Complex geometries involve very large parameter sets that are impossible to control by direct manipulation. With complex buildings the approach is to develop control mechanism that can be driven by law curves, which control “rate of change” and can be geometric as a graphs or algebraic as functions.
Digital performance tests are carried out in collaboration with external consultants. This involves many different software applications and operating systems, but more importantly each requires a different simplified representation of the model as the input to their analysis routines:
- Structural analysis requires central lines;
- Thermal analysis requires volumes;
- Acoustic analysis requires simple planes;
- Daylight analysis requires meshes.
The more complex and detailed the model, the more difficult it is to decompose to an appropriate level of simplification. Because of the cost of simplifying or rebuilding models, consultants prefer to engineer a design only when the configuration has become stable. However, when the model is generative, it becomes easier to produce multiple representations, which remain associative to the conceptual framework.