The Growing Trend AEC industry
Digital Transformation
As the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry players continue to embrace technology as part of their digital transformation efforts, a number of trends have appeared in the industry: distributed data, linked data and digital collaboration. These trends are being applied by Cloudalize customers to optimise their processes leading to successful outcomes for their clients.
A growing trend in the AEC industry is Generative Design. Generative Design is a method of exploring different design alternatives for a product or a building by loading goals into specialised software such as the performance requirements, preferred raw material and manufacturing methods.
Generative Design for Architecture
One of the key goals in developing new working spaces is creating collaborative spaces. An example of such is the MeetDistrict Ghent, where Cloudalize is based. It has collaborative spaces which encourage interaction between different profiles and a broad talent base of people. Traditionally these spaces were never considered – or if they were – they were ill-designed and became spaces of high-volume congestion at peak periods of the day.
However, with the power of generative design software, architects can go through multiple feedback loops of design for such collaborative spaces which test the designs at each iteration. The software can do things which humans can only dream about. Thousands of design options can be reformulated and tested in a week giving the architect the power to select the best design on subjective factors.
Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg
One recent example of where Generative Design successfully was applied is the world famous Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, Germany. It is a concert call in the HafenCity quarter of Germany’s second-largest city. It sits on top of an old warehouse and was designed by architecture firm Herzog & De Meuron.
Generative Design was used in its design to acoustical optimise the interior to generate a unique shape for each acoustic panel which line the auditorium’s walls. Herzog & De Meuron worked with world-famous acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota to perfect the design to generate unrivalled sound quality for the 21st century.
Listen for yourself: Cleveland Orchestra, Ohio rehearsing Mahler’s 6th Symphony. (YouTube)
Generative Design on the Cloud
Generative-design software such as the ones developed by Autodesk are resource-heavy and cannot run legacy-hardware. However, it is possible on Cloudalize’s platform. Cloudalize’s GPU-powered Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution has the required processing power and resources needed to run generative-design software.
With the power of Cloudalize, you can explore the large number of possibilities which thanks to Generative Design for your architects to generate solutions, test new permutations to successfully build the future.
Editorial Note
Title Image: Mark Henckel, (2018), Elbphilharmonie Großer Saal [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/blogchef/26028962007/in/photostream/ [Accessed 12 August 2019].
Author: Koenraad Willems