Honeycomb Topologies

An increased use of free form surfaces in design often results to mass customised components and structural systems which are complex to assemble and expensive to produce. Often to resolve these forms, a tessellation algorithm is used to break the geometry down to manageable components which can be fabricated individually. The issue that can arise is the production of highly differentiated components which can be inefficient to produce. Therefore this investigation aims to resolve the issues regarding build‐ability and tessellation of a free‐form surface through a design rationalisation of a honeycomb space frame structure. The process used entails the development of a generative algorithm combining dynamic relaxation and particle spring systems, which aims to minimise the number of structural variations that occur in an arbitrarily curved surface. The resultant algorithm is evaluated in light of a cost effective solution and an optimum result is formulated through the results of the compiled experiments. The outcome of the final tool demonstrates a capacity to improve the constructional parameters of a multitude of geometric forms, providing a methodology that can be easily incorporated by architects and designers for further advancement and use.