SRC and Generative Design

By Peter Monaghan

SRC have specified generative design as an innovation deliverable in their new Higher Education and Innovation Centre at Newry. The Scope of Works for the design team includes an innovation clause that specifies the use of generative design to optimise the concept design for the project.

The generative design process will run alongside the main design process to compare the benefits of the former. Both the optimised solution and the final proposed solution will be assessed to see if the generative design might yield benefits in a live commercial project.

The innovation clauses do not require the successful design team to have any knowledge of generative design. This ensures the tender process is not restrictive and remains competitive. A defined amount of design team time has also been specified in relation to the generative design process to ensure all tenderers can price the process on an equal basis.

Under the contract, SRC will deliver a series of workshops to brief the design team on generative design. The workshops will introduce the Architects, energy consultants and cost consultants to the software, which in this case will be Revit, Dynamo and Autodesk’s generative design tool.

There are three key inputs from the design team. The first key input will be confirming their proposed design concept as a solution to the SRC’s schedule of accommodation requirements. The design concept will then be programmed into Dynamo by SRC using pre-determined input variables.

The second key input from the design team will be confirming elemental costs based on local market conditions. The generative design outputs will be determined by the same elemental costs as the concept design, cost report at the end of RIBA Stage 2. The final key input from the design team will be confirmation of their feedback on the results and the process. This will include the Architect, the cost consultant, and the energy assessor.

The variable inputs for the Dynamo script will be building location, building depth, number of floors and percentage glazing. The concept will be broken down into simple forms which can vary using these inputs. Proof of concepts carried out by SRC to date included a ‘T’ shaped building initially, but the current Dynamo programming anticipates a building with an atrium linking the new building to the existing campus building.

The anticipated atrium concept design has potentially 177,147 solutions to be analysed using splatter charts and spider diagrams. Not all solutions will need to be generated but determining an effective process will be as important as determining an optimised design solution.

SRC have carefully prepared their schedule of accommodation to include a space adjacency matrix. It also identifies any spaces that have mandatory floor levels. Both these parameters will inform the generative design process to ensure the final design solution can meet SRC’s space requirements.

The outputs being optimised are cost, heating demand and visual impact.

The cost output is being calculated using the elemental cost method in the New Rules of Measurement 2 (NRM2). The rules within this standard have informed the Python programming in Dynamo.

The heating demand is being calculated using Passive House calculations. U-Values will initially be fixed by agreement with the design team based on BREEAM Excellent and the latest Building Regulations. Once an optimised design solution has been determined, the U-values will become a variable input.

The visual impact output has deliberately been included to challenge both SRC and the design team to see if something that is subjectively unmeasurable can be measured. It is also a key aspect of the design brief as the building will further establish SRC’s presence within the City of Newry.

The final deliverable for the design team and SRC is a collaborative report which will share the lessons learned with the industry and which will provide feedback regarding any potential benefits the generative design process could have at concept design stage.