Digital Design: Algorithms and Scripts

Digital Design: Algorithms and Scripts

  • Course Objectives and OutcomesThe course aims at investigating and exploring the systems, processes, and techniques of computational design in the context of studio, research, and practice. The purpose is to develop algorithms and scripts that will encapsulate the processes that assist in the development of architectural program, form, and structure.
  • Algorithms and scripts are step-by-step processes that aim at solving or addressing a design problem. A significant difference between traditional design thinking and algorithmic is that the final product of design is not preconceived in the designer\’s mind but rather emerges in stages by a synergy between the computer\’s processing power and the designer\’s ingenuity.

  • Topics to be CoveredThe third module will focus on the creation, manipulation, and exploration of two dimensional elements: lines, curves, shapes, and images. Algorithms involving repetition, recursion, randomness, stochastic search, hybridization, or fractals will be presented, explained, and explored.
  • The fourth module will concentrate on the development, articulation, and application of three dimensional structures: planes, surfaces, solids, and particles. Algorithms involving the ambiguity and complexity of spatial formations or spatial perception will be presented, discussed, and explored. The purpose is to develop algorithms and computational methods that would encapsulate the processes that lead to the generation of meaningful architectural form. In addition, in each module, theoretical topics will also be presented and discussed related to the current state of digital design in architecture, the historical roots that contributed to the development of CAD, design languages, machine thinking, and computationalism.

  • Course FormatLecture
  • Method of Evaluation There will be three assignments and an exam for each module
  • PrerequisitesNone