Authors
R. Oval, M. Rippmann, R. Mesnil, T. Van Mele, O. Baverel, P. Block
Abstract
This paper introduces topology finding of patterns such as beam grids for gridshells or voussoir tessellations for masonry vaults, among others. The authors refer to topology finding, by analogy and in complement to form finding, as the design of the connectivity of patterns in order to follow architectural, structural and construction requirements. This paper presents an automated generation and a rule-based exploration for coarse quad meshes that encode the data about the singularities and their relationships in the pattern. The automated generation relies on the medial axis of an input shape, and the rule-based exploration on a quad mesh grammar. These coarse quad meshes are further computed for the design of structured patterns integrating the boundary and features of the input shape. This design framework is an aid for topological exploration of patterns for shell-like structures by architects and engineers.
