Prove It – Episode 1: Generative What?

The beta test! We’re trying out a new format, ironing out the bugs, and talking about technology – In the FIRST Prove It podcast, Nate Miller, Dave Stasiuk, and Kristen Schulte review recent AEC technology news and discuss the (over)hype vs. reality of the Generative Design trend in architecture.

Part 1 – Technology News & Discussion
Time: 02:46 – 26:35
Topics: McNeel’s Rhino.Inside and Dassault’s xGenerative Design

Part 2 – Generative What?
Time: 26:35 – 59:29
Topics: Generative Design – History, trend, (over)hype, and reality

Time markers/ notes:
00:57 – Proving Ground’s April Fools prank
01:54 – Nate gives an overview of podcast topics
02:46 – Discussion of McNeel’s Rhino.Inside
06:53 – Discussion of Grasshopper with Rhino.Inside – Is it a Dynamo killer?
09:56 – Dassault’s new xGenerative Design product
13:17 – Evolution of computational design tools and the trend of Grasshopper cloning
14:25 – McNeel is a consistently a step ahead
14:36 – Throwback to Generative Components!
15:56 – Growing a community starting with Explicit History – the first version of Grasshopper
16:46 – Skeptical about Dassault’s platform approach
18:09 – Is Dassault’s Catia platform too expensive for today’s Architecture businesses?
20:08 – The potential for end-to-end building design and delivery with Catia
25:38- Architectural drawing and cultural shifts that have struggled to take hold with BIM
26:35 – Generative What?
30:34 – Dave on the emergence of today’s Generative Design conversation
33:51- Why is “Generative Design” not really “Generative”?
35:26 – Historical context – the definition of Generative Art
39:17 – Discussion on pervasive marketing for Generative Design
39:46 – Observations of problems with over-hyping technology with marketing
44:31 – Discussion about the fragility and limits of parametric models
46:14 – Skepticism of using “generative” tools for space planning
50:10 – The marketing machine taking over the conversation
56:34 – Wrap up and conclusions

Links:
Rhino.Inside – https://www.rhino3d.com/inside
xGenerative Design – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtpalVl_-u0
David Stasiuk’s terminology white paper – https://provingground.io/2018/06/13/design-modeling-terminology/
Daniel Davis’ PhD thesis on Parametric Modeling – http://www.danieldavis.com/thesis/
Autodesk’s Generative Design page – https://www.autodesk.com/solutions/generative-design

More about Proving Ground: http://ProvingGround.io

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