Design & Computation:
Generative Design Methods and Digital Fabrication
Technologies
The advance of computer graphics and interactive techniques in the 20th and 21st centuries is connected with the emergence of digital methods and tools used by architects and designers. The shift from analog to digitally based ways of thinking, conceptualizing, and making has ignited an outburst of creative potential. From analytical and generative design methods to visualization of large quantities of information, ubiquitous computing, information modeling, and digital fabrication technologies, the digital information with which architects and designers work has provided new means for expression as well as material that can be molded and reshaped in a radically different way.
SIGGRAPH 2008 will present the first SIGGRAPH exhibit on the topic of design and computation. The exhibit will illuminate two main themes:
- Analytical and generative methods for design. This theme will examine work in such areas as cellular automata, shape grammars, parametric design, fractals, and related topics. We will explore analytical and generative grammars that connect the past and future, bridging vernacular with contemporary examples.
- Design and digital fabrication technologies. This theme will focus on artifacts from various design disciplines (from jewelry design, textiles, and furniture to large-scale sculptures and architectural spaces) developed with digital fabrication technologies. Specific attention will be paid to the relationship between the scale of these artifacts and the human body.
The SIGGRAPH 2008 design and computation exhibit will provide multiple layers of engagement, from representational (for those interested in the aesthetics of artifacts) to speculative and philosophical, and address several different facets of the SIGGRAPH community.
If you have suggestions for the design and computation exhibit, please send them to:
SIGGRAPH 2008 Design & Computation
Lira NikolovskaAutodesk, Inc.