Making grammars: From computing with shapes to computing with things
Name
Knight & Stiny-Making Grammars.pdf
Size
3.62 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
57549dbb44ac9598817e7bd8c9629414
Author(s)
Knight, Terry W
Stiny, George N
Date Issued
September 2015
Journal
Design Studies
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation
Knight, Terry, and Stiny, George. “Making Grammars: From Computing with Shapes to Computing with Things.” Design Studies 41 (November 2015): 8–28 © 2015 Elsevier Ltd
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Recent interest in making and materiality spans from the humanities and social sciences to engineering, science, and design. Here, we consider making through the lens of a unique computational theory of design: shape grammars. We propose a computational theory of making based on the improvisational, perception and action approach of shape grammars and the shape algebras that support them. We modify algebras for the materials (basic elements) of shapes to define algebras for the materials of objects, or things. Then we adapt shape grammars for computing shapes to making grammars for computing things. We give examples of making grammars and their algebras. We conclude by reframing designing and making in light of our computational theory of making.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2015.08.006
