Generative Modeling

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of generative modeling using computer aided design as practiced in the field of architecture. Core competencies are developed through modeling projects and software intensive labs, while a broader critical framework for conceiving of contemporary and historical parametric practices is encouraged through periodic lectures. Emphasis is placed on careful consideration of digital mediums and developing a sense of craft related to digital modeling in the hope that students will become conscientious makers and consumers of digital content. Students are encouraged to understand and apply algorithmic problem solving to the many design constraints encountered in architecture. The course explores the relationship of parametric workflows to design thinking and situates contemporary trends in a broader framework of computational design. The course also forefronts complex form-making as a response to biomimicry, systems thinking and mass-customization. Rather than positioning parametric modeling as a disruption of historical architectural design process, the course encourages students to consider how new tools might augment the discipline’s historical commitments to orthographic projection, perspectival drawing and physical modeling.

The course is taught asynchronously, with lab sessions taking place 9:30-10:50am on Mondays.