Algorithms-aided design process in industrial context - Case study cruise ship environment

Abstract

The objectives of this work were to investigate the possibilities of implementing algorithms-aided design process in the cruise ship design environment and how this methodology would affect the appearance and the user experience of a cruise ship.

Ship design and the appearance of ships today is defined somewhat strictly by the engineering tools. Traditional system-based ship design doesn’t usually pursue the creation of novel concepts from the structural or architectural design perspective. Due the complexity and the size of the cruise ships the possibility to create completely new ship concepts is hindered, therefore manufacturers often settle on optimising and improving the existing designs. However, in order to succeed in the demanding markets, manufacturers and shipping companies must develop their ships and the cruise experience broadly and more comprehensively.

This work is aiming to find ways for design thinking to have more emphasis in the ship field and research new methodologies to rethink the process of which it is being done today. This work is concentrating on parametric design methodologies because they give the benefit of bringing numerical planning together with visual geometry. This potentially makes the design process more agile and could turn the improvement process to an act of creating something completely new.

The research was done based on a literature review and interviews with professionals working in, or closely with, the ship industry. Some of the studied approaches were demonstrated by Rhino and Grasshopper models to verify the applicability of them in the ship design environment.