Pratt Institute School of Architecture
Graduate Architecture Program
Course Syllabus
ARCH 714AP.01
Computer Logics
Fall 2014
Credits:
Type of Course:
Class Meetings:
Prerequisites:
Enrollment Capacity:
Instructors:
Time and Location:
3
Lab
Lectures Tuesday
none
15
Michael Szivos
mszivos@softlabnyc.com
Tuesday 02:00PM - 04:50PM, Higgins Hall North, Room 209
Course Overview:
This section of Arch714, Computer Logics, will be a research based technical seminar. As the lines
between design and production become increasingly blurred, innovative architectural practice requires
the ability both to integrate diverse software packages and to move seamlessly from digital models to
physical output. This course aims to exploit the newest digital design and fabrication tools in ways that will
advance all stages of architectural production, from conception and visualization to development and
manufacturing. This course provides a framework for conceptualizing and producing physical output. The
course is a hybrid seminar/workshop that is driven by a single course project that, in turn, is driven by a
series of investigations. These investigations will approach the functions of software in such a way as to
extract critical approaches to the digitization of architecture. Emphasizing integrated use of the computer
for design, production, and presentation, will expose students to various modeling platforms, and
techniques of making the digital physical. Technical instruction and individualized workshops will facilitate
research into generative, parametric, material and temporal dimensions of digital design.
Learning Objectives:
The course will introduce digital production techniques. In addition, the class’ two primary objectives are:
1. Help the students develop the ability to move between digital representations and physical
constructions.
2. Student work should demonstrate an understanding of software packages, and modeling techniques to
produce various formal types. While this course provides a vocabulary of techniques intended to develop
students’ technical abilities, the course seeks to challenge students’ abilities to productively execute and
conceptualize software functions. As a production driven class, students will develop a physical prototype
of their research.
Assignments:
The course will be broken into 3 assignments, each informing the next:
Assignment 1 (Presentation Week 5) - Design
Learn and explore the modeling tools that will create a range of geometry based on 3
types:
gravity driven, grounded, and inflated. Investigate formal models using these
physics based
techniques and explore systems of making. Visualize a range of forms derived by these techniques and
systems used and document the process to the final
form. Students will present a form in one of the 3
categories.
Assignment 2 (Presentation Week 9) - Prototyping
Develop a prototype of a unit that will be used to create the formal geometry of assignment
1.The prototype should be an investigation on the techniques that will be used in the final assembly. It
should be an iterative process that grows into a final
system of making a larger piece.
Assignment 3 (Presentation Week 14) - Assembly
Students will create a version of the formal studies explored in the early portion of the
using the prototypes/units they developed in the second assignment.
course
Classes will be divided into lectures, technical presentations, and work sessions:
-
Lectures will provide a more conceptual grounding for the course.
Technical presentations will have more to do with the actual implementation and tools
within relevant software packages.
Work Sessions will include sitting down with students on an individual basis to help with the
specifics of their projects and answer any questions about the tutorials.
Through this process students will learn how to edit a given design problem into easily understood
parameters and then evaluate those parameters individually as well as in different combinations. By
defining the parameters and their affect on the base condition, the students will be able to manipulate
those parameters in a way to change or redesign the base condition. Once the desired outcome is
reached the students will have to retranslate the data back into a new formal condition. The final focus in
the class will be the digital output of their project as presentation images.
Course Requirements:
1. Class attendance and participation.
2. Participation in and out-of-class rehearsal of software demonstrations and out-of-class tutorial projects.
3. Development and Completion of a three-part project, proposed during the semester. The project will
culminate in a digital presentation.
Course material will be introduced through a series of class lectures and direct engagement with software
during workshops. Assignments will require the production of a combination of models, renderings, animations,
and prints to be determined on an individual basis and in conjunction with the instructors. All products will be
evaluated on the basis of their relevance to the line of research chosen and their coherence and clarity within
the presentation
Methods Of Assessment/Grades:
1. Attendance, Punctuality and Participation in Class Discussions and Workshops: 10%
2. Development, Improvement, and Out-of-Class Rehearsal: 20%
3. Semester Project: 70%
Bibliography
Engel, Heino. Structure Systems. Hatje Cantz; 3 edition, 2007.
Bechthold, Martin. Innovative Surface Structures: Technologies and Applications. Taylor & Francis; 2008.
Iwamoto, Lisa. Digital Fabrications: Architectural and Material Techniques. Princeton Architectural Press;
2009.
Moussavi, Farshid. The Function of Form. Actar and Harvard Graduate School of Design; 2009.
Reiser, Jesse. Atlas of Novel Tectonics. Princeton Architectural Press; 2006.
Oxman, Rivka. The New Structuralism: Design, Engineering and Architectural Technologies. Wiley, 2010.
Meredith, Michael. From Control to Design: Parametric/Algorithmic Architecture. Actar (October 15, 2008).
Leach, Neal; Turnbull, David; Williams, Chris. Digital Tectonics. John Wiley& Sons; 2004.
Semester Schedule:
Week 01
Tuesday 26 August
INTRODUCTION
Week 02
Tuesday 2 September
Introduction to Grasshopper
Week 03
Tuesday 9 September
Modeling I: gravity driven modeling
Week 04
Tuesday 16 September
Modeling II: parametric and dynamic modeling
Week 5
Tuesday 23 September
Modeling III: prepping for fabrication
Week 6
Tuesday 30 September
<<Project Part #1 Due>>
Project Part #2 Assigned
PRESENTATION 1
systems of fabrication, rhino, scripting
material, connection details
Week 7
Tuesday 7 October
Grasshopper – Parametric procedures
Week 8
Tuesday 14 October
Working Session
****Midterm Break No Classes****
Week 9
Tuesday 21 October
Grasshopper – Detail Prototypes
Week 10
Tuesday 28 October
Grasshopper – Details and flattening
Week 11
Tuesday 4 November
<<Project Part #2 Due>>
Project Part #3 Assigned
PRESENTATION 2
Week 12
Tuesday 11 November
Drawing Output for fabrication
Week 13
Tuesday 18 November
Drawing Output for fabrication
Week 14
Tuesday 25 November
WORKING SESSION/Group Help
Week 15
Tuesday 2 December
WORKING SESSION/Group Help
Week 16
Tuesday 9 December
Studio Finals
Week 17
Tuesday 16 December
FINAL PRESENTATIONS