OPTIshell · A framework for the multi-objective optimization of timber gridshells under structural and energy-based criteria.

Why in the age of 4.0 industrial evolution and ubiquitous Artificial Intelligence, the construction industry has such a devastating impact on ecology? Architectural Design Optimization (ADO) can aid us in designing buildings and structures that can perform better than ever before. Despite the growing interest in the application of ADO to find zero-energy and cost-optimal solutions for buildings in academia, its influence on practice remains very limited. The main reason, preventing the wider adaptation of the optimization solvers in practice, is the lack of optimizers dedicated for multi-objective constrained optimization problems (CMOPs), while majority of the real-world design problems involve multiple criteria and diverse constraints. Moreover, there is no industry validated evidence on economic and ecological benefits of ADO.OPTIshell will introduce into Architectural Design Optimization an innovative optimization algorithm based on Swarm Intelligence (SI) dedicated for CMOPs. The results of this research will provide crucial information on applicability of SI methods for CMOPs in design area. The performance of SI will be assessed with different tuning parameters and compared to the existing Evolutionary Computation in solving ADO problems. OPTIshell will demonstrate the ADO benefits through the optimization and construction of solar timber gridshells powered by flexible perovskites modules - CarPort4.0 . Development and testing multi-objective optimization is one of the most relevant research directions in ADO. Introduction of the constrained multi-objective Swarm Intelligence optimization into architectural design will be a significant step towards evolution of ADO and wider adoption of optimization in architectural practice. The industry-validated benchmark may increase the overall credibility of ADO methods. CMOPs increasingly occur in architectural practice, so proposed SI method has the potential to become a revolutionary tool in sustainable design.