The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry is undergoing a rapid shift as technological innovation continues to reshape design and building processes. Computational design has become a central part of this development, giving architects and designers the ability to generate, evaluate, and refine complex design ideas through algorithmic methods. By defining rules and parameters digitally, it becomes possible to work with geometric and spatial relationships that would be extremely challenging to produce by hand and to explore a broader range of design possibilities in a systematic way.
Rhino Grasshopper plays a key role in this context. As a visual programming environment, it allows users to build and test design logic, develop intricate geometries, and create systems that respond to data-driven inputs. Building on the foundations introduced in the previous semester, the Institute for Structural Design (ITE) offers the second part of the seminar to extend these skills and deepen students’ understanding of computational strategies. This continuation of the course provides an opportunity to move beyond introductory workflows and engage with more advanced techniques.
Over the course of the semester, students will take part in weekly tutorials, hands-on exercises, and input lectures that focus on several advanced topics, including:
The aim of the program is to encourage critical engagement with computational methods and to strengthen the connection between design thinking and technological tools within architectural education. By the end of the course, students will be better equipped to address the increasingly complex challenges present in contemporary architectural practice and to integrate computational approaches into their own design work with greater confidence.
Max Gerber, Jonas Gruhl, Rafael Helm, Yiwen Liang, Nico Marcinkowski, Qin Xu, Carlos Zamora González, Mingyan Zhang, Alessa Zinn
