A Performance-based Model in Digital Design: PER-FORMATIVE—Design Beyond Aesthetic

Abstract

In creative domains such as architecture, there is great potential to employ performance-based design as a means for innovation and creativity. Whereas design and building performance in design were considered traditionally as an evaluative act, today, current developments in the theory and technology of digital design are promoting new directions for performance-based models of design. A performance-based model of design can incorporate abstract ideas, conditions and goals to generate innovative designs. This paper presents an approach termed ‘performative design’. The term combines both the concepts of performance and form generation. A distinction is made between typology and topology as a basis for understanding the current shift in performance-based design. Experiments in digital architectural design are presented to illustrate the capabilities of performative design in architecture.