Creative New

ARCHITECTURE

Via businessweek.com

These icons of contemporary architecture rely on sophisticated software that lets architects and engineers realize vastly complex designs

The exquisite and daring curved planes of Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall. The complex nest of woven steel beams that cover the Herzog & de Meuron-designed National Stadium in Beijing. And the flowing, wave-like roof created by Zaha Hadid to house water sports at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. These icons of contemporary architecture are the products of great minds. They also rely on increasingly sophisticated software systems that allow architects and engineers to realize the structures’ complexity. They also help builders cut costs and cope with intermittent design changes. Check out some of the most daring designs of recent—and future—times.

Frank Gehry’s gracefully curved forms present some of the best-known examples of the radical potential of software-aided architecture. Completed in 2003, the Disney Concert Hall has been one of his most ambitious projects to date. Computer modeling enabled the engineers who built its outrageous forms to construct the hall in a timely manner.

This 83-story high-rise residential tower features a twisting facade intended to maximize views of the ocean. Parametric modeling tools enabled the architects to calculate precisely the positioning of the more than 10,000 panes of glass.