清华大学 THU FALL 2023 Syllabus for the Digital Section of “Form and Composition (形态构成)”

“Form and Composition” design studio introduces first-year undergraduate students to the early process of architectural design development, where the focus is to learn the relationship between forms and spatial composition through establishing well-defined design logic. Students can build a solid foundation before continuing their further study in Architecture.

The digital section of this studio is intended specifically for learning the computational methodology of such design processes. The core of computational design is twofold: algorithm and interdisciplinarity. Students are asked to develop a clear definition of algorithms to articulate the logic of their design, which could involve different kinds of geometric rules most of which are derived from multiple systems. They will test out how each combination of systems will generate new types of forms and spatial composition.

*A system may be defined as: “a set of components to shape a whole” and can be found in various fields of matter and organization ranging from nature to culture and society, among others. As a whole, it can generate something more than a sum of parts.

Classes will be divided into 3 phases: Skills, Theory and Application, Design

PHASE Ⅰ: 基础训练 Ⅰ技能- 算法设计工具

SKILLS - ALGORITHMIC DESIGN TOOLS

The first phase is primarily about gaining the skills of the tool for computational design,  Grasshopper. Through numbers of modeling exercises, the highlight is to let students start to experience the FIRST core of computational design, algorithmic modeling / design process.

Grasshopper is part of the modeling software called Rhinoceros, and it is a prerequisite for students to know how to use Rhino first to model the basic form in advance. Due to the time limitations, Phase 1 doesn’t cover such basic exercise but before the first class, we set up two times of make-up classes, in order for students who are new to Rhinoceros to catch up with the Phase 1 learning content.

PHASE Ⅱ: 基础训练Ⅱ 应用和理论  - 系统和跨学性导论

THEORY & APPLICATION - Introduction of System

Phase 2 is the introduction of System where we will cover the SECOND core of computational design, interdisciplinarity. By learning several basic logics and applications of "Systems" conceptually as well as technically in GH, students can start to understand how different kinds of rules found in various fields of study could be used as the principle of design with the power of computation. For example, nature has always been a great inspiration for architects and there are quite a few examples of the application of those rules to the architectural design process.

We will learn 4 sets of Systems, Field, Aggregation (Tiling, Component, Stochastic), Voronoi, Network, each of which comes up with a conceptual introduction of System in the form of lecture and corresponding modeling exercises. Exercises involve usage of GH plugins.

PHASE Ⅲ: 形态构成 综合训练 设计原型

DESIGN - Design Prototyping

Phase 3 is the main phase of our design studio. Students are required to apply the Systems in their design to explore the relationship between form and spatial structure. Here the focus is to articulate their own design intention to discuss the quality that they want to computationally achieve in their design. For this, students are asked to set the goal of the design simple yet very clear to be articulated, and then to express their design logic in the form of algorithms. As a result, this phase helps students learn how to build a coherent design logic that links all important design key elements: the goal, the rules and strategy, and the final result.

Methodologically, our design studio proceeded in the format of prototyping where students can experience a new type of design process. Prototyping is a quick design templating process which allows designers to focus on the establishment of an optimal and good design solution with feedback. The process involves setting the problem and goal, testing the methodology, and analyzing the result quickly to achieve efficiently what is called good design.

Student Work List

Student Work Review