A generative grammar for 2D manufacturing of 3D objects

Abstract

Much of the current research in Design and Computation for Architecture proposes to automate the production of construction information as a means of freeing architects from the sticky and inconvenient contingencies of dealing with physical matter. This approach has yielded promising questions and applications, but is based on two related assumptions that often go unnoticed and that I wish to confront: 1.Designers are more creative if they only need to engage with the superficial aspects of the objects they design and 2. The symbolic 3D environments of current design software are the ideal medium for design because they hide from the user the contingencies of physical matter. I examine these assumptions and the potential of a generative grammar to enable an alternative dialogue between design and construction. What happens when the generative grammar for design and construction are one and the same? In this thesis I present a generative grammar for 2-dimensional manufacturing of 3D objects as a vehicle for discussing the millenary tradition in architecture of separating design and construction knowledge.