Parametric Structural Design and beyond

Abstract

In order to directly make insightful which implications follow from structural design changes and to be able to adapt a structural design quickly to geometrical design changes made by the architect, the structural engineer may embed a parametric and associative design approach in the structural design process. This approach focuses on parametric modelling and the development of parametric tools which serve specific needs in the structural design process, allowing designers for instance to quickly communicate and discuss alternatives or to inform design team members of structural results of changing design parameters. The paper presents multiple projects within these categories of parametric approaches. They are concentrated on design and analysis with the goal of presenting practical examples of these approaches in structural design which were integrated in the full design process in order to benefit from the qualities of a multi-disciplinary parametric and associative design process.