Branch Making Shells: A multi-agent systems application for the formation of shell branched structures

This research explores an application of multi-agent systems to the generation of singlelayer branched shell structures for architectural application. The study is prompted by the structure and pattern-making capacity of climbing plants’ growth behaviours, in which growth history (affected by internal local processes and environmental conditions), generates a multi-performant outcome. The digital system merges parts of the Space Colonization Algorithm (SCA) with agent-based logic, leveraging iterative local interactions to coherently embed environmental conditions and static requirements in the production of a coherent structural network on a boundary surface, which is translated in a beams-and-nodes glued laminated timber structure. The paper exposes the method and its applications to the case study of a pavilion, discussing geometric constructability’s challenges and limits.