The Advanced Digital Tools course instructs and engages students in the parametric computational tools necessary to assist the design and fabrication processes underpinning the installations developed within the Collaborative Design Studio.
Syllabus
Today growing cities are challenging the construction industry to find ways to build more, faster and at a lower cost. In the meantime the planet’s resources are very limited which urges us to start living and building in a more sustainable way. Designers and research environments together with industrial partners should investigate how new advances in material, digital fabrication and computation design could lead to a better construction ecosystem, aiming for efficiency, affordability and sustainability along with new expressive potentials.
WEARABLE ARCH @MATAEU
Learning Objectives
To approach complex design problems using multi-objective optimization methods, using advanced digital tools within the Rhino 3D software platform and parametric software Grasshopper as well as associated plug-ins, introduction on how to address environmental issues and the structural and material opportunities for creating complex architectural forms, learning how to model in 3D with nurbs software, learning to translate 3D models into files prepared for digital fabrication.
Faculty
Projects from this course
Advanced Digital Tools | Flying through Grasshopper
The purpose of this blog post is to take the readers through my journey with Grasshopper. Grasshopper is a visual programming language and environment primarily used in architecture, design, and creative fields. It’s a plug-in for Rhinoceros 3D, a CAD software, enabling users to create algorithms and generate complex designs through a node-based interface. In … Read more
Advanced Digital Tools
The Advanced Digital Tools workshop introduced me to the parametric software Grasshopper. This came in handy for the development and planning of many project-related tasks as well as for personal projects and experimentations. In the course, we were given many practical examples and tasks that I tried to continued further and translated into my own … Read more
Furnish Kids 2.0
The Furnish Kids program aims to improve public space through design interventions of tactical architecture. The design for this term has been developed to utilize natural materials such as Pine logs unused for previous Valldaura Labs projects and offcuts from wooden plan production. The materials have been cataloged, measured, and scanned for improved digital modeling. … Read more
Fountain Models | Advanced Digital Tools
3D Scan The fountain project for Open Nature was developed through a collaboration of hands-on experimentation and computer modeling. First, to understand the site best, it was advantageous to the group to 3D scan the landscape. This allowed us to work with dimensions and positioning relative to on-site boundaries that the mountains and vegetation created. … Read more
Open Nature | [WOOD]LE | Digital Tools
The project ‘[Wood]le’ – a ‘Wooden Noodle’ explores the idea of steam-bending tree logs to create a self stable structure. The Woodle assumes the function of a seating area as it rests on the ground at one end and folds up to become an element that frames the valley of Font Del Gos on the … Read more
Advanced Digital Tools for Open Nature | Mil Ramas
Through the classes of this course, we practised and learned how to apply the parametric software Grasshopper as well as associated plug-ins into our computational designs. We implemented what we learned in our studio projects in order to comprehend it in real-time. Since our project did not require any direct fabrication through 3d software, we … Read more
Advanced Digital Tools for Open Nature | Tapial Topography
As IAAC’s Valldaura Labs and Master in Advanced Ecological Buildings & Biocities (MAEBB) class of 2022/23 we have the opportunity to intervene in a natural setting at the edge of the city and act as a bridging element between the city and forest. Thus, the vision is to facilitate rejuvenation and giving the site of … Read more
