The world of design and architecture is a problem as well as a solution in itself. With the advent of technology, we witness automation on a large scale. Parametric design is one of these technologies which makes our lives convenient to live. Parametric Design is a process based on algorithmic thinking that enables the expression of parameters and rules that, together, encode and clarify the relationship between design intent and design response. Moreover, it can generate any design curvilinear or straight line, big or small. Accordingly, it is a paradigm in the design of complex geometries and structures. Architectural designs are increasing tremendously around the world in the past twenty years. Parametric design is shapes and forms that have a curving nature, often indistinguishable to parabola or any other flowing forms in the shape of arcs.
It aids in developing efficient, optimum, and feasible outputs for design problems in minutes. This has made the life of every human much convenient. The term ‘parameter’ is an essential term to the parametric design approach. Parameter – ‘A variable that can be varied or transposed. Any equation that is expressed in terms of parameters is known as Parametric Equation’.
Also, parametric design is the fundamental base of algorithms that make something change as well as tell something that happens. It is the way of encoding knowledge and intent into the design plans that generate more adaptable, reliable, cheaper, and diverse designs. It does not only imparts aesthetical pleasing geometry but is very operative for getting requisite and efficient solutions for simple challenges as maximizing floor areas, minimizing heat gains, and so on.
1. The appearance of Parametric Term
The term parametric formulates in mathematics but there is a debate that when designers originally began using this word. Furthermore, parametric modeling systems are fractionated into two main categories:
- Propagation-based systems where one computes from known to unknowns with a dataflow model.
- Constraint systems solve sets of ceaseless and discrete constraints.
Designers always use parameters in generating every design. For example: In designing a residence for a client, we have to take several parameters into accounts such as client behavior and requests, climate, budget, and materials to be used. These parameters define a framework for the process of designing. It helps us to choose a design from a wide range of solutions.
It can prove somehow difficult to understand the real meaning or definition of parametric design. But, you can gather it through some examples. The following example will help you to understand the term better:
2. The Nubo Light
For instance, Nubo Japanese Tapas offers a modern take on accustomed cuisines from around the world. Computerized algorithms designed these custom lightings to generate random stylized forms. A computer program, called Rhino, fine-tuned these designs. The software allows generating different geometric forms by adjusting parameters.
Parametric forms decode structural and form-related architectural problems since time immemorial.
3. What is the Influence of Parametric Principles on Designs?
The parametric design clinches that the system provides unique designs and a perfect solution to a problem that has been imputed in the system. It provides a varied medley of outputs depending upon the inputs given to it. Hence, it does not provide standardized versions of plans and forms. One of the main drawbacks of this method is the aspect of non-quantifiable elements that have to be considered in most successful designs.
Parametric design generation can bridge the gap between design and perfect output. Of course, design is a universal language and architecture is becoming a global phenomenon at a fast rate. You have heard from many people daily, appreciation of art and architecture more and more. Moreover, it is an automated machine that may think of hundreds of solutions in mere seconds that may not occur in the human mind. It helps the designer to search for a varied variety and several possible outcomes in a shorter period.
Now the term “Parametric Designs” would be clear to you with the concept.
Here is one of the most beautiful examples related to this architectural design that shows that parametric design existed before our digital times too.
Take the work of Antoni Gaudi, he was a Spanish architect whose work is famously found throughout Barcelona. Identically, he was the one who used parametric techniques for the first, at the end of the 19th century. To design the church of Sagrada Familia, Gaudi designed an upside-down model by making use of strings, weighted down by birdshot. A mirror was placed below the model that shows how the chapel will look right side up. This still has all the fragments of a parametric model:
- A set of parameters or inputs: Length of the string, anchor point location, and birdshot weight.
- The various vertex locations of points on the strings.
- Mathematical functions derived the outcomes: Gravity! Newton’s Law of Motion. The force of gravity acted on the strings to create the shape, which grasps away the need for Gaudi to do the math to produce the model.
By modifying individual parameters of these models Gaudi could generate different versions of his model while being certain the resulting structure would stand in pure compression.
Sketchpad: When Gaudi used physical laws to speed up his calculation of parametric equations, Ivan Sutherland looked to the processing power of digital computers. He created an interactive computer-aided design program called Sketchpad. Using a light pen, users could draw lines and arcs that can be affiliated to each other using constraints. These constraints contained all the essential properties o the parametric equation.
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