Extreme design wins top prize in international competition
A final-year student from the Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Architectural Studies programme has praised an innovative course at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) in Building Information Modeling (BIM) and parametric design for helping her to beat a tough field of international designers in a major competition using 3D printing. 
Parametric design is a dynamic modelling technique that enables architects to construct geometries that can be rapidly adjusted to respond to certain values, such as floor area, building height and façade curvature, among others.
Ng Ka Ian won second prize in the Art and Architecture category of the Stratasys Extreme Redesign Challenge under the supervision of Dr Stefan Krakhofer, Visiting Assistant Professor in the Division of Building Science and Technology.
“This project would not have been feasible without excellent guidance of Dr Krakhofer on the Advanced Computer Aided Design course,” said Ian, who has already secured employment following her 4-year-degree programme at CityU.
She used the design tool, Autodesk Revit 2013, a BIM platform, for creating her award-winning parametric design.
“The BIM platform allows me to control building design information to optimise the design potential in which to address environmentally responsive architecture,” she said.
Parametric design is a dynamic modelling technique that enables architects to construct geometries that can be rapidly adjusted to respond to certain values, such as floor area, building height and façade curvature, among others.
“As architects we create the built environment for society to live in and therefore we carry social responsibility,” Dr Krakhofer said. “Parametric design can fine tune and optimise building geometry in response to environmental data, such as the wind and sun. This environmentally responsive architecture reduces the energy consumption of buildings and improves the public spaces around the buildings, creating tremendous benefits for society.”
Ian’s award-winning design focuses on a responsive façade shading panel that minimises heat gain from direct sunlight and consequently reduces the energy consumption of the building. Subsequently, data such as solar gain, floor area, façade area, building volume, energy consumption, and so forth, are at the fingertips of the designer and can be used immediately to improve the overall design.
Stratasys is one of the industry leaders in digital printing. This year over 1,100 projects were submitted to the competition from over 20 countries, making it one of the biggest global awards in this field.
The Extreme Redesign Challenge is an educational initiative to invite tomorrow’s engineers, artists and architects to design a better future.