Performance-Based Generative Design for Parametric Modeling of Engineering Structures Using Deep Conditional Generative Models
Martin Juan José Bucher, Michael Kraus, Romana Rust, Siyu Tang
Abstract
Parametric Modeling, Generative Design, and Performance-Based Design have gained increasing attention in the AEC field as a way to create a wide range of design variants while focusing on performance attributes rather than building codes. However, the relationships between design parameters and performance attributes are often very complex, resulting in a highly iterative and unguided process. In this paper, we argue that a more goal-oriented design process is enabled by an inverse formulation that starts with performance attributes instead of design parameters. A Deep Conditional Generative Design workflow is proposed that takes a set of performance attributes and partially defined design features as input and produces a complete set of design parameters as output. A model architecture based on a Conditional Variational Autoencoder is presented along with different approximate posteriors, and evaluated on four different case studies. Compared to Genetic Algorithms, our method proves superior when utilizing a pre-trained model.