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Gravity Driven Sand Dynamics: A Technique for Optimizing Self-Organizing Dune Sand Patterns using Pouring, Gravity and Multi-Objective Computation


The project and resultant paper offer an in-depth review of a digital/analog process for making sand-based patterns that can be computationally optimized as panels. These systems are intended for desert environments featuring dune sand as a primary material context. The paper discusses how the self-organization of dune sand can create patterns for shading and become computationally optimized for potential architectural outcomes in the form of a weather-responsive panel. Evolutionary computation assists in the methodology for performative design by incorporating weather-based analytics for sun, UV, heat, and wind. The methodology allows for material optimization that results in a series of design options that are highly responsive to local desert conditions using dune sand as the primary material. It begins with experiments in self-organizing sand sequences based on naturally occurring dune sand configurations. It then isolates the self-organizing characteristics atop localized laser-cut planes that allow the sand to pour and pile into specific configurations. The opening size and the number of openings were then studied, and configurations were frozen with a binder and used in a manifold of physical surface sequences. The project employs an optimization of these sand configurations based on the best possible arrangements for the size and number of openings that generate self-organized piles in a demonstrated desert location. The role of this computational and material process adds to the current dialogue of designing in extreme arid environments and aligns with the UN sustainability goals for sustainable communities, climate action, responsible consumption and production.




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