Unique Components for Unique Buildings: Combining Parametric Design Tools with BIM and Industrialized Construction

Not so long ago, we believed that we could design anything, but not necessarily build it. It is said that no contractor was willing to take on the challenge of constructing the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (Luscombe, 2023), designed by the American-Canadian architect Frank O. Gehry in 1991. The building features an innovative, yet seemingly random, structure—composed of several organic, undulating volumes—which aligns with Kas Oosterhuis’s distinction that Gehry’s architecture is complicated, rather than complex (Oosterhuis, 2011). Gehry's office sent detailed drawings, with mathematically precise geometric shapes, to multiple contractors, but the contractors' calculations failed to make two walls meet. To make a long story short, Gehry solved the problem using CATIA, a CAD program utilized by the French company Dassault for aircraft design. Based on CATIA, Gehry's office developed their own CAD software, Digital Project. With the help of Digital Project, the concert hall's undulating shapes could be converted into buildable, prefabricated elements.

This is not to say that complex forms—shapes that today are referred to as parametric design—have not been drawn or built prior to CAD tools. One need only look at the Musmeci Bridge from 1967, a cast-in-place concrete bridge designed and engineered by the Italian architect Sergio Musmeci, or the 1972 Munich Olympic Stadium, designed by the German architect Frei Otto. Interestingly, both found inspiration in so-called membrane structures. Sergio Musmeci arrived at his undulating forms by experimenting with stretched rubber membranes (La Ricerca della Forma, 2014). Meanwhile, the intricate, wave-like glass canopy roof of the Munich Olympic Stadium demonstrates a clear mastery of tensile and tent-like structures. Both are perfect examples of forms driven entirely by structural logic and the laws of physics, and thus represent true architectural complexity.

CAD tools have given rise to both new design languages and innovative technical solutions and production methods. CAD has been utilized both to discover and generate form (form-finding) and to streamline construction and design processes. Unfortunately, it has also led to a plethora of banal examples of poorly designed buildings and urban environments. Therefore, it is essential to remain humble before both the tools and the role of the architect—which cannot be reduced to mere representation or a search for sensationalist effects. Therefore, we must distinguish between 'cosmetic touch-ups' and 'fundamental transformation.

Parametric design, through visual programming, leverages the computational power of computers, which is far superior to that of humans. However, visual programming is merely a tool within a design process and can never replace human creativity and strategic decision-making. As mentioned initially, there are many poor examples of parametrically designed buildings, and my conclusion is that parametric design can never compensate for a weak design concept or the absence of overarching design principles.

Adjacent to Gehry's design is The Broad, a museum designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (completed 2015). The Broad is the result of a brilliant architectural concept, where the 'vault' (representing the museum's storage facilities) is nested within the 'veil'—the building’s outer skin that covers exhibition spaces. Unlike Walt Disney Concert Hall, the design of The Broad is driven by structural logic and the control of natural light. Yet, The Broad is not lacking in the sculptural effects characteristic of Gehry’s architecture. Its 'veil and vault' concept deeply shapes the visitor experience; a monolithic, sculptural vault encloses the valuable storage, allowing visitors through its dark mass before releasing them into the sunlit gallery beneath the porous veil. The veil consists of 2,500 unique, mass-customized panels, cast in fiberglass-reinforced concrete. Rather than being flat, the panels feature a distinct depth with glass surfaces that always face north or the sky. Because daylight entering from above and from the north eliminates harsh shadows, the veil creates the optimal lighting conditions essential for exhibition spaces.

By leveraging parametric tools, architects can unlock the potential of 'mass customization.' This means that a robotic arm in a factory can manufacture 100 unique, tailored wall segments just as quickly and cost-effectively as it used to produce 100 identical ones, simply because it is driven directly by a parametric CAD script. Ultimately, this approach bridges the gap between complex architectural expression and efficient, industrialized prefabrication.