Designing architectural materials: from granular form to functional granular material

Area of Science:

• Architecture
• Material Science
• Computational Design

Background:

• Designed granular materials offer sustainable and reconfigurable architectural solutions.
• The interrelation between material form and function is key in designed matter.
• Current research lacks a unified model for designing granular materials in architecture.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a parametric particle design model for architectural granular materials.
• To bridge the gap between particle form, function, fabrication, and simulation.
• To establish an interface for the form-function interrelation in designed granular systems.

Main Methods:

• Development of a design system through feasibility tests and simulations.
• Integration of architectural fabrication constraints into the design model.
• Incorporation of geometric requirements for granular material simulation methods.

Main Results:

• A coherent parametric particle design model is established.
• The model accounts for architecture-scale fabrication and simulation needs.
• Feasibility tests and simulations informed the model's development.

Conclusions:

• The proposed model facilitates the calibration of granular material function via particle design.
• It provides a framework for designing sustainable and adaptable architectural materials.
• Future research can integrate this model into inverse design methods.