Grasshopper UK User Group Meeting | 5th July 2023
Foster + Partners, Price & Myers, Rhenso (APE), among the presenters at the July 2023 Grasshopper UK UGM.
Simply Rhino at Foster + Partners for the latest Grasshopper User Meeting, with presentations from our hosts, Foster + Partners, and invited guests Price & Myers, plus Rhenso presenting Adaptive Parts Environment (APE).
- Date: Wednesday 5th July 2023
- Time: 18:30-20:30
- Location: Foster + Partners, Riverside, 22 Hester Road, London, SW11 4AN
- Book your place: Places are free but must be pre-booked
Presenters at the Grasshopper UK Meeting included:
The Applied R+D group at Foster + Partners is going to showcase how the importance of rapid analysis for performance-driven design shapes the tools that they have developed in GH. Presenting “Need for Speed” are:
Khaled Elashry’s interests combine Architecture and Computer science. Khaled is a Partner at the Applied Research and development (ARD) group at Foster + Partners in addition to tutoring at the Bartlett school of architecture, University College London. He holds a master degree in Adaptive architecture and computation from University College London. His recent work bridges the gap between architecture practice and research applying state-of-the-art technological innovation to complex design challenges with expertise in optimization, fabrication, robotics, virtual reality and data visualisation. He recently worked on multiple state of the art architecture projects like the Mobility Pavilion in the UAE expo, The Lusail stadium in Qatar and the UAE pavilion in Milan expo in addition to working with Boston dynamics in the applications of robotics in construction.
Oscar Borgström is an Associate in the Applied Research + Development team at Foster + Partners. Oscar currently leads development of Cyclops, the inhouse raytracing analysis software that implements CUDA and the Nvidia Optix SDK. During his years at Foster + Partners he has developed several pipelines to provide performance driven design solutions for architectural projects, such as view/obstruction analysis, environmental analysis, path traced rendering and thermal radiation. Oscar studied Architecture and Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden and has previously worked with many computational aspects progressing the AEC industry. His work has spanned a wide range of areas including complex geometry, digital fabrication, optimisation, structural engineering, VR and interoperability.
Marcin Kosicki is an Associate Partner at Foster + Partners in the Applied Research and Development group. He has provided expertise in complex geometry, digital fabrication and performance-driven design for many high-profile projects all over the world including the MOL Group headquarter, Guangming Hub Transport Oriented Development or New Central Polish Airport. His current research is focused on leading the development of an in-house high performance distributed computing platform called Hydra, and the implementation of both Dev and Design Ops methodologies into design workflows. He is a published author of peer-reviewed research papers, has presented at international conferences and is a tutor at the Bartlett School of Architecture-UCL – where he co-runs a studio called Simulated Realities.
Design Process Automation with APE – Martin Manegold from Rhenso will present how using AdaptivePartsEnvironment (APE) can improve digital design processes. In his talk he will also illustrate the challenges he faced during his work on the KGX Google Headquarter Façade and how the usage of APE could help in this context.
Tim Lucas is a structural engineer with a 25-year long career in applying computational design and digital fabrication to the making and construction of unusual building, bridge, and artwork projects. He is a proponent of regenerative design and is a partner of Price & Myers and Associate Professor of Structural Design in the Bartlett School of Architecture.
Katherine Chimenes is a structural engineer at Price & Myers and leads the in-house Computation Group. She drives initiatives which promote automation with an approach that can assist engineers and architects to ameliorate the decision-making process on live moving art installations to large rail infrastructure projects. Katherine believes in democratising digital processes within the AEC industry by applying a user-first approach and by shaping the way knowledge is communicated and shared.
Alfred Jacquemot started at Price & Myers in 2021 after graduating from the University of Cambridge. With a keen interest in parametric modelling and mathematics, Alfred has been exploring the application of computational methods in structural design whilst at Price & Myers. He has been working on a variety of residential, educational, and geometrically complex artworks and art installations.
Price & Myers has decades of experience working on projects of diverse scale and scope with its structural engineers being early adopters of computational design and digital fabrication on structures. Tim founded the specialist Geometrics team back in 2001: a team which has now become the practice-wide Computation Group in order to reflect the more homogeneous distribution of digital skills throughout the firm. He will be talking about some of the latest projects P&M has worked on that required those computational skills, and introduce The Cody Dock Rolling Bridge, completed in 2023, which is one of the latest geometrically-challenging structures the engineers at P&M have had the opportunity to tackle.
Photo Credit: Jim Stevenson
The Computation Group at Price & Myers isn’t a dedicated specialist research team. It comprises instead of a cross-section of structural engineers and fosters the use of digital tools and workflows through a combination of knowledge-sharing and focus on adoptability and adaptability. Katherine leads the group and will talk about how it aims to develop and integrate computational skills throughout the practice on all projects.
The Cody Dock Rolling Bridge is a one-of-a-kind moving structure, having a square profile that rotates along its axis by the means of manually rotated cranks. Alfred will be presenting his work on the Cody Dock Rolling Bridge, where he developed Grasshopper scripts that enabled the design and structural analysis behind it. Through the use of the Grasshopper plugin for Rhino and finite element software such as Karamba and GSA by Oasys, it was possible to analyse the rolling bridge for all its single states. Alfred will also discuss the applied mathematics that resolved the design.
The Grasshopper UK User Group Meetings are Organised by Simply Rhino
Meeting Sponsored by BEAM
