Phoenix3D - Interactive optimum reuse released as a Rhino3D plugin

The SXL just released its first version of Phoenix3D - a plugin for Rhino3D + Grasshopper3D to design optimum truss structures made of new and reused components. The plugin aims to support a more circular design approach for the conceptual structural design process. The tool was developed by SXL's Jonas Warmuth and Jan Brütting and introduced on this year's IASS 2021 in Surrey.
Designing with reclaimed components swaps the conventional structural design process: rather than manufacturing components based on a preliminary design of the full structural system, the geometry and topology of the structural system is constrained by the availability of reused components. A combination of reused and new elements is usually favorable for designing structures that minimize adverse environmental impact. The choice between reused or new element stocks when assigning the elements onto a predefined base structure is processed through newly developed Best-Fit heuristics. The results are structures whose topology and geometry are optimized for reusing the given stock of elements.