Inside Smartgeometry

Smartgeometry (SG) is a key influence on the architecturalcommunity who explore creative computational methods for the designof buildings. An informal international network of practitionersand researchers, the group meets annually to experiment with newtechnologies and collaborate to develop digital designtechniques. When SG was founded in 2001 by London-based architects andfriends Hugh Whitehead (Foster + Partners), J Parrish (AECOM) andLars Hesselgren (PLP), there was little in the way of parametrictools for architecture. SG was founded to encourage thedevelopment, discussion and experimentation of digital designtechniques driven by design intent rather than on constructionspecifications. SG calls for a re-consideration of the designprocess, where the creation of computational mechanisms become anintegral part of designing - not a task done prior to orseparate from the process. In the early years of the workshops thisneed for new ways of design thinking led to the development ofBentley´s GenerativeComponents software. In recent years, theecology of these design environments has diversified to includemultiple software platforms, as well as innovative fabricationtechniques and interactive environments. SG has grown accordinglyfrom a handful of experts to an international network of designerswho are defining the future of design. Founded by digital pioneers,it creates the algorithmic designers of the future. Inside Smartgeometry can be seen as a retroactivemanifesto for SG, examining and contextualising the work of the SGcommunity: the digital spaces, prototypes and buildings designedusing bespoke tools created in response to architectural ideas.From interactive crowd-sourcing tools to responsive agent-basedsystems to complex digitally fabricated structures, it exploresmore than a decade of advances that have been influential forarchitecture. Through 23 original texts including reflectionsby the founders, and key contributors such as Robert Aish, MartinBechthold, Mark Burry, Chris Williams and Robert Woodbury, the bookoffers a critical state of the art of computational design forarchitecture. Many international design and engineering firms haveparticipated in SG and the book includes chapters by practitionersfrom offices such as CASE, Design2Production, Foster + Partners,Grimshaw, Populous and SOM.