Machines for living – true performance-based design

Are codified serviceability and stiffness criteria appropriate in a world increasingly focused on reducing material use and embodied carbon? Could new approaches to loading and movement offer ways to meet these goals? Does modern technology create the potential for adaptive designs which actively control deflections? This paper explores ways in which the structural engineering profession could move towards a truly performance-based design approach, drawing on examples from the work of Expedition Engineering and other engineers.