Biodiversity is in a state of global collapse. Among the main drivers of this crisis is habitat degradation that destroys living spaces for animals, birds, and other species. Design and provision of human-made replacements for natural habitat structures can alleviate this situation. Can emerging knowledge in ecology, design, and artificial intelligence (AI) help? Current strategies to resolve this issue include designing objects that reproduce known features of natural forms. For instance, conservation practitioners seek to mimic the function of rapidly disappearing large old trees by augmenting utility poles with perch structures. Other approaches to restoring degraded ecosystems employ computational tools to capture information about natural forms and use such data to monitor remediation activities. At present, human-made replacements of habitat structures cannot reproduce significant features of complex natural forms while supporting efficient construction at large scales. We propose an AI agent that can synthesise simplified but ecologically meaningful representations of 3D forms that we define as visual abstractions. Previous research used AI to synthesise visual abstractions of 2D images. However, current applications of such techniques neither extend to 3D data nor engage with biological conservation or ecocentric design. This article investigates the potential of AI to support the design of artificial habitat structures and expand the scope of computation in this domain from data analysis to design synthesis. Our case study considers possible replacements of natural trees. The application implements a novel AI agent that designs by placing three-dimensional cubes – or voxels – in the digital space. The AI agent autonomously assesses the quality of the resulting visual abstractions by comparing them with three-dimensional representations of natural trees. We evaluate the forms produced by the AI agent by measuring relative complexity and features that are meaningful for arboreal wildlife. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that AI can generate design suggestions that are aligned with the preferences of arboreal wildlife and can support the development of artificial habitat structures. The bio-informed approach presented in this article can be useful in many situations where incomplete knowledge about complex natural forms can constrain the design and performance of human-made artefacts.

This paper presents a comparison between human-defined and AI-generated design spaces through simple optimisation applications.

A design space is a formal expression of a design idea. It is constructed by selecting a set of variables, which limit the search for suitable solutions to a design problem within a specific range of options. Most computational approaches to structural design are based on parametric modelling, which require the definition of a design space, and therefore an analytical formulation of a design idea. In structural optimisation, such approaches tend to limit the search for optimal solutions to a subset of the entire space of design possibilities, and do not necessarily prompt the designer’s creativity.

Recent AI models, such as Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) (Kingma and Welling, 2014), have the potential to overcome some of the limitations described above. VAEs can construct design spaces by extracting implicit design variables from a dataset of design solutions. Such variables result from a learning process and are conditioned exclusively by the characteristics of the dataset, rather than by a human-formalisation of design thoughts.

A VAE has been trained on an artificial dataset of shell structures to construct a design space, which has then been compared with a design space constructed through the explicit definition of design variables. The comparison has been performed by analysing the diversity of the solutions retrieved from both design spaces in two optimisation applications.

The comparison demonstrates that optimisation based on AI-generated design spaces results in a greater diversity of design outputs than the predictable solutions provided by optimisation based on human-defined design spaces. Furthermore, such design outputs respond better to the selected performance criteria.

In several of Frei Otto’s early membrane structures, acoustics was a rather relevant design aspect that could not be controlled through classical form-finding approaches based on physical models. Moreover, it is possible to add that, geometrically speaking, Frei Otto’s membranes could naturally perform acoustically, because of their anticlastic shape and the ability of the convex areas to scatter sound. In this paper, two of Frei Otto’s key projects are revisited and redesigned parametrically using mathematical optimisation: first, the Dance Pavilion that was conceived for the Federal Garden Exhibition in Cologne (1957); and, second, the large umbrellas that were built at the same venue in 1971. His architectural form of “necessity” represents the structural optimum, that is, a buildable technology, which can now be informed by other performance criteria, such as acoustics. The work described in this paper could show a possible way of expanding Frei Otto’s two-step design method, which was based on the sequential use of a form-finding model first – to literally “find” structural form – and then a technological model – to study the tectonic aspects of the structure and endow it with materiality. This paper was inspired by the rock set designs of Mark Fisher and – in particular – by the retractable umbrellas that Frei Otto designed, in 1977, for the second leg of Pink Floyd’s “In the Flesh Tour”, which was also known as the “Animals Tour”.

This paper aims to review Dante Bini’s career, as well as his form-resistant Binishell and other pneumatic construction systems. The role of Mario Salvadori in Bini’s international success works as the introduction to a broader discussion about the relationship between innovation in design and innovation in construction for shell and gridshell designers. The second part of the paper focuses, instead, on Bini’s double profile—architect and builder—which led him to develop his inventions both architecturally and as commercial products.

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Exhibition and catalogue review, Architecture Australia (summary on hardcopy, full review online).

The cultural legacy of Pier Luigi Nervi, one of Italy’s most influential modern architect-engineers, was the subject of the Pier Luigi Nervi and Australia: Outback Modernism Exhibition (6–16 June 2017). Held at the Harry Seidler-designed QV1 Building in Perth, the exhibition demonstrated the breadth and complexity of Nervi’s international projects, his collaborative work with Seidler and his contribution to the wider Australian vernacular. Annette Condello, senior lecturer in architecture at Curtin University, curated and organized the exhibition in collaboration with Cristiana Chiorino from ComunicArch Associates, Turin, and the Pier Luigi Nervi Project Association, Brussels – a foundation committed to the preservation of Nervi’s legacy and the rehabilitation of his structures. A selection of Nervi’s projects were exhibited, including the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, the Cathedral of St Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco and the New Norcia Cathedral and Monastery in rural Western Australia.

Read the full review here.

Timber gridshell structures, such as the Multihalle for the federal garden festival in Mannheim or the Downland Museum, have been the result of a creative–generative process that indissolubly ‘welded’ the structural contribution to that of form exploration. The challenging design and construction issues have been typically addressed and resolved in several inventive ways. However, still now, form-finding and erection of timber gridshells present many difficulties. In this regard, this paper aims to provide a series of novel steps to address some of the main design and construction issues that are associated with ‘actively-bent’ timber gridshell structures. First, the main characteristics of the construction process of timber gridshells are described and the basic theoretical concepts for its numerical simulation, through Dynamic Relaxation method, are introduced. Second, a practical method for sizing the laths' cross-section is presented. Third, a new erection technique for timber gridshells is proposed and applied to the construction of a full scale (prototype) structure, the Toledo gridshell 2.0. Fourth, a new bracing system for the same structure, which was built at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Naples Federico II in June–July 2014, is explained and discussed. The paper also highlights the need for further application to validate the techniques explained here, with particular attention being paid for the construction of large scale free-form structures.

Reciprocal systems based on superimposition joints, i.e. where un-notched bars sits on the top or in the bottom of each other, could be regarded as being intrinsically three-dimensional because of their natural out-of plane development. This paper presents seven of these three-dimensional configurations, conceived and built by the students of the Master of Science in ‘‘Architectural Design’’ at Aalborg University. They have been developed as an integral part of a 2-week workshop, organized and run by the authors during the fall semester 2011. Since physical models are instruments that trigger the exploration of new typologies because of the direct interaction they provide with the designer the students were called to deal with the issue of three-dimensionality in reciprocal systems through scale models and actual scale prototypes.

The concept of transferring forces in a reciprocal way has always been related to the use of timber beams, that is, elongated elements. However, planar components can also be considered; circular tiles, squares, triangles and more articulated or irregular geometrical shapes are all valid alternatives. This report proposes an initial exploration of reciprocal systems based on planar elements in order to guide further morphological studies. It also presents some prototypes, which were developed by the students of the Ecole des Ponts in Paris during two design workshops run in 2012 and 2013.