The holy grail of integrated design still lies just out of reach. The idea of an all-in-one software package that would optimize such seemingly disparate elements as a building’s structure, energy performance, and form has yet to advance beyond the conceptual phase.

The four directors of the group SmartGeometry (www.smartgeometry.org), a nonprofit educational charity interested in digital modeling, would like to change that. Started four years ago in London by a group of friends—Robert Aish, Lars Hesselgren, Hugh Whitehead, and J. Parrish—SmartGeometry organized a conference and workshop this January in New York City (the day-long conference, which followed a five-day workshop at the Hudson Hotel, was hosted at the Cooper Union by record). The workshop focused specifically on teaching Bentley Systems’ Generative Components (GC) software (Bentley sponsors the group). Algorithms form the basis of GC’s parametric design tools, where users assign equations and rules to condition the creation of subsequent forms. For example, a rule could be as simple as defining a line as always occurring at the midpoint of another line, and regardless of how a designer may manipulate the overall model, that rule would always hold forth.