Rereading Aggregates, Digital Design for Design 1

Abstract

Representation in Architecture can function in two different ways: to explain or to generate. Using a representation as a generative starting point, representation does not function to represent but to construct a reality that is yet to come, a new type of reality. This generative use of representation is generally understood as an invitation for interpretation. The described studio is replacing the process of interpretation with a process of application. The studio used sequence that moves from representation that functions as explanation to representation as application, which differentiates it from a design sequence that moves from explanation to interpretation as described by Stan Allen.

The discussed educational design methodology for undergraduate architecture studio instruction uses a systematic and research based design approach originally developed by Lars Spuybroek as a one-year graduate and postgraduate studio. Within this method students first analyze processes of systems that generate patterns. In this state the representation is used to explain an already existing process as a set of essential rules. It is then applying these rules universally to different architectural aspects such as program, envelop and structure. The paper will discuss the methodology for the graduate and postgraduate program developed by Lars Spuybroek, and explain its adaption for undergraduate studio instruction.