825500 SE Digital Architectural Design Workshop
Sommersemester 2025 | Stand: 10.03.2025 | LV auf Merkliste setzenThe Digital Architectural Design Workshop 1 (DAD W1) is a Blended Intensive Program (BIP) promoted by the University of Granada (UGR) in collaboration with the University of Innsbruck (UIBK), which serves as the host institution, alongside the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STU) and the UMPRUM Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague as partner institutions.
DAD W1 is a recurring initiative with a rotating host location. Each year, the workshop focuses on reinterpreting local architectural and construction traditions through computational design and digital fabrication techniques. This year, in Innsbruck, the focus shifts towards exploring sustainable and contextually relevant construction techniques, closely tied to the natural and architectural heritage of the region.
The workshop focuses on Computational Design Techniques, Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Fabrication. Participants will explore a structured process, starting with ideation and progressing to the production of modular components. This involves:
- Workshop Topics: Participants will engage in digital creativity, modular design, sustainable construction techniques, and the integration of Artificial Intelligence tools .
- Expected Outcomes: Teams will develop hands-on experience, produce innovative modular designs, and fabricate physical prototypes using sustainable or experimental materials.
- Structure: Each day includes lectures, tutorials, collaborative teamwork, and critique sessions to refine designs.
- Tools and Resources: Access to computational software and a 3D clay printer will enable participants to prototype and test modular systems.
The conceptual foundation of this course is rooted in a specific philosophical perspective on the climate crisis, drawing from the idea that our planet is composed of six interrelated spheres (as explored in Log 60: The Sixth Sphere. Anycorp). This object-oriented framework enables us to understand sustainability as a network of interactions—dynamic relationships between the five natural spheres (Lithosphere, Atmosphere, Biosphere, Hydrosphere, and Cryosphere) and their tension with the Technosphere, the vast network of human-made technologies acting as a primary agent of change (Peter K. Haff).
As climate change destabilizes environmental conditions, architecture must evolve beyond traditional typologies, shifting towards adaptive, performative, and symbiotic habitats. This course approaches architecture as an emergent system—one that arises at the interface between natural spheres and the Technosphere, negotiating new material, spatial, and environmental relationships.
The course is structured around two key thematic investigations:
1 1. AI-Driven Speculative Design: Novel Topologies
- AI-generated morphologies → Utilizing AI for speculative form-finding, generating unconventional spatial and material organizations.
- Generative AI as a non-anthropocentric tool → Exploring architectures that do not rely on human-designed precedents but instead emerge from algorithmic, data-driven processes.
- AI to Digital Design Device → Translating AI-generated architectural morphologies and assembly logics into structured digital geometric frameworks.
2. Computational Design Techniques
- Computationally optimized systems → Developing data-driven design strategies that enhance structural and environmental performance.
- Computer-driven assembly logics → Investigating algorithmic rules for modular construction and adaptable spatial systems.
- Slicing techniques → Exploring advanced digital fabrication workflows to optimize material efficiency and construction precision.
3. Digital Fabrication and 3D-Printed Clay Structures
- Digital Fabrication → Developing modular 3D-printed prototypes in clay, investigating their structural, functional, and ecological potential.
- Prototyping adaptive morphologies → Fabricating climate-responsive tectonic systems that interact dynamically with environmental forces.
- Specificity of 3D-Printed Clay Structures → Exploring the material, structural, and environmental properties unique to clay-based additive manufacturing.
This course explores resilient climate morphologies at the intersection of artificial intelligence, computational design, and digital fabrication. Students will:
· Utilize AI as a speculative design tool, generating non-anthropocentric forms and challenging typological conventions.
· Develop 3D-printed clay prototypes, testing fabrication strategies that respond to adverse weather conditions.
By the end of the course, students will have designed, digitally simulated, and physically prototyped architectural solutions that engage resilient planetary systems and emergent materialities.