Proposing a Procedural Paradigm: An exploration of computational design thinking and computational design education within architecture

In recent decades digital technologies have had an increasingly pronounced impact upon the architectural discipline, and - more broadly - society as a whole. Characterised as ‘the Digital Turn’, many industries are incorporating digital processes within their own operational and andragogical models. Despite this, computational tools possess largely untapped potential as instrumental bases of architectural craft; as Carpo notes, the profession is decidedly reluctant to explore and embrace computational design practices: “architects, for the most part, have neglected or rejected the new digital commons”.

Traditional notions of ‘analogue’ design thinking are not wholly compatible with the emergent body of novel conceptual, cognitive, theoretical, and methodological content afforded by computer-mediated design processes. Beyond merely enabling computer-aided drafting, computer technologies allow for a distinct form of digital craft that challenges the centrality of paper-based representation and formal inquiry as conceptual foundations of architectural praxis. This design-research scrutinises superficial instances of computation - more accurately described as ‘computerisation’ - and demonstrates that computational methodologies form a discrete epistemic practice within architectural design. Specific focus is placed upon proceduralism; an extensible computational framework that - it is argued - features a complement of functionalities, suitabilities, and potentialities that may be exploited by architects.

This research offers a conceptual territorialisation of computational design methods as supported by other literature, and explores the cognitive basis of proceduralism - that being a direct occupation with the systematic identification, extraction, and codification of procedural (rather than declarative) design knowledge, and explicit use of computational functions to integrate such knowledge within creative and formative processes. The Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM3) is used to appraise the state of the art in architectural design education, demonstrating that existing educational models are ill-equipped to integrate computational methodologies without a revised understanding of design and making relative to this new paradigm. This paradigm is further juxtaposed via a series of pavilions (based upon the Serpentine format) and the documentation of their design processes. While formally distinct, the designs are teleologically consistent, exhibiting various design methodologies along a spectrum of computer utility - positing procedural and analogue methodologies as opposing poles.

‘Proposing a Procedural Paradigm’ formalises and expands upon the current body of research within the field of proceduralism using a socio-technical perspective to review – both critically and didactically – proceduralism’s role within architectural praxis, seeking to provide a more comprehensive understanding of digital technologies in architecture.