Integrated Digital Tools II_SS 15

SS 15 – ‘Light & Shadows’ – A Prototype for a Transportable Pavilion

Lecturer: Jean-Lucien Gay & Silvan Oesterle
School: Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio
Date: Spring Semester 2015

The master class explores the architectural potential of advanced computational techniques for design and gives an outlook on how they are being applied in related fields, from architecture to arts, visual communication and furniture design. The course is built upon an iterative process between analog experimentation and design computation. It uses the 3D CAD software Rhino with Grasshopper – a plug-in for visual programming.

Computational techniques are first introduced through physical modeling processes. The students proceed through a series of design exercises from model building to computation and back. Eventually, the students develop programming logic from these exercises and use this to create their own custom computational design tools. Subsequently, the course integrates specific digital fabrication knowledge into the computational design strategy. A novel convergence of computation and materialization is facilitated, bringing the process of design and the physical realization of architecture closer together.

The master class includes a series of theoretical lectures providing a glimpse at the avant-garde research in the field of computational architecture as well as a look at the innovative use of computer technologies in contemporary design practice, from urban planning to digital fabrication processes.

Students:
Pedro Amaro*
Alberto Caddeo*
Antoine Contour
Davide Contran*
Paloma De la Quintana*
David Eagelton*
Sara Giorgi*
Valentina Luivini*
Veronica Mendez*
Elia Rossi*
Francesca Soppelsa*
Alessandro Zanella
Yuan Zhimin*
Li Ziyuan*

*selected student works

Photographs: © Jean-Lucien Gay