In contemporary architectural education, young architects use digital tools to produce digital models that tend toward superficial or visual representations of a built work; however, in practice, the digital model produces the constructed reality. Academia and practice are both being revolutionized via parametric tools that allow for increased speed and variation. As our tools and ability to produce new and unique solutions increase, it is imperative that young architects learn how to rapidly evaluate and analyze solutions, altering and adapting them within a fluid process of making and discovery.
Critical to this process is an understanding of form. Form is understood within a complex set of interactions where the shape of matter and the ability to control its construction, lead to new spatial possibilities and embedded intelligence within the form and the digital model that drives it. The individual decisions within the whole are used to maximize the opportunities to solve problems through design while further increasing the coherence of the whole. Problems are understood within a field of relative relations where the architect controls the specifics at both the macro and micro-interactions and where they are now primed to seek out new combinations where win-win solutions are manifested.
The presentation will contextualize ongoing academic research that attempts to structure student workflows that parallel advanced professional workflows, where conceptual ideas and performance are understood within a rapid decision-making process. Both professional and academic work will be shown to demonstrate this process and invite discussion.