Applications of CAD/CAM technology to avant-garde structural engineering

Abstract

Over the last decade improvements in design technology has taken grand steps in changing the way we build the structures of tomorrow. Conventional drafting software like AutoCAD and Microstation are being challenged by tools that go beyond the two dimensional representational abilities of paper documentation and replacing it with complex three dimensional virtual construction files that are more comprehensible and offer more flexibility with respect to design and also in terms of inter-professional communication. My interest's lie in the new dialectic emerging between architects and fabricators, who ironically sit at opposite ends of the construction spectrum yet are now collaborating with the help of modern-day software. I envision these new tools as being pivotal in both reassigning the roles of design and creating a more seamless construction process. It is this modified construction process that I intend to explore through this thesis.