Dougong Revisited: A Parametric Specification of Chinese Bracket Design in Shape Machine

Designing architectural components according to a specific language while precisely controlling their dimensions is a challenge for shape grammars. The Chinese bracket sets (Dougong), crucial and complex structural elements in traditional Chinese architecture, lack a well-developed computational design framework for parametric design respecting to this specific style. Existing bracket set solutions are inaccurate due to poor component dimension calculation integration and lack of editability and interactivity for automated computer-aided design (CAD). To address this problem, this paper introduces a parametric shape grammar with a control flow for the design of the Dougong bracket sets, leveraging the Shape Machine, a general-purpose shape grammar interpreter, to generate varied designs in a controllable and precise manner. By embedding parameters within the computation process, the study meticulously codifies the design principles underpinning bracket sets into a computational model. This approach not only deepens our comprehension of traditional Chinese architectural principles but also offers a novel, shape grammar-oriented framework for parameterizing architectural designs.