise) but also perform better. Unfortunately, this is usually not the case, and an emphasis is usually placed on speed, both from the design and construction side. As such, it is common to use a singular design condition for a range of conditions across a building, even though the cases may not apply perfectly.
Step 3 - Generative Design Study Results
- The screenshot of the Scatterplot or Parallel Coordinates Graph illustrating the tradeoff that you chose to model and study.
- Provide a brief explanation of what’s being shown in the Scatterplot or Parallel Coordinates Graph and how the tradeoff being illustrated would impact the design decision. What would you do with this info?
- An image of your Dynamo Study Graph (showing all your nodes and the connecting logic) -- You can use the File > Export Workspace As Image... command in Dynamo to save a PNG image to upload with your posting.