The status of construction design is changing. Its position in the design process and its functionality are shifting from a conventional role to a new one. In conventional design, a linear procedure starts from the first sketches and normally ends with the detailing of the final building’s configuration in terms of materialisation. A clear shift between design and construction is present and is supported by the division between design drawings and construction drawings. Recent developments in digital technology applications and the theoretical work supporting them propose a non linear design – construction procedure where decisions concerning both form and materiality are taken in all stages of the building’s conception and materialisation. Those decisions could even being taken during the building’s lifetime. Even further, what we usually call a changing paradigm due to IT implementation proposes a non – division of design and construction, a new interweaving of form and materiality.
The course through its lectures proposes a number of theoretical issues dealing with the shift of digital technologies towards materiality, the parametric design strategies, file to factory procedures and the design questions related to them.
The course’s design project focuses on the design of a small architectural item and the CNC production of its model. Through that, the students are familiarized with light programming, parametric design software and CNC fabrication tools, using the School’s Modelling Lab equipment (milling machines, 2d printers, laser cutters).
Dimitris Papalexopoulos
Athina Stavridou
