Course syllabus

ARK442
LP3 VT20
4.5 HP
Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Master's Programme in Architecture and Urban Design
See Studieportalen (link)
Version A (20/11/19)

Schedule
See Time Edit (link)

Start-Up
20/1 (M), 10:00~12:00
SB-R522

People
Jonas Lundberg (Course Leader)
jonas.lundberg@chalmers.se
Kengo Skorick (Tutor)
kengo@chalmers.se
Jonas Runberger (Lecturer, Critic)
jonas.runberger@chalmers.se

Purpose

Design & Communication Tools explores the development of new media technology and representation techniques in order to investigate how these new opportunities may influence the design and production of architecture of the present or near future.

This year’s edition of the course is focusing on multidiciplinarary design using found digital models, 3D scans, VR and 3D printing. First, it explores downloadable archi-tecture and 3D scanning as a starting point for multidiciplinarary design. Design stud-ies starts from an interpretation of Piranesi’s Camp di Marzio which is populated with found and scanned digital models. 3D models of the scanned Campo di Marzio are scanned through photogrammetry and those scans are used as a basis for drawings and visuals as well as more experimental kinds of representations. The focus is on how transitions between design mediums, between digital and analogue, pixel and vector, representation unlock opportinuties for design and representation.

Design and drawing studies are developed by cycling through a range of different soft-ware, mediums and machines with differing logics. The course uses photogrammetry (Autodesk ReCap), mesh and nurbs modeling as well as drawing and image mapping (Rhino and Grasshopper), Image and vector processing (Photoshop and Illustrator) as well as Virtual Reality (Unity).

The course aims at expanding the expertise and skills with current approaches to digital media, representation and the design of urban spaces within architecture. Fur-thermore, the aim is to develop the historical, theoretical and methodological under-pinnings of the role and use of emergent media and representation in contemporary practice.

Literature

Rowe, Colin, and Robert Slutzky. 1971. “Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal"
Bricken, Meredith. 1991. “Virtual Reality” Learning Environments
Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto, “Intensive and Extensive” and “Geometry and Matter”, in Atlas of Novel Tectonics (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006)
Girón, Javier ”Drawing and Construction Analysis: from Piranesi to Choisy”
Farinella, Cristian, and Greco, Lorena, Proceedings: ”Dynamically Sublime, Vision, and Image in Architecture; The Relationship between 3D Graphics and Physiology of Vision in the Construction of Rendering Images”
Testa, Peter, “Autonomous Translations,” in Fabrication and Fabrication (Los Angeles: SCI-Arc Press, 2014).

Structure

The course is structured around three weeklong assignments that introduce techniques and working methodologies. Student teams choose a starting point for their process by 3D scanning artefacts and search for digital geometries on-line. The second week we populate an area of Piranesi’s Campo di Marzio with the digital geometry before the final week when we explore the forms of representation that we can use including point cloud manipulation and VR in the production of an exhibition.

Assignments, tutorials and demos are accompanied by a text seminar where students and faculty read, present and discuss theory texts that interrogate the current issues of representation, aesthetics, imagery, drawings, technology, etc. In addition there is a guest lecture by Jonas Runberger (Chalmers & White). The course ends with a final review with invited guests, and an exhibition.

Knowledge / Understanding

+  Demonstrate a deepened understanding of digital as well as analogue methods, techniques and processes required to handle complex design issues within the field of architecture and urban design.
+  Conceive, analyze and/or realize architectural ideas through representations, prototypes and/or digital or material processes.

Abilities / Skills

+  Make advanced use of design media (e.g. drawings, diagrams, mapping, geometry, models, mock-ups, video, virtual reality, 3d-scanning, etc.) in order to inform and drive their design process.
+  Use the above in order to develop a design project of limited scope.
+  Analyze and communicate their designs through various modes of representation.
+  Appropriately devise refined types of representation to highlight specific conceptual issues and/or sensory qualities.

Tools:
+  3D Scanning, Photogrammetry (Autodesk ReCap)
+  3D Modeling (McNeel Rhinoceros)
+  Parametric Design (McNeel Grasshopper)
+  Raster Editing (Adobe Photoshop)
+  Vector Editing (Adobe Illustrator)
+  3D Printing
+  VR (Unity)

Ability to Assess / Attitude

+  Promote the value (and joy!) of refined means of representation and prototyping in architecture.
+  Critically relate their own work in the course to a larger issue or question of representation in architecture, as outlined in the course description.

Examination

Student projects will be presented verbally according to requirements (e.g. drawings, models, media, text) outlined in the course description and assessed in a final review with invited guests at Chalmers Department of Architecture. Each student project is further reviewed after submission. A minimum of 80% active attendance / participation in lectures, pin-ups, demos and visits is required in order to pass the course