Salukitecture: Parametric Design

By: Kristina Shrestha

The world of architecture has gone through many years of eras, which starts from the Neolithic architecture after 10,000 BC, Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Egyptian Architecture, Greek Architecture, Roman Architecture to the modern architecture. Nature has been the source of inspiration for artists and architects all around the world. There are many examples of building which has been inspired by nature. Many intricate designs of the buildings are inspired from nature. With the introduction of modern technology there are endless opportunities for the design of the buildings. The buildings which were considered to be impossible to design as well as build has been possible with the help of new technology.

The building like Guggenheim Museum at Bilbao by Architect Frank O’ Gehry has been one of the significant building which was considered to be very different than the buildings that were designed in that era. It was the building which was very different but at the same time it grabbed the attention of public. People were bored with the modern and postmodern building they were looking for something different and parametric design was the answer. The Parametric design is a process of designing buildings which are generated by computer programs with the help of different constrains which are created by algorithms. The algorithms can be changed and repeated to create unique designs. These designs has been used in various degrees like creating façade pattern of the building to designing the whole building. For example: In British Museum, we can see the use of parametric design in the great court which was designed by Sir Norman Foster. Parametric designs were used by Architect Zaha Hadid for many of her projects like Heydar Aliyev Center in Azerbaijan, Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi, Bergiselschanze in Austria, Dubai Opera in UAE, to name a few.

The use of parametric design can be found during 1960 with the “Endless House” by Frederick Kiesler. Neil Leach and Patrick Schumacher are the forerunner in the field of parametric design.Parametric design defies the traditional architecture of designing columns, slabs and wall to form the building. It is a stable form in itself. Nature has been the creator of complex forms and we were able to use it for architecture to some extent but parametric design helps to open many opportunities which were not possible before. Parametric design, with the help of three dimensional printing provides endless possibilities to the design of building.