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Façades are systems that consist of various sub-components, normally from different suppliers. Façades can also be produced to different degrees of prefabrication, corresponding to a lower number of onsite operations, more quality and therefore higher performance.
However, façade systems that favour off-site operations present two main disadvantages: higher manufacturing costs and less flexibility for late-stage changes. As the degree of variability and geometrical complexity increase with the demand for more and more challenging architectural expressions, the design stage becomes a crucial step where the role of choices play a profound impact, especially at early stages.

In product design, it is commonly agreed that when design costs reach 20%, 80% of final costs have been already committed, even if unknown.

For these reason, we focus on achieving full control over the design problem as early as possible via automatic routines.
Geometrical variety and complexity is not an issue per se, as long as it is looked at early in the design stage.

We have the capabilites to perform Value Engineering (VE) studies to evaluate different options and optimise the solution for a variety of engineering problems.


This example shows the solution to an optimisation problem where each circle represents a façade option in terms of embodied VS operational carbon. The diameter of the circle represents the ease in manufacture of the panel, whereas the colour its U-value.
All solutions have been generated by applying tiny geometrical and material variations to the initial architectural design, represented by the green dot. In this way, the architectural intent is retained, while still allowing for further engineering evaluations and optimisations.