Robert Aish is visiting professor of Design Computation at the Bartlett School of Architect, UCL. His research explores how computational representations, languages and tools can improve the way architecture is conceptualised and delivered.
Normalised geometric models of construction: In the 80’s he was part of the development team for RUCAPS, the original BIM application and published one of the first papers describing BIM and its advantages to the construction industry.
Parametric Design tools: At Bentley Systems he led the development of GenerativeComponents, one of the first parametric design application used, for example, in the design of the Velodrome at the 2012 Olympics.
Design Computation languages: As Director of Software Development at Autodesk, he led the development of the DesignScript, a special end-user programming language for architectural computation which is delivered as the key computational engine within the Dynamo application.
Topology as a conceptual representation of architecture: His research into non-manifold topology as a precise minimal representation of architectural form and spatial enclosure has been supported by the Leverhulme Trust, resulting in the recently released open source, multi-platform Topologic software package.
Central to all this research is the recognition of the symbiotic relationship between computational design tools and design thinking. Should the development of computational design tools be constrained so that these are easily retro-fitted to conventional design practice? Or is the whole point of computational design to introduce new abstractions which can change the way designers think and redefine what can be built?