Generative Representations in Structural Engineering

This paper proposes a new approach to representing structural system inspired by various models of complex systems. Several types of generative representations of steel structural systems are provided and empirically investigated. These representations utilize various kinds of cellular automata to generate design concepts of steel structures in tall buildings. In the paper, a brief overview of the state-of-the-art in cellular automata and generative design is presented. Next, several types of generative representations of steel structural systems in tall buildings are described. The paper also reports the results of several design experiments. They have shown that generative representations produce novel structural shaping patterns which are qualitatively different than the patterns obtained using traditionally used parameterized representations. They also significantly improve the performance of evolutionary algorithms optimizing the structural systems. Finally, research conclusions are presented and most promising paths of future research are discussed.