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Exploratory Architecture
Architecture and construction embrace, paradoxically, two opposing but complementary approaches:
convention, which captures experience in an efficient, re-usable, and well-understood way, but is constantly
evolving and being refined, and exploration, the desire to innovate, to respond to competitive pressure. In
architecture, an exploratory approach may suggest searching for new aesthetic possibilities, new engineering
efficiencies—specifically, new forms and new construction processes.
The GenerativeComponents system has the potential to span the architectural process from concept formation
to digital fabrication in a system of related design models. As a design tool for exploratory architecture it also
addresses the need for designers to test and confirm the practicality of such exploration—specifically, how to:
• Capture conceptual design in an intuitive form
• Capture design rules in a logical form
• Create project-specific components (involving both intuition and logic) in a re-usable form
• Model building fabric and the enclosure of space so that it can drive analytical and simulation tools A definition of a GenerativeComponent
• Integrate an exploratory approach to design with conventional tools and processes
GenerativeComponents is an application layered on top of MicroStation V8, fully harnessing the geometry and
application libraries of MicroStation TriForma and Parasolid. It is developed with Microsoft .NET technology,
and extensively uses object-oriented software engineering to turn user-defined geometric and behavioral design
models into new classes (or types) of objects (or components). A formal definition of the GenerativeComponents
system is “a model-oriented end-user programming environment which combines direct interactive manipulation
design methods based on feature modeling and constraints, with visual and traditional programming techniques.”
About Bentley
Bentley Systems, Incorporated provides software for the lifecycle of the world’s infrastructure. The company’s
comprehensive portfolio for the building, plant, civil, and geospatial vertical markets spans architecture,
engineering, construction (AEC) and operations. With 2002 revenues reaching $230 million, Bentley is the
leading provider of AEC software to the Engineering News-Record Design 500 and major owner-operators.
Bentley, the “B” Bentley logo, MicroStation and TriForma are registered trademarks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or Bentley Software, Inc. All other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
The information is subject to change without notice. ©2003 Bentley Systems, Incorporated. DAA024340-1/0001 10/03