#algorithmic design

New Delft Blue archways wrapped in 3,000 unique 3D-printed ceramics tiles

Architecture practice Studio RAP has combined algorithmic design and 3D printing to create a pair of archways informed by Delft Blue porcelain at the PoortMeesters housing in the Netherlands.

Named New Delft Blue, the archways were designed to frame entrances to a courtyard garden at the centre of the housing development in Delft designed by The Hague-based VY Architects.

They were constructed using 3,000 unique tiles that were 3D-printed and arranged in a pattern determined by an algorithm created by Studio RAP.

Rainbow Room, Solid Void, Graham Foundation, Chicago, USA, 2008 - Cecil Balmond

Algorithmic Design, System Thinking

I’m always looking for more practical uses for the techniques I talk about here. Not that there’s anything wrong with using them for games, but I want to broaden my horizons beyond that (and maybe bring you along for the ride).

So when I came across these articles by Jer Thorp, a software artist, they immediately caught my attention: here’s a practical, sobering use of generative design. Jer used an iterative, algorithmic process to design the layout for the names on the 9/11 memorial in NYC.

If you’ve ever been involved in designing a memorial or a tomb you might have some insight into the weight of the responsibility. This is how we record our memories of those we’ve lost. Getting it right means a lot to the people who are still here.

There were numerous constraints on the design process: from requests from the families to the shape of the type used on the memorial. Solving them by hand would have been impossible, so a set of tools was developed that modeled the problem as a complete system and let the designers adjust the parameters until they found a design that satisfied all of the constraints--including the artistic constraints that the humans were better at designing than the machine.

In addition to the practical design use, I want to highlight the role that the constraints played: Jer contends that by considering more of the constraints and thinking of the entire system they were able to achieve a better result.

My earrings are featured in Moveux Magazine.

You may buy them here.