Performative design essay for a pavilion

Abstract

This paper discusses the digital process in architectural design. It reflects on the collaboration of generative modeling tools, integrated with performance analysis, to construct information in the design process. The work approaches a design experiment, carried out by the Research Group Grupo SCP - Contemporary Design Systems (www.gruposcp.org)dedicated to the development of a multi-purpose pavilion for public use, inserted in an urban void of the city of Vila Velha, in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The research sought to explore the methodological possibilities of generative and performative design to establish digital dialogues between the formal conception and the pre-existing information in context—social, cultural, environmental—through explicit and integrated processes. The method includes the use of computer programs and plugins as Revit Architecture for environment modeling; Rhinoceros and Grasshopper for generative modeling; the DIVA for Grasshopper plug-in and Kangaroo for design-integrated performance analysis; and the Galapagos plug-in to applying evolutionary algorithms in the formation process. The method enabled the optimization of a form according to local conditions and performance variables, automation of processes and reducing design time. The project mediated by the digital programs collaborated with processes of knowing-in-action and reflection-in-action, in which explicit knowledge, obtained in the act of doing, feeds back into the process, allowing testing, analysis and adjustment in the act of conception.