Utilising genetic algorithms to integrate the elements of design and making in a co-creative synchronous digital environment

In the digital era, without majorly changing how we design, we have gradually substituted the traditional tools with new counterparts. To switch to the emerging stage, it is time to review our making habits from a holistic perspective and reiterate the overall process of design with respect to our digital tools. This paper suggests to change design and making processes from top-down to bottom-up approaches. Algorithms as instructions can be designed to be more similar to biological construction than engineering, with a focus on a series of commands generating a final result. Consequently, the results can emerge from their tailored set-ups. This paper proposes to utilise genetic algorithms (GAs) as tools to create a sequence of events enabling a design. It aims to integrate instructions, fabrication methods, and functional requirements as the selected elements of making in a bottomup generative design environment. The paper observes the morphological involvement of the elements as their cocreative contribution. While evolutionary algorithms as optionmaking and optimisation tools with multi-objective functions have been studied in previous works, this paper utilises GAs to reiterate the overall process of design with respect to the transition from digital to post-digital. The resulting co-creative digital design environment brings us a step closer to the biological bottom-up construction and presents an example to a post-digital design procedure. In contrast to the historical examples of the baroque style, which focus on nature-inspired ornamentation, the approach of the paper concentrates on the methods of nature showcasing a neo-baroque study.