A Generative Approach in Digital Architecture Based on Topological Design

Abstract

Thanks to the significant changes experienced in architecture at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, numerical algorithms and computational models entered the field of design and a new horizon opened for architects. This new world of architecture not only transformed the design process but also led to the discovery of new methods for design production. In contemporary architectural design, digital media has been increasingly used not as a representational tool for visualization, but as a generative tool for derivation and transformation of form. Approaches of computational and digital architectures to the design problem can be described as deductive and inductive. In the first, a transformation is applied to an object whose result is known. In the second, it is possible to reach the unknown from the data in order to obtain a certain result. Digital modeling software offers a rich repertoire of transformations that a designer can use to further explore the formal potential of an already designed geometry. The end product is topologically the same as the form before deformation. The concept of topology has an important potential for the formation and transformation of form in architecture. The aim of this study is making conceptual analysis of topological design included in the recent design parameters and discussing its place in contemporary and future architecture through architectural examples. In this context, firstly a literature study was conducted, the examples of topological design processes reflected in today's architectural discipline were examined and the results were evaluated.