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# Computational Design

Design Beyond the Project: Reframing Practice Through Scalable Digital Services


MaCAD 2025-2026 by
MaCAD 2025-2026

A conversation with Jesper Wallgren Introduction In recent years, computational design and BIM workflows have become common tools in architectural practice. However, most of these tools remain confined to individual projects, often developed as internal scripts or one-off automation solutions to solve immediate design problems. While effective in improving efficiency within a project, these tools … Read more

Bridging the Gap: What Two Computational Industrial Designers Taught Me About Getting In


MaCAD 2025-2026 by
MaCAD 2025-2026

Computational design can feel like a field you need permission to enter, a space guarded by complex software, specialized knowledge, and a career path that isn’t clearly written anywhere. But after sitting down separately with Aaron Porterfield, developer of the open-source Grasshopper plugin Crystallon, and Aman Agrawal, founder of Cademy and computational design specialist at … Read more

Fa(ça)de


MAA 2025-2026 by
MAA 2025-2026

Fa(ça)de explores robotic clay fabrication as a method for producing expressive, materially efficient façade modules. Starting from a 2D patterned surface, the project develops a parametric workflow that transforms mesh-based geometries into 3D printed clay elements with controlled relief, wave amplitude, and module rotation. Through iterative prototyping, the design responds to fabrication limits such as … Read more

Behavioral Investment in Urban Decision Making


MaAI-02 2025-2026 by
MaAI-02 2025-2026

PROBLEM: Current urban investment decisions, particularly in social housing, are largely based on financial feasibility studies, static socio-economic indicators, and ESG-style metrics that fail to capture how people actually experience and use space and often overlook real-time behavioral dynamics: how people move, engage with space, perceive safety, or interact socially. In dense metropolitan environments like … Read more

Passadís d’ordinadors


MAA-01 2025-2026 by
MAA-01 2025-2026

Concept Inspiration Creating a tensile pavilion structure based on Felix Candela‘s arch and aisle geometric logistics and diagrams. Iterative design approach based on ‘anchor points’ on a frame. Exploring scalable methodology for Kangaroo based computational design processes. ‘Iglesia de la Medalla Milagrosa‘ Felix Candela – photo by Lola Alvarez Bravo, 1954 Felix Candela Drawings and … Read more

The Cellular Dune


MAA-01 2025-2026 by
MAA-01 2025-2026

Project Brief Forces of Nature explores how architectural form can emerge from the interaction of natural forces rather than being predefined. Using computational simulations, the project allows tension, gravity, and equilibrium to shape spatial structures. The installation translates invisible physical behaviors into visible design, creating a form that is discovered through force-driven processes and realized … Read more

Computational Design Seminar


MAA 2025-2026 by
MAA 2025-2026

Tetuán Lattice Canopy Tetuán Lattice Canopy is a lightweight tensile pavilion proposed for Plaça de Tetuan. Inspired by the plaza’s circular geometry, the project uses a hexagonal lattice to organize a structural field around the central monument. Hexagons are transformed into a three-dimensional network supported by branching columns. Fabric-like meshes are tensioned between the segments … Read more

Computational Design Seminar II | Air-Cast Shell


MAA-01 2025-2026 by
MAA-01 2025-2026

Site analysis The architectural intervention is situated within Plaça de la Virreina, a prominent public square in the Gràcia district. The initial analysis involved a comprehensive mapping of existing urban conditions, specifically focusing on the primary access points to the square and the location of existing trees. These environmental constraints were not viewed as obstacles … Read more

Reciprocal Canopy


MAA-01 2025-2026 by
MAA-01 2025-2026

Designed for the IAAC rooftop, this pavilion merges computational design with advanced robotic fabrication. The geometry originates in Grasshopper, where a basic mesh is transformed into an optimized vault using Kangaroo’s physics-based dynamic relaxation. A reciprocal frame pattern is then applied, translating the continuous shell into short, mutually supporting timber pieces. Because every interlocking element … Read more

REPOSE


MAA-01 2025-2026 by
MAA-01 2025-2026

Computational Design II (Level 2) – Final Assignment This project proposes a computational timber pavilion for the IAAC rooftop in Barcelona, conceived as a Bio-Maker space that integrates digital fabrication, structural logic, and urban biodiversity. The structure is generated through a parametric space-frame system composed of American oak members connected through stainless steel bolt ball … Read more

Arcada Viva


MAA-01 2025-2026 by
MAA-01 2025-2026

The project situates the pavilion within the urban fabric of Plaça Reial, accompanied by initial conceptual sketches that explore a shell-like structure emerging from the geometry and atmosphere of the square. SITE INSPIRATION WORKFLOW PSEUDO CODE RENDERS

Relaxed tectonics


MAA-01 2025-2026 by
MAA-01 2025-2026

This research explores the intersection of physics-based form-finding and multi-objective evolutionary optimization to design a high-performance architectural pavilion. Utilizing Kangaroo2 for structural mesh relaxation and Wallacei for the genetic optimization of seating. The result is a topologically optimized structure where complex geometry is not merely aesthetic, but a direct manifestation of environmental data and structural … Read more

the Proxy Pods


MAA 2025-2026 by
MAA 2025-2026

a Rooftop Lounge for Staff and Students Concept A series of digitally fabricated modular timber egg pods surrounded by physics-simulated tensile elements. A hexagonal structural system supports intimate enclosures, a suspended hammock, and a tensile canopy, forming clear gradients of privacy within one cohesive framework. Pseudo-code Parameter Playground Catalogue Pod Options Testing polygon scale options … Read more

Syntactic Assemblage


MAA-01 2025-2026 by
MAA-01 2025-2026

This project explores the computational assembly of components to form a multi-functional complex. By translating configurations into graphs, we applied Space Syntax logic to evaluate three key values : Depth, Integration, and Choice. The optimal architecture was selected based on the balanced symmetry of these indices. Finally, these analytical values directly guided the spatial programming, … Read more

MIRADOR


MAA-01 2025-2026 by
MAA-01 2025-2026

After Gaudi Seminar2025 / 2026 Narrative El Mirador funciona como un instrumento espacial que marca tres referencias : el mar Mediterráneo, la Sagrada Familia y Montjuïc, estableciendo un diálogo entre estructura, geometría, expresión material y paisaje. Siguiendo la estrategia de encuadre de la Casa Milà, donde la Sagrada Familia se plasma mediante una abertura arquitectónica … Read more