The AA Visiting School is a worldwide network organized by the Architectural Association School of Architecture in collaboration with each country they visit. They have conducted events and workshops all over the world including Beijing, Madrid, San Francisco, Santiago, Sao Paulo and Singapore among others. This time, from July 26 to August 6 they will visit the University of Tehran in Iran.
In recent years Iran has emerged as a cultural and economic hub within the Middle East; with its illustrious history in architecture it offers a fertile ground for research and investigation. Tehran, its capital city, has become a major laboratory for contemporary cultural production in terms of architecture. The AA Tehran Summer School will explore the potential of algorithmic design using simple elements.
More on the event with images of previous workshops after the break.
An algorithm develops complexity through the repetitive implementation of simple and clearly defined rules. CAD/CAM technologies have made available the possibility of non-orthogonal designs and geometries. In the pursuit of such designs through economical means, it is essential to look again at traditional methods of fabrication and assembly. contemporary architectural thought is often inclined towards the complex associations of parts into smooth and highly differentiated spaces. Many of these associations fail in their ability to materialise into architectures or built products.
Digital design is for this reason more often than not tied to the necessity of digital production. though this ambition is admirable in itself, it often fails to operate within more general and pragmatic questions that are dealt with by architects and designers in both industrialised and non-industrialised nations. The lack of cutting-edge means should not, however, mean the end of such pursuits. the digital era has opened the doors to a new kind of design in the human ability to figure, conceive, manage and communicate design intent. The shift in this paradigm lies not only in the tools implemented but in the generative processes and conceptual methodologies necessary for their creation. This workshop aims to look at the basics of intelligent design within low-tech solutions which are democratically affordable to all designers anywhere.
