Between Performance and Poetics, the Power of IGAs in Design

Optimisation has always had a bit of an identity crisis in creative disciplines. On one hand, it promises efficiency, performance, and precision. On the other hand, it often seems at odds with the emotional and intuitive qualities we associate with art, architecture, and design - the poetics of space, form, and experience.

But what if optimisation didn’t have to mean compromise?

What if, instead of reducing architecture to numbers, we could invite the algorithm into our creative process - not to take control, but to co-evolve with us?

This is exactly what Interactive Genetic Algorithms (IGAs) enable.

Why Performance vs. Poetics Is a False Binary

Traditionally, performance-driven design has focused on measurable outcomes: energy efficiency, structural stability, material use, thermal comfort, and daylight levels. These are quantifiable and essential - but they only tell part of the story.

Poetics, meanwhile, lives in the realm of the unmeasurable: atmosphere, memory, identity, beauty, intuition. These are the qualities that make a space meaningful - not just functional.

Most optimisation tools struggle to reconcile these two worlds. The moment you try to assign a numerical ‘fitness’ to something like spatial resonance or emotional impact, you reduce it. You flatten its nuance.

How IGAs Create a Space for Both

IGAs flip the script. They don’t assume that all goals can (or should) be quantified. Instead, they allow subjective judgment - your preferences, your instincts, your sense of what feels right - to directly guide the optimisation process.

Let’s say you’re designing a canopy system. You might have performance goals (e.g. maximising shade or structural efficiency), but you also want it to feel light, flowing, even poetic. With IGAs, you can integrate both:

• The algorithm generates options based on your parameters.

• You select the designs that speak to you - aesthetic choices, spatial rhythm, formal elegance.

• The system learns from your input and evolves accordingly.

Over time, the boundary between performance and poetics dissolves. The system begins to understand what you’re aiming for - not just structurally, but emotionally.

The Designer as Curator of Possibilities

In this model, the designer isn’t just solving a problem - they’re curating evolution. Your selections act as a compass for the system, helping it navigate complex, multidimensional design spaces where rationality and intuition overlap.

IGAs enable designers to:

• Move beyond fixed goals and explore ambiguous or conflicting ones.

• Embrace emergence, allowing unexpected solutions to unfold.

• Balance technical constraints with creative intention - without defaulting to either extreme.

A Case in Practice: Performance-Informed Beauty

Take, for instance, a façade system being developed with an IGA-based tool like Snowflake. The design team is optimising for daylight control and thermal performance - but also evaluating for qualities like softness, shadow play, and visual rhythm.

Rather than setting hard numerical thresholds, the designer selects options that feel right. Over generations, the system hones in on forms that meet both the technical brief and the emotive vision.

The result? A synthesis. A solution that isn’t a compromise, but an integration - where performance becomes poetic, and poetry is grounded in performance.