Talk by Thomas Wortmann on
Computation in Architecture
Time: Wednesday 17 November 2021, 11:00 am, online.
In this talk Thomas presented projects from the pioneering computational design practice NOX/Lars Spuybroek, as well as the Future of Us pavilion in Singapore, a 40-meter span gridshell with almost 10.000 individual, digitally designed and fabricated panels. He will present results from research on simulation-based, single- and multi-objective optimization, including the machine-learning-based algorithm RBFOpt and its multi-objective extension, RBFMOpt, as well as an interactive tool to visualize (single-objective) optimization results, the performance explorer. Thomas also will share ongoing research on machine learning for computational fluid dynamics and self-shaping timber, as well as ontologies for conceptual architectural design processes of robotically fabricated timber structures.
Thomas Wortmann is a tenure-track professor at the University of Stuttgart and chair of Computing in Architecture at the Institute of Computational Design and Construction ICD). He holds a Master in Architectural Design from the University of Kassel, a Master of Science in Design and Computation from MIT, and a PhD in Architecture and Sustainable Design from Singapore University of Technology and Design. Before joining ICD, Thomas taught at the National University of Singapore and held a position at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou, China. He researches the use of computational methods such as optimization, multi-variate visualization and machine learning in architectural design processes and leads the development of Opossum, a machine-learning based optimization tool that has been downloaded over 7.000 times.