ABSTRACT
Tonkin Liu’s energy modelling in architecture is grounded in a resource-efficiency first approach. This focuses attention on optimising structural design drawn out of material properties, as well as assessing the embodied energy in materials. The practice’s approach is manifested in a technique known as ‘shell lace structure’, pioneered by Tonkin Liu in 2009 with support from Arup engineers. Tonkin Liu had discovered a way of tailoring a single-surface, lightweight and strong, energy-efficient and cost-effective structure. Nature-informed designs are not only formally sensuous, but also economical and energy-resource efficient. Liu discovered some principles in curved forms that contribute to strength. Tonkin Liu’s shell lace structures journey embodies a dedication to a resource-efficiency first approach when considering energy modelling in design. It points to a greater consideration and better understanding of a material’s structural, environmental and architectural properties as providing the initial ‘energy Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)’ of a design’s possibilities.
