Advanced Digital Media: Procedural Logics of Design, Fabrication, and Representation
Over the past three decades, computation and automation have transformed and become central to the practice of architecture. In the design and construction of buildings and cities, computational workflows now inform and augment processes of design, representation, communication, fabrication, and assembly. And yet, as is often the case with computational paradigms in our broader society and culture, we tend to engage these technologies uncritically, easily accepting predefined processes as given without questioning or customizing them. This course challenges such “blackboxing” of computational workflows in architectural media, cultivating a foundational understanding of algorithmic processes and a critical sensibility concerning deploying them in architectural practice.
This course emphasizes computational methods of design, fabrication, and representation as integral aspects of the architectural design process. The agenda is framed by a general introduction to computation as it relates to architecture, and the course incorporates technical skill-building, historical/theoretical context, and understanding how such tools can be integrated into broader design processes in productive ways. Students are introduced to 2D and 3D techniques of parametric design, digital fabrication workflows, and digital methods of visualization—with the emphasis on critical understandings of these tools and how all three elements can synthetically strengthen the architectural design process.
STUDENT WORK
