Code and its image: the functions of text and visualisation in a code-based design studio

Abstract

Traditionally, design learning in the architecture studio has taken place through a combination of individual work and joint projects. The introduction of code-based design practices in the design studio has altered this balance, introducing new models of joint authorship and new ways for individuals to contribute to co-authored projects. This paper presents a case study describing four design studios in a higher education setting that used code as a tool for generating architectural geometry. The format of the studios encouraged the students to reflect critically on their role as authors and to creatively address the multiple opportunities for shared authorship available with code-based production. The research question addressed in this study involved the role of code-based practices in altering the model of architectural education in the design studio, in particular the role of visual representations of a code-based design process in the production of shared knowledge.

Keywords:

• design studio
• architectural education
• code-based design
• versioning software
• visualisation

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Superstudio project members, who contributed in many ways to the development of the concepts presented in this paper: Professor Laurent Stalder (ETH Zurich), Professor Dieter Dietz (EPFL) and Professor Pau Sola-Morales (USI Mendrisio).

ORCID

Mark Meagher http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7818-5696

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation under [project N° 581844].

Mark Meagher is a Lecturer in Digital Design at the University of Sheffield School of Architecture. His current research and teaching focuses on applications of computational design in architecture including data visualisation, responsive architecture, building energy simulation, and the impact of code-based approaches to design on architectural education and the form of the design studio. With Peter Blundell Jones he recently edited the book Architecture and Movement, which addresses the representation and experience of movement in buildings, landscapes and cities.

Jeffrey Huang is the Director of the Media × Design Laboratory and Full Professor at EPFL in Switzerland; and Head of the Architecture and Sustainable Design Pillar and Professor at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). His current research and teaching projects include the examination of emerging architectural typologies, novel approaches to architectural design (parametric design and algorithmic design), data-driven visualisations, the integration of physical computing (sensors, actuators, radio-frequency identification (RFID), light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and mobile devices) into architecture and cities, and more generally, artificial design processes and design thinking. Prior to joining the EPFL in 2006, he was a professor at the Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). In partnership with Muriel Waldvogel, he is co-founder and principal of Convergeo, a strategic design and consulting firm.

Nathaniel Zuelzke is a senior designer and project manager with the New York firm Studio V Architecture. As part of the EPFL Media × Design Lab, Nathaniel taught computational techniques for architectural production, investigating a variety of scales and agendas from digitally fabricated furniture to urban farming strategies in Beijing. Collaborating with the smart environment and interactive architecture firm Convergeo, he has designed and detailed buildings as sustainable interfaces between people and technology. Nathaniel received his M.Arch. from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and his PhD from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

Trevor Patt is a doctoral candidate at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne where his research focuses on computational design strategies to mutually engage architecture and urban design to extend cross-scalar agency in the built environment. He holds a M.Arch. degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and has published, lectured and exhibited internationally.

Guillaume Labelle studied architecture in Montreal and joined the Media × Design Lab at EPFL in 2007 as a PhD student and research assistant. He was the main contributor to the NSF project ‘Phototropism in Architecture’ and one of the key instructors in the ‘Organicités’ master's design studio. With Julien Nembrini he was the developer of anar.ch, a processing library for object-oriented 3D geometry. Guillaume passed away in 2012; he is sorely missed by friends, family and all who had the good fortune to know him.

Julien Nembrini is a researcher in building physics. Recent projects involve applications of parametric scripting to enable designers to intuitively perform energy performance analysis. Recent work includes the development of a scripting toolbox for the early design stage that facilitates the precise exploration of specific parameters and their influence on project-specific building performance, using expert-level simulation tools. He is also involved in building construction practice as a specialist in thermal simulation. Julien completed his PhD in Robotics Engineering at the University of the West of England in 2004.