Digital Taihu

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BACKGROUND The integration of traditional cultural forms with contemporary digital design technologies has become an important direction in architectural and design research. While natural morphologies and cultural artefacts—such as the Chinese Taihu stone—have long inspired spatial and aesthetic exploration, their translation into structurally rational and digitally fabricated systems remains limited. At the same time, advances in computational design, particularly topology optimisation methods such as Bi-directional Evolutionary Structural Optimisation (BESO), enable the generation of forms aligned with structural performance. However, the application of these methods in product-scale design, particularly in relation to cultural expression and material fabrication, remains underexplored. This project addresses this gap by integrating cultural morphology, structural optimisation, and digital fabrication, establishing a methodology for translating traditional forms into performance-driven, digitally produced design systems.

CONTRIBUTION Digital Taihu is a design-led research project exploring the integration of traditional Chinese Taihu stone morphology, BESO-based topology optimisation, and 3D printing in furniture design. Led by Dr Nic Bao, the project was developed in collaboration with Yang Pu, bringing together expertise from RMIT and Nanjing University of the Arts. The project applies Bi-directional Evolutionary Structural Optimisation (BESO) to generate biomorphic forms inspired by Taihu stone, aligning material distribution with structural performance. The design is realised through additive manufacturing, producing a full-scale 3D printed furniture piece (915 mm × 1125 mm × 1052 mm). The workflow integrates computational form-finding, structural analysis, and digital fabrication, enabling lightweight, material-efficient, and highly customised outcomes. The project demonstrates a new approach to digital craft, where cultural expression, algorithmic generation, and fabrication technologies are combined to produce structurally optimised and culturally embedded design objects.

SIGNIFICANCE The project was awarded the Iron A’ Design Award (2023), an international design award recognising projects that demonstrate strong technical competence, innovation, and professional execution, evidencing peer recognition within a competitive global design platform. The work was also exhibited at international venues including the MooD – Museum of Design, and received further recognition through the IDA Design Awards, demonstrating its visibility and impact across both professional and public design contexts. Digital Taihu advances research in computational design, digital fabrication, and cultural translation by demonstrating how traditional forms can be reinterpreted through optimisation algorithms and additive manufacturing. By linking cultural heritage with performance-driven design, the project establishes a new paradigm for integrating algorithmic design, material efficiency, and cultural expression, contributing to emerging directions in digital design and fabrication across architecture and product design.