Algorithms help architects
Text: Tuovi Similä
Photos: Herman, 3D photo: University of Oulu
Algorithms − a familiar concept in mathematics − are also useful in architecture. At the algorithm seminar and exhibition organised by Finnish architecture students, the exhibition structures manufactured from UPM's birch plywood were designed using an algorithm.
An algorithm is a precisely defined finite sequence of instructions for solving a given problem step by step. Nowadays, the concept is associated primarily with computer programming and data processing science.
"In algorithmic architecture, sets of instructions or scripts are commands written in text format which can be used to generate new, unexpected outcomes as they have the ability to evaluate, process and build on the given commands," explains Aulikki Herneoja, architect and D.Sc. (Tech.). She headed the project group which organised the exhibition and seminar held in the autumn of 2009.
The plywood exhibition
structure designed using
an algorithm was 2.7 metres high, 2.5 metres wide and
8 metres long.
According to Herneoja, globally operating architectural and engineering offices use algorithmic architecture scripting in at least part of the design process. Algorithm-based architecture has been taken forward through experimentation in the world's leading schools of architecture.
"As the interest and proficiency of younger students increase, the algorithmic method of working will become the new topic of interest in practice work and, in the future, a practical tool in working life," Herneoja believes.
A specific aim of the exhibition GENERATE − From Algorithm to Structure was to demonstrate the algorithmic design process.
The exhibition structures were designed using an algorithm as well. The cavernous CNC-machined exhibition structure made of plywood was laminated a glossy white on the outside and black on the inside. The approximately eight-metre-long structure consisted of 23 interlocked plywood rings, which were formed from two basic shapes. The algorithmic design process was demonstrated inside the structure using eight screens and media players.
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