The Advent of Architectural AI
By: Stanislas Chaillou
Tags: Technology, Artificial Intelligence, AI, Architecture, Harvard

Parametricism

In the world of parameters, both repetitive tasks and complex shapes could possibly be tackled, when rationalizable to simple sets of rules. The rules could be encoded in the program, to automate the time-consuming process of manually implementing them. This paradigm drove the advent of Parametricism. In few words, if a task can be explained as a set of commands given to the computer, then the designer’s task would be to communicate them to the software while isolating the key parameters impacting the result. Once encoded, the architect would be able to vary the parameters and generate different possible scenarios: different potential shapes, yielding multiple design outputs at once.

In the early 1960s, the advent of parametrized architecture was announced by Professor Luigi Moretti. His project “Stadium N”, although theoretical initially, is the first clear expression of Parametricism. By defining 19 driving parameters — among which the spectators’ field of view and sun exposure of the tribunes -, Moretti derived the shape of the stadium directly from the variation of these parameters. The resulting shape, although surprising and quite organic, offers the first example of this new parametric aesthetic: organic in aspect, while strictly rational as a conception process. Bringing such principle to the world of computation will be the contribution of Ivan Sutherland, three years later. Sutherland is the creator of SketchPad, one of the first truly user-friendly CAD software. Embedded at the heart of the software, the notion of “Atomic Constraint” is Sutherland’s translation of Moretti’s idea of parameter. In a typical SketchPad drawing, each geometry was in fact translated on the machine side into a set of atomic constraints (parameters). This very notion is the first formulation of parametric design in computer’s terms. Samuel Geisberg, founder of the Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC), would later, in 1988, roll out Pro/ENGINEER, first software giving full access to geometric parameters to its users. As the software is released, Geisberg summed up perfectly the parametric ideal:

“The goal is to create a system that would be flexible enough to encourage the engineer to easily consider a variety of designs. And the cost of making design changes ought to be as close to zero as possible. “

Now that the bridge between design and computation was built thanks to Sutherland and Geisberg, a new generation of “parameter-conscious” architects could thrive. As architects were becoming more and more capable of manipulating their design using the proxy of parameters, the discipline “slowly converged” to Parametricism, as explained by P. Schumacher. In his book, “Parametricism, a New Global Style for Architecture & Urban Design” Schumacher explicitly demonstrated how Parametricism was the result of a growing awareness of the notion of parameters within the architectural discipline.

From the invention of parameters, to their translation into innovations throughout the industry, we see a handful of key individuals, who have shaped the advent of Parametricism. This parametrization of architecture is best exemplified at first by Zaha Hadid Architects’ work. Mrs. Hadid, an Iraqi architect trained in the UK, with a math background would found her practice, with the intent to marry math and architecture through the medium of parametric design. Her designs would typically be the result of rules, encoded in the program, allowing for unprecedented levels of control over the buildings’ geometry. Each architectural move would be translated into a given tuning of parameters, resulting in a specific building shape. Hadid’s designs are the perfect examples to this day of the possible quantification of architectural design, into arrays of parameters. Her work however would have not been possible without Grasshopper, software developed by David Rutten in the year 2000’s. Designed as a visual programming interface, Grasshopper allows architects to easily isolate the driving parameters of their design, while allowing them to tune them iteratively. The simplicity of its interface (Figure 3) coupled with the intelligence of the built-in features continues today to power most buildings’ design across the world and has inspired an entire generation of “parametric” designers.