Computational Design Thinking

This anthology provides a unique collection of seminal texts by authors, who have either provided a significant starting point through which a computational approach to design has been pursued or have played a considerable role in shaping the field. An important aspect of this book is the manner in which adjacent fields and historical texts are connected. Both the source of original inspiration and scientific thought are presented alongside contemporary writings on the continually evolving computational design discourse. Emerging from the field of science, principally the subjects of morphogenesis, evolution and mathematics, selected texts provide a historical basis for a reconfigured mindset of processes that generate, arrange and describe form. Juxtaposed against more contemporary statements regarding the influence of computation on design thinking, the book offers advancements of fundamental texts to the particular purpose of establishing novel thought processes for architecture, theoretically and practically.

• The first reader to provide an effective framework for computational thinking in design.

• Includes classic texts by Johan W. von Goethe, D’Arcy Thompson, Ernst Mayr, Ludwig von Bertalanffy, Gordan Pask, Christopher Alexander, John H. Holland, Nicholas Negroponte, William Mitchell, Peter J. Bentley & David W. Corne, Sanford Kwinter, John Frazer, Kostis Terzidis, Michael Weinstock and Achim Menges

• Features new writing by: Mark Burry, Jane Burry, Manuel DeLanda and Peter Trummer.

Sean Ahlquist is a research associate at the Institute for Computational Design at Stuttgart University. He has taught at University of California Berkeley and California College of the Arts and founded the design firm, Proces2. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from the Emergent Technologies and Design Programme at the Architectural Association in London.