Forensics in Process: A Heuristic Approach Combining Topology Optimization and Computational Fluid Dynamics

Forensics generally involves the application of scientific methods to investigate crimes or other legal matters. However, the term forensics is metaphorically coopted here to provoke new lines of inquiry regarding the process of design, specifically in the context of emerging double-curved shell architectures. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) can be conceived of as new interactive lenses that assist in revealing hidden potentials in the forces and flows at work within structures and spaces. These tools aid in identifying and developing potential architectural microclimates and climatic efficiencies that coincide with double-curved shell structural-spatial syntaxes and their expanding ontologies. Working with CFD and FEA infuses the design process with iterative cognitive feedback capabilities for designers, expanding actionable knowledge and intuition during the design process. Computational simulation makes legible invisible stresses and strains in structures/materialsóin the case of FEAóand patterns of airflow and ventilation, humidity, and temperature dynamics in spaces and through construction assembliesóin the case of CFD.