Façade Optimisation Using a Point Equilibrium Methodology

Modern, organic shaped, building façades are often created by joining together hundreds of flat panels, resulting in high production complexity. To reduce cost it is important to design the façade using the fewest possible unique panels. Each unique panel increases design and production times so using many repeated panels enables batch production, lowering cost. To optimise the panel layout with the fewest unique panels a ‘point equilibrium’ algorithm has been developed to position the corners of the panels (nodes) on a parametric surface. In the developed theory a set of hypothetical, electrically charged particles is randomly placed upon the façade surface and allowed to repel each other. They eventually settle into an equilibrium position, with similar distances between adjacent nodes and hence produce a large number of similar triangles. An example of a façade demonstrating the practicability of this technique for constructing panel layouts is given.