i am confused about the difference between digital and computational design. i had thought they were synonymous. my way of thinking of them now is that UCLA would be "digital" and MIT would be "computational". is that correct? what exactly makes them different? what is considered computational and what exactly is considered digital design?
I'm not familiar enough with the pedagogical aims of the programs at each school to be able to respond intelligently with respect to your construct, perhaps you might elucidate definitions of how and why you consider each program to be linked with each term?
To my mind, computational implies that computation is inherent in the pedagogy - that each student must use a computational method in order to satisfy the requirements. Whereas digital implies merely the virtual [ie, one can design an analog building and still satisfy the requirements via representation alone].
this might help, an article in ICON magazine about Swiss architects Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler and their work on the intersection between robotics and computer architecture
A passage
Robots, they felt, would allow them to achieve their aim of “computer architecture” that was 100 percent real – so that programming and architecture became indistinguishable, seamless, the same process. An idea is just information – the robot can turn it perfectly into an object. The robot is a prosthesis fusing the architect and the building. This is cyborg architecture – a philosophy the pair call “digital materiality”.
my 2 cents would be that "computational" design is parametric in nature (grasshopper3D, generative components, et al) -- what schumaker jumped in front of waving the "parametricism" flag; whereas "digital" design is just utilizing software design tools, typically 3D modeling and such...
Jul 4, 11 11:43 pm ·
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clarification
digital design and computational design
i am confused about the difference between digital and computational design. i had thought they were synonymous. my way of thinking of them now is that UCLA would be "digital" and MIT would be "computational". is that correct? what exactly makes them different? what is considered computational and what exactly is considered digital design?
I'm not familiar enough with the pedagogical aims of the programs at each school to be able to respond intelligently with respect to your construct, perhaps you might elucidate definitions of how and why you consider each program to be linked with each term?
To my mind, computational implies that computation is inherent in the pedagogy - that each student must use a computational method in order to satisfy the requirements. Whereas digital implies merely the virtual [ie, one can design an analog building and still satisfy the requirements via representation alone].
this might help, an article in ICON magazine about Swiss architects Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler and their work on the intersection between robotics and computer architecture
A passage
Robots, they felt, would allow them to achieve their aim of “computer architecture” that was 100 percent real – so that programming and architecture became indistinguishable, seamless, the same process. An idea is just information – the robot can turn it perfectly into an object. The robot is a prosthesis fusing the architect and the building. This is cyborg architecture – a philosophy the pair call “digital materiality”.
my 2 cents would be that "computational" design is parametric in nature (grasshopper3D, generative components, et al) -- what schumaker jumped in front of waving the "parametricism" flag; whereas "digital" design is just utilizing software design tools, typically 3D modeling and such...
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