Aggregate architecture: Simulation models for synthetic non-convex granulates

Abstract

Aggregate Architectures challenge the common notion of architectural structures as being immutable, permanent and controllable. Aggregate Architectures are understood as material systems consisting of large masses of granules—designed or natural—interacting with each other only through loose, frictional contact. As a consequence, they take the realm of structural stability and architectural planning into entire re-configurability and into merely probable predictions of their prospective behavior. This renders them relevant within the paradigm of Adaptive Architecture. The challenge to the designer is to move away from thinking in terms of clearly defined local and global assembly systems and to acquire tools and modes of design that allow for observation and interaction with the evolving granular architectures. In this context, the focus of the presented research project is on the relevance of mathematically based simulations as tools of investigation and design. The paper introduces the field of Aggregate Architectures. Consequently experimental and simulation methods for granulates will be outlined and compared. Different modeling and collision-detection methods for non-convex particles are shown and applied in benchmarking simulations for a full-scale architectural prototype. The potential for micro-mechanical simulation analysis within architectural applications are demonstrated and further areas of research outlined.