Experimental Material Systems Design
Simulation Driven Design
Simulation-driven design integrates multidisciplinary data and performance criteria into the early design process, enabling adaptive, resource-conscious architectural solutions through iterative modelling and expanded exploration of form.
Summary
The evolution of design culture has led to more complex, multidisciplinary approaches that rely heavily on data and simulation. Simulation-Driven Design shifts the role of simulation from a tool for verification to a generator of form and performance. By integrating physical, material, and environmental inputs early in the process, designers can explore a wider range of solutions and test their feasibility from the outset. This approach enables more adaptive, efficient, and informed architectural outcomes while reducing traditional project constraints and fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration in a single, dynamic workflow.
The culture of Design has evolved toward a more multifaceted and multidisciplinary practice, one that increasingly relies on data gathering, performance analysis, and physical simulations. In this context, architectural configurations are no longer shaped solely by aesthetic or programmatic decisions—they must now integrate multiple, often conflicting, forces that impact the development of form.
Today, simulation is no longer confined to the final stages of Design as a verification tool. Instead, it plays a proactive role, driving form-making and design speculation from the very beginning.
Simulation-Driven Design creates a unified environment in which multiple disciplines—structural engineering, climate analysis, material science, and construction logic—converge to shape the evolution of a project. It allows designers to:
- Explore a broader solution space
- Evaluate physical and environmental performance early in the process
- Optimise resource use and material selection
- Navigate complex tectonic and fabrication constraints
By integrating simulations from the outset, this approach frees the designer from rigid workflows, enabling a more dynamic, performance-informed, and sustainable design process. It repositions architecture as a discipline capable of responding intelligently to the ecological, structural, and material challenges of the present.
SCIENTIFIC COORDINATOR
SCIENTIFIC COORDINATOR
Samir Al-Azri
