Conceptual Design Tool for Concrete Shell Structures

This paper focuses on conceptual tools for concrete shell structures when working within the span of performance-based design and computational morphogenesis. The designer, referred to as the Architect-Engineer, works through several iterations parallel with aesthetic, functional and technical requirements in the three phases of the design process; sketching, evaluation and modification. The engineering analysis is not a time consuming process, as they are at a conceptual level corresponding to the design stage. By this approach the aesthetic, functional and technical requirement are developed together through a process of several iterations that includes sketching, evaluation and modification. Based on this procedure a design model is proposed as a generative design model relating the engineering profession and architectural profession as a design model for conceptual architectural design.