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structural performance

System-level design of low-carbon structures

System-level design of low-carbon structures — “What is more likely to be associated with a reduction in emissions: switching from concrete to timber, or shortening the spans throughout the building?” While such insights are valuable for mitigating emissions from structural systems

Trans-typology design space exploration using gradients

Trans-typology design space exploration using gradients — Does a timber beam or a steel truss result in a lighter structure? Between shortening the span and decreasing the load demand, which results in a more efficient structure? Structural designers pursuing high-performance design must

Quantifying the influence of continuous and discrete design decisions using sensitivities

Quantifying the influence of continuous and discrete design decisions using sensitivities — Early-stage design decisions have a large impact on the performance of buildings. Especially the case of mixed (continuous and discrete) design variables can complicate human and computer understandings of how individual choices contribute to performance,

The Chair Laboratory: A case study on structural reuse

The Chair Laboratory: A case study on structural reuse — “As consumers, we practice reuse in everyday life, often as a means of wasting less. When it comes to buildings, the environmental and economic stakes are much higher, and yet reuse is rare at the

Strategies to reduce embodied carbon in early-stage structural design

Strategies to reduce embodied carbon in early-stage structural design — While many strategies have been identified and proposed for reducing embodied carbon in early-stage structural design, they are rarely synthesized to discuss their relative effectiveness and compatibility. Discussing the strategies together rather than individually is

Flow-informed topology design

Flow-informed topology design — An alternate geometric method to facilitate designing with “force flow”. Principles and precedents in efficient structural design demonstrate the advantage of designing topologies that align well with an underlying vector field, such as principal stress

Mechanical behavior of timber joinery

Mechanical behavior of timber joinery — Conventional connections for timber structural systems typically use metallic fasteners rather than all-timber interlocking joinery connections as seen in historic timber construction. What is the potential to re-apply joinery to modern timber construction, given modern

Pluma

Pluma — With a design framework applicable to any site in the world, the Pluma installation envisions a lightweight future where structures generate more energy than they embody. Earned honorable mention at the IASS 2020 Design Competition.

Timber-concrete composite floor systems

Timber-concrete composite floor systems — Vibration analysis models for the timber-concrete composite floor system. More information on the system available at here and at the SOM Timber Tower Research Project. Image by SOM.

Structural systems for the Charenton-Bercy tower

Structural systems for the Charenton-Bercy tower — Early-stage evaluation of several options for structural systems for a skyscraper. Effects on material weight and embodied carbon were studied. More information available at SOM. Image by SOM.

Mass Timber Longhouse

Mass Timber Longhouse — The Longhouse was developed by a cross-disciplinary team in Mass Timber Design, a design workshop in MIT Architecture that explores the future of sustainable buildings at the intersection of architecture and technology. Structural feedback was

Masonry stability

Masonry stability — Discrete element modeling (DEM) is a numerical analysis method only recently applied to assessing the stability of masonry structures, where each masonry element is represented by a discrete element. How do DEM results compare to

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