Detail control strategies for topology optimization in architectural design and development

Abstract

With the ability to generate forms with high efficiency and elegant geometry, topology optimization has been increasingly used in architectural and structural designs. However, the conventional topology optimization techniques aim at achieving the structurally most efficient solution without any potential for architects or designers to control the design details. This paper introduces three strategies based on Bi-directional Evolutionary Structural Optimization (BESO) method to artificially pre-design the topological optimized structures. These strategies have been successfully applied in the computational morphogenesis of various structures for solving practical design problems. The results demonstrate that the developed methodology can provide the designer with structurally efficient and topologically different solutions according to their proposed designs with multi-filter radii, multi-volume fractions, and multi-weighting coefficients. This work establishes a general approach to integrating objective topology optimization methods with subjective human design preferences, which has great potential for practical applications in architecture and engineering industry.

Keywords

• Bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO)
• Topology optimization
• Detail control
• Diverse design
• Architectural form-finding