DISCRETE SWARM LOGICS CONNOR HYMES 1 and CHRISTOPH KLEMMT 2 1 University of Cincinnati 1 connorhymes@gmail.com 2 Orproject / University of Cincinnati / University of Applied Arts 2 christoph@orproject.com Abstract. The logics of agent-based behaviors have found interest in architectural design for their possibility to generate self-organizing geometries. However, the resulting free-form geometries are usually complex and costly to construct as buildings. Recently architects have proposed discrete components to create a cost-effective computational designs. This research explores the possibilities of discretizing agent-based simulations to make their bottom-up behaviors and resulting geometries more easily usable for economic construction. Different types of discretization have been explored. The simulations have been evaluated as a design tool at scales from the urban to the detail. The outcomes at the larger scale provide design possibilities, but with little influence on construction costs. At the smaller scale, the geometric assemblies show good possibilities for an economic design and a feasible construction, by altering, but not compromising, the emergent self-organizing principles that guide the simulations. Keywords. Discrete; swarm; agent; simulation. 1. Introduction Architectural designers have been interested in principles of self-organization for many years, and many have successfully utilized geometries that have been generated by self-organizing systems. As computational design and architecture have evolved, bottom-up design methodologies have become a tool for mimicking complex arrangements found in natural systems as a means of form generation. Agent-based swarm simulations, a type of self-organized systems extensively investigated for architectural applications, are able to generate increasingly complex arrangements through the design of the initial parameters, allowing the simulation to build upon relationships the agents have with one another. While agent-based simulations and swarm logics have been able to generate highly emergent geometries that can respond dynamically to a variety of requirements and constraints, the resulting geometries are usually of a complexity and geometric refinement that make them extremely difficult, if not impossible, to construct at an architectural scale and budget. The authors are not aware of any economically viable building that has yet been constructed that is based on a swarm-based geometry. T. Fukuda, W. Huang, P. Janssen, K. Crolla, S. Alhadidi (eds.), Learning, Adapting and Prototyping, Proceedings of the 23 rd International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) 2018, Volume 1, 133-142. © 2018 and published by the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) in Hong Kong.