Computational Design [Numerical Descriptions as Design Tools]

This is a series of lectures and workshops on computational design covering fundamental and advanced topics in the field. The lectures will introduce mathematical and computational concepts and methods in a plain and intuitive way, exploring and questioning their relevance to design and the potential as well as limitations in quantifying design problems. Starting from an introduction to basic ways of describing space, spatial relations and geometry lectures will progress to touch on an array of themes including change, dynamics, interaction, optimization and communication. Lectures will alternate with implementation workshops that will use a combination of readymade software tools and programming. These exercises are focused on how we can express design intentions and concerns using the introduced computational concepts and on how we can extract information relevant to a design problem from our environment.

 
There are three one-hour sections on Thursdays. Students should be available for the entire three-hour lab section period. (Note: enrollment is limited to 60. Two students in each section will be required to bring their own laptop.)