Project Description
Dutch developer Van Wijnen Groep has challenged The Living to apply its generative learning process at a new scale by creating a net-zero, affordable housing master plan for a site in the Netherlands. The Alkmaar Housing commission, which is still in the design phase, requires The Living to use the client’s largely prefabricated housing stock, while optimizing goals for views, variety in public space, solar gain, cost, backyard size, program, and profit. The Living is using the same basic algorithm to generate thousands of possible urban designs that it did to create the floor plans for the Autodesk MaRS office in Toronto, and the structural system of the Bionic Partition for Airbus, but the sub-algorithms for each individual variable of this project are unique, in order to address the very specific sets of requirements. Of particular interest to Benjamin and his team was finding a way to integrate affordability and net-zero construction in the generative design process, since they usually demand their own sets of deep calculations. “It was interesting to be able to use a computational workflow to maximize both of these things, which might be thought of as opposing goals in terms of cost,” Benjamin says. “Generative design is great at helping to navigate complexity and to navigate trade-offs between competing demands, so I think it’s a fitting process for this type of project.” The team is currently evaluating a shortlist of designs to see which will be most effective.
Project Credits
Client: Van Wijnen Groep
Project Team: The Living, New York . David Benjamin (founder and principal); Lorenzo Villaggi (project lead), Danil Nagy, Jim Stoddart, Dale Zhao, Damon Lau, Ray Wang, John Locke, AIA
Client Team: Peter Hutten, Hilbrand Katsma, León Leeraar, Jelmer Frank Wijnia
Industry Expert: Sander Lijbers
Dynamo and Fractal Workflow: Anthony Hauck, Mike Dewberry, Colin McCrone
To see more projects from The Living, see our Q+A with David Benjamin from the January 2018 issue of ARCHITECT, part of What’s Next: Reprogramming Practice.