“Designing with AI: How Digital Fabrication Could Be The Breakthrough Generative Design Workflows Need for Widespread Adoption”

Abstract

It is clear that shifts towards automation and emerging technologies research have produced a new way of looking at the possibilities afforded by an integration of these tools into current day workflows and design concepts across architecture firms in the United States and beyond. Despite solving challenges such as time constraints, budget, and consolidating multiple moving parts, generative design still faces challenges of adoption and practical integration in the post-design workflow due to its steep learning curve and need for often expensive specialized materials. Emerging technology developers and additive manufacturing professionals believe that despite generative design’s ability to work with highly specific performance requirements and design needs, what it lacks fundamentally is working around novel material needs and fabrication, both of which if addressed could put generative design on track to being a legitimate workflow solution. The integration of additive manufacturing and robotic fabrication for automated precision can address complex geometries and novel materials, allowing for the generative design to be more likely to be adopted as a viable streamlined workflow. It is imperative to place the concept of additive manufacturing and robotic fabrication into the generative design paradigm given the current context of changing shifts towards multidisciplinary design environments. The increasing intersection of the roles within the AEC industry gives an opportunity for the discussion of the role of generative design workflow integration in a world transitioning towards a collective workflow structure.