The Emergent Technologies and Design Programme is open to graduates in Architecture or
Engineering with interest in architectural design that proceeds from innovative technologies, who
wish to develop skills and pursue knowledge in design research that is located in new production
paradigms. There are two phases, Phase 1 containing the taught courses, studio workshops and
projects, and supervised research within the studio. Phase 2 is the Design Dissertation for the MSc.
or the Design Thesis for the MArch.

The conceptual structures and philosophies of Emergence form the logic of and the processes
of Evolutionary Computation; and the application to architectural design is focused on genetic
algorithms for structural form finding and generative design. Emergence is also a central concept of
Biomimetics, in which biological structures are analysed and understood as material hierarchies selforganised into structures that are achieved by a bottom up process of self-assembly from which their properties and performances emerge. Emergent behaviours are also demonstrated by the culture
of production at large, a dynamic interaction of diverse forces that follow local rules rather than
imposed higher level instructions. Larger coherent patterns or macro-behaviours are discernible,
arising from material productions that are localised by author, time and geography.

The programme is focused on the concepts and convergent interdisciplinary effects of Emergence on
design and production technologies, and on developing these as creative inputs to new architectural
design processes. The instruments of analysis and design in Emtech are computational processes.
The Seminar Courses and Core Studio are designed to familiarise students with these instruments,
their associated conceptual fields and with their application to architectural design research. The
output of the Seminars and Core Studio provides the aims and armature for the Design Thesis or
Design Dissertation developed in Term 3 and finalised in Term 4.