A generative design approach for modular construction in congested urban areas

Purpose: Modular construction is widely adopted and used in the construction industry to improve construction performance with respect to both efficiency and productivity. The evaluation of design options for modular construction can be iterative, and thus automation is required to develop design alternatives. This research aims to explore the potential of utilizing the generative design approach to automate modular construction for residential building structures in urban areas such as New York City. Design/methodology/approach: The proposed research methodology is investigated for a systematic approach to parametrize design parameters for modular construction layout design as well as incorporate design rules/parameters into modularizing design layouts in a Building Information Modeling (BIM) environment. Based on current building codes and necessary inputs by the user, the proposed approach enables providing recommendations in a generative design method and optimizes construction processes by performing analytical calculations. Findings: The generative design has been found to be efficient in generating layout designs for modular construction based on parametric design. The integration of BIM and generative design can allow industry practitioners to fast generate design layout with evaluations from constructability perspectives. Originality/value: This paper has proposed a new approach of incorporating generative design with BIM technologies to solve module layout generations by considering design and constructability constraints. The method can be further extended for evaluating modular construction design from manufacturability and assembly perspectives.