Advanced modelling and digital manufacturing: Parametric design tools for the optimization of UHPFRC (ultra high-performance Fiber reinforced concrete) shading panels

The “Industry 4.0” production scenarios are determining a paradigm shift in the design of building components. The growing trend of orienting technological innovation in the building sector towards the eco-efficiency of industrial manufacturing processes increasingly requires to identify methods and tools able to support the design/manufacturing/construction process as a whole. In this sense, the intellectual and operational dimension of design is discovering a new digital and data-driven technological paradigm. Digital tools are pushing the investigation of the building component manufacturing process into an increasingly virtual dimension, in which the constant integration between environmental and material/geometric parameters identifies the meta-design phase as the “ideal place” to experiment the creative use of data and technical knowledge. Starting from these assumptions, the paper illustrates an original design methodology and the related digital/parametric workflow aimed at optimizing performances and production of a façade shading system realized in UHPFRC (Ultra High-Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete). The workflow described in this paper includes all the constraints arising from production and the assembly aspects of the components and, with the support of genetic algorithms, aims to improve indoor thermal comfort and indoor daylight performance while containing costs.