This 1.5-day conference will bring together architects, engineers, software developers and scholars of architectural theory, philosophy of science, and media studies to explore how and in what particular manner computer simulations and scripting techniques have an epistemic and aesthetic impact on the design and making of architecture. Papers and project presentations will offer an insight into the novel modes of code-controlled design and production by discussing the various methods, approaches, strategies, and translations involved within computational processes and fabrication tools. The conference aims to discuss a series of issues that include (but are not limited to) the following questions:
How and why do architects and engineers integrate computer simulations in their design and planning processes? What are the selection criteria for parameters and algorithms and how do they have an agency within a simulation or script? How do software and scripting contribute as tools and mediums to analysis, design, and fabrication and what are the implications for architects and engineers in becoming programmers and software developers? What is the potential of design computation for the improvement of communication and collaboration between architects, engineers, and programmers? Furthermore, what are the characteristics of a computational design culture and how do algorithmic practices and techniques affect the ways we describe, experience, and discuss architecture?

The conference language is English. The event is free and open to the public but registration is required. To register, please send an email to mecs[at]leuphana.de

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2015

09:30 – 10:00 Coffee and Registration

10:00 – 10:15  

  • WELCOME: Claus Pias & Martin Warnke, Directors, MECS Institute for Advanced Study on Media Cultures of Computer Simulation, Leuphana University Lüneburg
  • OPENING REMARKS Nicole Stöcklmayr, MECS Institute for Advanced Study on Media Cultures of Computer Simulation, Leuphana University Lüneburg
  • 10:15 – 11:00  Achim Menges (Institute for Computational Design, University of Stuttgart / Graduate School of Design, Harvard University):Computational Design and Material Culture
  • 11:00 – 11:45  Jan Knippers (Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design, University of Stuttgart / Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering, Stuttgart, New York, Berlin): Integrative Design in a Computational Environment

11:45 – 12:00  Coffee Break

  • 12:00 -12:45 Matias del Campo & Sandra Manninger (Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan / Tongji University, Shanghai / del Campo Manninger Architects, Vienna, Shanghai, Detroit): Moody Objects
  • 12:45 – 14:15  Lunch Break
  • 14:15 – 15:00 Moritz Heimrath (Institute of Architectural Sciences, Vienna University of Technology / Bollinger + Grohmann Ingenieure, Frankfurt a.M., Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Oslo, Melbourne): tba
  • 15:00 – 15:45 Stefan Rutzinger & Kristina Schinegger (The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London / Institute of Architectural Sciences, Vienna University of Technology / soma, Vienna, Salzburg): Alchemy and Simulation. Approaching the Formless

15:45 – 16:00 Coffee Break

  • 16:00 – 16:45 Barbara Imhof (Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna / LIQUIFER Systems Group, Vienna, Mumbai): "And The Stars Look Very Different Today." Collaboration, Visualization and Simulation Methodologies in Contemporary Space Architecture Practice

16:45 – 17:00 Coffee Break

  • 17:00 – 18:15 KEYNOTE Mario Carpo (The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London): The Style of Big Data

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015

  • 10:00 – 10:45  Andrea Graser (Studio Okular, Vienna): Coding Light Density
  • 10:45-11:30 Gabriele Gramelsberger (MECS Institute for Advanced Study on Media Cultures of Computer Simulation, Leuphana University Lüneburg): Life/Design/Matter – Towards a Philosophy of Parametric Thinking

11:30 – 11:45 Coffee Break
11:45 – 12:45 ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION
12:45 – 13:00 CONCLUDING REMARKS: Nicole Stöcklmayr (MECS Institute for Advanced Study on Media Cultures of Computer Simulation, Leuphana University Lüneburg)