The potential of parametric design lies not only in facilitating the creation of complex geometries but rather in generating and validating a large number of variations of a certain design concept. Thus, it supports an essential part in the planning process: the exploration of possibilities. In order to gain most benefits of this potential, it is necessary to understand how to design parametrized shapes using simple and abstract rules, and how to stage a design idea into a logical sequence of steps (Algorithm), as well as, how to explore the possible solutions out of the designed algorithm.

In this course you will learn these skills in different practical exercises. These exercises are based on the idea of parametrizing the urban design process, which can be described as the algorithmic sequence for planning a city (e.g. building a street network that adapts to terrain, then dividing the available building blocks to fulfill specific typologies).

The course will only support the participants of the study project of European Urbanism and Advanced Urbanism and does not require any previous knowledge of scripting or programming. In this seminar students will first gain knowledge about general parametric modelling techniques using Grasshopper and Rhino3D. Then, they will apply the knowledge gained by generating and optimizing the design of their cities in the study project. All students will participate in a series of lectures, online tutorials, in-class sessions, as well as present and animate their design tasks during our weekly consultations.

Credits: 3 ECTS

Lecturer: M.Sc. Abdulmalik Abdulmawla, Vertr.-Prof. Dr. Sven Schneider

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