AA_Houston Visiting School

INTERSCALESS          08 – 22 August 2012

Over the two weeks of the InterScaless workshop students develop parametric design strategies that enable them to generate design scenarios across scales while focusing on a given conceptual framework. The challenge this year is to rebuild the relationship between the emblematic structure of the Houston Astrodome and the urban structure of the city. To do this we will speculate via computational systems on the possible interaction between housing and local ecologies.

Students will work in teams to explore different scales and programmes for the generation of new urban relations. They will use parametric tools to renegotiate multiple scales in real time while incorporating complexity given by environmental conditions. Redefining the threshold between urban agents will give rise to a new syntax between architectural elements. Parametric techniques and tools will be introduced during the workshop. Students will also present and discuss selected readings relevant to the topic. The aim is to open up a critical debate about how this approach affects the work of the architect and redefines the language of the discipline.