Relaxing Canopies: Optimization Workflows for Form Evolution

We present two recent projects at Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, LLP that feature large canopy elements designed, analyzed, and optimized by an interdisciplinary team that consists of architects, structural engineers, and enclosure specialists. Through an integrated computational approach, structural optimization and material efficiency are achieved with an iterative form evolution facilitated by dynamic relaxation techniques. The integrated workflows further accommodate the extremely ambitious design and documentation schedules of both projects by incorporating major design-to-fabrication parameters in the information-rich models; thereby facilitating immediate geometric rationalization, constructability analysis, and documentation through numerous design iterations; as well as the seamless digital exchange of data between the various disciplines. The computational workflow presented herein offers a potential prototypical process for the design and construction of novel optimized structures.