The production of architecture, both intellectually and physically, is on the brink of a fundamental change. Computational design enables architects to integrate ever more multifaceted and complex design information, while the industrial logics of conventional building construction are eroding rapidly in a context of increasingly ubiquitous computer-controlled manufacturing and fabrication. A novel convergence of computation and materialisation is about to emerge, bringing the virtual process of design and the physical realisation of architecture much closer together, more so than ever before. Computation provides a powerful agency for both informing the design process through specific material behaviour and characteristics, and in turn informing the organisation of matter and material across multiple scales based on feedback from the environment. Computational design and integrated materialisation processes allow for uncovering the inherent morphogenetic potential of materials and thus are opening up a largely uncharted field of possibilities for the way the built environment in the 21st century is conceived and produced. In order to effectively introduce and outline the enabling power of computational design along with its inherent relationship to a biological paradigm, this publication looks at formation and materialisation in nature, integrative computational design, and engineering and manufacturing integration. Architectural contributors include: Cristiano Cecatto, Neri Oxman, Skylar Tibbits and Michael Weinstock. A scientific perspective by Philip Ball and J Scott Turner. Features: Buro Happold's SMART group, DiniTech, Foster + Partners' Specialist Modelling Group, the Freeform Construction group and Stuttgart University's Institute for Computational Design.

This book addresses topics of mobile multi-agent systems, pattern formation, biological modelling, artificial life, unconventional computation, and robotics. The behaviour of a simple organism which is capable of remarkable biological and computational feats that seem to transcend its simple component parts is examined and modelled. In this book the following question is asked: How can something as simple as Physarum polycephalum - a giant amoeboid single-celled organism which does not possess any neural tissue, fixed skeleton or organised musculature - can approximate complex computational behaviour during its foraging, growth and adaptation of its amorphous body plan, and with such limited resources? To answer this question the same apparent limitations as faced by the organism are applied: using only simple components with local interactions. A synthesis approach is adopted and a mobile multi-agent system with very simple individual behaviours is employed. It is shown their interactions yield emergent behaviour showing complex self-organised pattern formation with material-like evolution. The presented model reproduces the biological behaviour of Physarum; the formation, growth and minimisation of transport networks. In its conclusion the book moves beyond Physarum and provides results of scoping experiments approximating other complex systems using the multi-agent approach. The results of this book demonstrate the power and range of harnessing emergent phenomena arising in simple multi-agent systems for biological modelling, computation and soft-robotics applications. It methodically describes the necessary components and their interactions, showing how deceptively simple components can create powerful mechanisms, aided by abundant illustrations, supplementary recordings and interactive models. It will be of interest to those in biological sciences, physics, computer science and robotics who wish to understand how simple components can result in complex and useful behaviours and who wish explore the potential of guided pattern formation themselves.

Powerful computers now enable scientists to model the physical and chemical properties and behavior of complex materials using first principles. This book introduces dramatically new computational techniques in materials research, specifically for understanding molecular dynamics.

Computational Materials Engineering is an advanced introduction to the computer-aided modeling of essential material properties and behavior, including the physical, thermal and chemical parameters, as well as the mathematical tools used to perform simulations. Its emphasis will be on crystalline materials, which includes all metals. The basis of Computational Materials Engineering allows scientists and engineers to create virtual simulations of material behavior and properties, to better understand how a particular material works and performs and then use that knowledge to design improvements for particular material applications. The text displays knowledge of software designers, materials scientists and engineers, and those involved in materials applications like mechanical engineers, civil engineers, electrical engineers, and chemical engineers. Readers from students to practicing engineers to materials research scientists will find in this book a single source of the major elements that make up contemporary computer modeling of materials characteristics and behavior. The reader will gain an understanding of the underlying statistical and analytical tools that are the basis for modeling complex material interactions, including an understanding of computational thermodynamics and molecular kinetics; as well as various modeling systems. Finally, the book will offer the reader a variety of algorithms to use in solving typical modeling problems so that the theory presented herein can be put to real-world use. - Balanced coverage of fundamentals of materials modeling, as well as more advanced aspects of modeling, such as modeling at all scales from the atomic to the molecular to the macro-material - Concise, yet rigorous mathematical coverage of such analytical tools as the Potts type Monte Carlo method, cellular automata, phase field, dislocation dynamics and Finite Element Analysis in statistical and analytical modeling

Paradigms in Computing: Making, Machines, and Models for Design Agency in Architecture brings together critical, theoretical, and practical research and design that illustrates the plurality of computing approaches within the broad spectrum of design and mediated practices. It is an interrogation of our primary field of architecture through the lens of computing, and yet one that realizes a productive expanding of our métier’s definition and boundaries. It is a compilation that purposefully promotes architecture’s disciplinary reach and incorporations beyond the design and construction of buildings and cities. The book offers a glimpse into the wide range of positions and experiences that are shaping practice and discourse today. The work included in Paradigms in Computing is evidence that models for enquiry are many and proliferating. As digitalization and computation continue to infuse our processes with new tools and new design environments, some of the trends collected in this book will continue to be central to the production and speculation of architecture, and others will, in retrospect, be recognized as the seeds of new, or perhaps multiple, paradigms. Included are essays and projects, from; Alisa Andrasek, Rachel Armstrong, Philip Beesley, Tom Bessai, Shajay Bhooshan, Brad Cantrel, Matias Del Campo, Pablo Eiroa, Marc Fornes, David Jason Gerber, Maria Paz Gutierrez, Alvin Huang, Jason Kelly Johnson, Simon Kim, Neil Leach, Greg Lynn, Elena and Anna Maria Manferdini, Alex McDowell, Phillippe Morel, Nick Puckett, Casey Reas, Alex Robinson, Jenny Sabin, Jose Sanchez, Patrik Schumacher, Kyle Steinfeld, Satoru Sugihara, Orkan Telhan, Kathy Velikov and Geoffrey Thun, Tom Verebes, Leire Asensio Villoria and David Mah, Jenny Wu, Eric Howeler and Meejin Yoon, and Zaha Hadid Architects.

Material Synthesis: Fusing the Physical and the Computational Guest-edited by Achim Menges A new understanding of the material in architecture is fast emerging. Designers are no longer conceiving of the digital realm as separate from the physical world. Instead computation is being regarded as the key interface for material exploration and vice versa. This represents a significant perceptual shift in which the materiality of architecture is no longer seen to be a fixed property and passive receptor of form, but is transformed into an active generator of design and an adaptive agent of architectural performance. In stark contrast to previous linear and mechanistic modes of fabrication and construction, materialisation is now beginning to coexist with design as explorative robotic processes. This represents a radical departure from both the trite modernist emphasis on 'truth to materials' and the dismissal of materials by the previous generation of digital architects. The issue features designers, researchers and thinkers that are at the forefront of exploring new modes of material enquiry and its deep interrelationship with technology, biology and culture. Through their work, which unfolds from multifaceted alliances between the fields of design, engineering and natural sciences, it seeks to trace the emergence of a novel material culture in architecture. Architectural and engineering contributors include: Sean Ahlquist, Martin Bechthold, Philippe Block, Karola Dierichs, Jan Knippers, Achim Menges, Neri Oxman, Steffen Reichert and Tobias Schwinn. Scientific and philosophical perspectives provided by: Mario Carpo, Manuel De Landa, Neil Gershenfeld and Thomas Speck. Features the design research of: Harvard's Material Processes and Systems Group, MIT's Mediated Matter Group and Stuttgart University's Institute for Computational Design.

The essential reader on fabrication in architecture for practitioners and producers alike An original and informative reader on the subject of translating architectural ideas from conceptual propositions to physical manifestations, Manufacturing the Bespoke is an essential resource for students and practitioners of architecture, as well as producers and suppliers of architectural products. At a time where roles, methods and capabilities within the disciplines of building production are in unprecedented flux, this book: Provides a unique and highly current treatment on the subject of fabrication in architecture with its emphasis on contemporary technology, cultural history and theory A key source book for students and professionals engaged in manufacturing/fabrication projects Includes extended articles by internationally renowned critics, theorists, educators and designers, such as Mathias Kohler, Nevi Oxman, and Michael Stacey Articles will examine and refer to key portfolios of the 20th and 21st Century including works by Pierre Charreau, Peter Salter and Rural Studio Featuring essays from pioneering architects, engineers, academics and designers from around the world on both existing and yet-to-be-built projects, the book covers architecture across the ages.