Reconciling Form and Function through Generative Design Nordin, Axel 2015 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Nordin, A. (2015). Reconciling Form and Function through Generative Design. Division of Machine Design, Department of Design Sciences, Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University. Total number of authors: 1 General rights Unless other specific re-use rights are stated the following general rights apply: Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Read more about Creative commons licenses: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 Reconciling Form and Function through Generative Design Axel Nordin DOCTORAL DISSERTATION by due permission of the Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University, Sweden. To be defended at Stora Hörsalen, IKDC, Sölvegatan 26, Lund. Date December 10, 2015 and time 09.15. Faculty opponent Professor Kristina Shea, ETH Zürich Organization: LUND UNIVERSITY Document name: DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Date of issue: 2015-11-16 Author(s): Axel Nordin Sponsoring organization Title and subtitle: Reconciling Form and Function through Generative Design Abstract: The current form-giving activity in industrial design is characterized by explorations that depend on the individual capability to mentally manipulate a solution space from which to select and express the intended result. Industrial designers frequently rely on artistic experimentation, aesthetic inspiration, or design briefs. These points of departure often result in satisfactory results, but they could be augmented by algorithmic form generation, optimization, and complex morphologies. By adopting this approach, the industrial designer would also be able to efficiently use forms that have previously been too complex to handle and evaluate manually, thereby gaining new ways of expanding his or her morphological repertoire. The difficulty of fulfilling these constraints is evident, as many iterations in the product development process are necessary between the different activities such as industrial design, engineering design, and production before a satisfactory design has been achieved. Additionally, if form is algorithmically generated and engineering and production demands are integrated in the process, partial or full transfer of the design activity to customers becomes a concrete option. The possible results of achieving these goals are that designers gain a larger repertoire of morphologies to work from, the product development time can be reduced, the design concepts can stay true to the vision of the industrial designer, and the customers can tailor products to their needs. To achieve these goals, an approach is suggested that entails developing generative design tools that allow a user to design products with complex forms, while assisting them in ensuring the products’ producibility and function. The focus is on increasing the integration between the industrial design activity and the other product development activities, more specifically engineering design and production The purpose of this thesis is to investigate this approach, and to develop and test its technical feasibility and acceptance among designers and consumers. This has involved compiling an inventory of suitable morphologies, production systems and products, implementing and testing several generative design tools in industrial projects, looking into challenges concerning user manipulation of complex morphologies and industrial implementation, developing techniques for handling engineering constraints and objectives, testing the acceptance of the generative design tools with industrial designers and customers, and producing physical objects based on the output from the tools. The results of this work show that this approach is feasible and is even already useful to the industry: the studies establish that there exists a feasible domain of application; they confirm that there are computational methods for handling engineering and user constraints and objectives; in the performed project the design process could be made to fit the needs of both consumers and designers; finally, physical products have been produced and have received acceptance by peers in international design fairs, thereby verifying and validating the output of the tools. Keywords: Generative design, morphological repertoire, constraint handling, optimization, customization, industrial design, engineering design Classification system and/or index terms (if any) Supplementary bibliographical information Language: English ISSN and key title ISBN 978-91-7623-540-9 Recipient’s notes Number of pages: xvi, 63 Price Security classification I, the undersigned, being the copyright owner of the abstract of the above-mentioned dissertation, hereby grant to all reference sources permission to publish and disseminate the abstract of the above-mentioned dissertation. Signature Date Reconciling Form and Function through Generative Design Axel Nordin Copyright © 2015 Axel Nordin Division of Machine Design, Department of Design Sciences Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University P.O. Box 118 SE-221 00 LUND Sweden ISBN Print 978-91-7623-540-9 ISBN On-line 978-91-7623-541-6 ISRN LUTMDN/TMKT-15/1030-SE Printed in Sweden by Media-Tryck, Lund University Lund 2015 Acknowledgments The research presented in this thesis has been carried out at the Division of Machine Design, Department of Design Sciences LTH, Lund University. The research has in part been accomplished with support from Vinnova, which funded the hypothesis-testing project Renaissance 1.5, and from Fonden Innovativ Kultur, which funded the project Putting Nature to Work. I would like to thank my main advisor, Professor Robert Bjärnemo, for his support and faith in the overall research idea. His experience and extensive network has been essential to anchor this research in industrial projects. I am also grateful to my co-supervisor and co-author of several of the appended papers, Assistant Professor Damien Motte, for his comprehensive guidance and many stimulating discussions. His ideas and constructive comments on my work have been of utmost importance for the research. I would also like to thank Andreas Hopf, lecturer at Industrial Design, whose original ideas concerning the morphological repertoire and natural-mathematical forms were the starting point for my research, and who has also contributed to several of the appended papers. Thanks as well to Associate Professor Giorgos Nikoleris, who has contributed many ideas and insights regarding production, and the workshop staff for their guidance during the building of the prototypes presented in this thesis. Lund, November 2015 Axel Nordin v Populärvetenskaplig sammanfattning Industridesigners förlitar sig ofta på konstnärliga experiment, estetisk inspiration, eller så kallade designbriefer för att nå fram till lösningar på designproblem. Dessa utgångspunkter leder ofta till tillfredsställande resultat, men de skulle kunna kompletteras med verktyg hämtade från andra discipliner, till exempel algoritmer för att optimera en produkt, eller för att låta produktens form ”växa” fram som i naturen, så kallad generativ design. Genom att ta vara på möjligheterna som datorbaserade verktyg erbjuder så hade industridesignern alltså kunnat använda former som tidigare varit alltför komplexa för att hantera och utvärdera manuellt, och därmed få nya sätt att uttrycka sig på. Avhandlingen fokuserar på hur man kan öka samspelet mellan industridesign och de andra aktiviteterna inom produktutveckling, som till exempel konstruktion och produktion genom användningen av generativa designverktyg, men även på hur liknande verktyg hade kunnat användas av konsumenter för att designa sina egna produkter. Detta har krävt en inventering av lämpliga former i naturen och matematiken, produktionssystem och produktkategorier. Ett antal generativa designverktyg har även utvecklats och testats i industrin och av konsumenter. En stor utmaning har varit hur användaren av ett generativt designverktyg på bästa sätt kan manipulera de komplexa former som genereras. En annan utmaning har varit hur tekniska krav på produkten, som hållfasthet eller tillverkbarhet, ska kunna uppfyllas när användaren inte själv har möjlighet att utvärdera dem. Resultaten visar att det är möjligt att tillämpa generativ design inom produktdesign och att det redan är användbart för industrin: undersökningen visar att det finns ett stort område där det går att använda generativ design, den bekräftar att det finns beräkningsmetoder för att hantera tekniska och användarrelaterade krav och mål; den visar att det går att hitta användargränssnitt som passar både konsumenter och designers; och slutligen så har ett antal fysiska produkter tillverkats som har fått acceptans från såväl industri som