Abstract
Brick, a traditional building material, has been widely used in construction worldwide. In rural areas of China, brick and brick-based construction systems hold significant cultural and historical value, deeply connected to collective memory. However, there has been a persistent lack of public spaces where people can gather, interact, and engage in communal activities. A few studies and projects have designed and constructed pavilions using traditional bricks to accommodate such public spaces [1,2,3]. Digital architecture technologies have been employed in some of these projects for form-finding. However, the form design for these pavilions has predominantly focused on aesthetics, with little consideration of its interaction with the local climate and the microclimate for the space shaped by the pavilion.
The aim of this research is to explore a workflow for the design and construction of a curved brick pavilion which has an optimized form, providing optimal thermal comfort in the enclosed space, with the least bricks. The objectives of this research are to:
1. Develop a workflow for the form-finding and construction of the brick pavilion.
2. Find the optimal form for the brick pavilion.
This study includes three stages: Firstly, this research developed a parametric design logic for the form generation of the brick pavilion. The form is determined by seven parameters, including Entrance Width (EW), Space Depth (SD), Space Width (SW), Wall Hight (WH), Orientation (O), Gaussian A (GA) and Gaussian B (GB). Secondly, the pavilion form is optimized using NSGA-II to achieve optimal thermal comfort in the enclosed space while minimizing the use of bricks. The Universal Thermal Comfort Index (UTCI) is employed to measure comfort levels within the enclosed space. Finally, the pavilion with the optimized form is fabricated using a UR-10 robot installed a ROBOTIQ 140 gripper.
A case study was conducted to evaluate the design and construction workflow. The project was set in a historical village in Daokou, Henan. The optimal form was generated, and a small-scale brick pavilion was fabricated in the laboratory at Zhengzhou University.
This workflow integrates thermal performance and material efficiency into the design process, presenting a novel approach to creating sustainable, contextually grounded brick pavilions that not only respect local traditions but also respond to contemporary environmental and social needs.
KEYWORDS: Brick masonry, Form-finding, Outdoor thermal comfort, Multi-objective optimization, Robotic fabrication.
REFERENCES:
[1] J. Carlow, Forming Public Space: A Critique of Hong Kong’s Park Governance through Architectural Intervention, FOOTPRINT (2013). https://doi.org/10.59490/FOOTPRINT.7.1.763.
[2] W. Xu, D.A.N. Luo, Y. Gao, Automatic brick masonry system and its application in on-site construction, in: 4th Int. Conf. Comput.-Aided Archit. Des. Res. Intell. Inf., 2019: pp. 83–92.
[3] Agkathidis, A., Song, Y., Zhao, J. (2023). Rethinking the Brick: Developing a File to Fabrication Framework for Mortar-Free, Robotic Masonry Wall Assembly. In: Kyratsis, P., Manavis, A., Davim, J.P. (eds) Computational Design and Digital Manufacturing. Management and Industrial Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21167-6_5
The aim of this research is to explore a workflow for the design and construction of a curved brick pavilion which has an optimized form, providing optimal thermal comfort in the enclosed space, with the least bricks. The objectives of this research are to:
1. Develop a workflow for the form-finding and construction of the brick pavilion.
2. Find the optimal form for the brick pavilion.
This study includes three stages: Firstly, this research developed a parametric design logic for the form generation of the brick pavilion. The form is determined by seven parameters, including Entrance Width (EW), Space Depth (SD), Space Width (SW), Wall Hight (WH), Orientation (O), Gaussian A (GA) and Gaussian B (GB). Secondly, the pavilion form is optimized using NSGA-II to achieve optimal thermal comfort in the enclosed space while minimizing the use of bricks. The Universal Thermal Comfort Index (UTCI) is employed to measure comfort levels within the enclosed space. Finally, the pavilion with the optimized form is fabricated using a UR-10 robot installed a ROBOTIQ 140 gripper.
A case study was conducted to evaluate the design and construction workflow. The project was set in a historical village in Daokou, Henan. The optimal form was generated, and a small-scale brick pavilion was fabricated in the laboratory at Zhengzhou University.
This workflow integrates thermal performance and material efficiency into the design process, presenting a novel approach to creating sustainable, contextually grounded brick pavilions that not only respect local traditions but also respond to contemporary environmental and social needs.
KEYWORDS: Brick masonry, Form-finding, Outdoor thermal comfort, Multi-objective optimization, Robotic fabrication.
REFERENCES:
[1] J. Carlow, Forming Public Space: A Critique of Hong Kong’s Park Governance through Architectural Intervention, FOOTPRINT (2013). https://doi.org/10.59490/FOOTPRINT.7.1.763.
[2] W. Xu, D.A.N. Luo, Y. Gao, Automatic brick masonry system and its application in on-site construction, in: 4th Int. Conf. Comput.-Aided Archit. Des. Res. Intell. Inf., 2019: pp. 83–92.
[3] Agkathidis, A., Song, Y., Zhao, J. (2023). Rethinking the Brick: Developing a File to Fabrication Framework for Mortar-Free, Robotic Masonry Wall Assembly. In: Kyratsis, P., Manavis, A., Davim, J.P. (eds) Computational Design and Digital Manufacturing. Management and Industrial Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21167-6_5
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | CAADRIA 2026 |
| Publication status | Submitted - 1 Aug 2025 |
