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curriculum and it seemed to make perfect sense to people here that the 3D
printer was simply an extension of computing as a key design tool.”
Architecture has historically had two major schools of thought: those that
believe architectural design to be an art, and those that believe it to be an
analytical process more closely aligned with engineering. “CAD had already
been a part of the curriculum for several years,” said Jeroen. “What was new
was the idea that the computer had a role in the actual design process, that we
could apply algorithms to help us design and create novel structures.”
“About 2-3 years after I arrived, digital prototyping permeated laterally into
every curriculum here,” said Jeroen. “People realize that the design software
and 3D printers are not an end in and of themselves. Instead, they're just
another tool to support the curriculum they already intend to teach.”
“Computers enhance the architectural design process. I call it 3D thinking,”
said Jeroen. “Now we're starting to get the technology we need to capture the
real complexity of things—the data—then we can start to work with that to
translate that into an algorithm and from there, into the designed object.”
“The hallelujah moment in a design project is when the data is coming
in,” said Jeroen, aptly summing up the new and growing role of data in the
design process. Ever-increasing amounts of data have become the raw mate-
rial of algorithm-based “intelligent” design and 3D printing. Data lows into
the architectural process from many sources. Laser scanning has become a
standard part of the architectural design process these days. Sensors provide
another rich and growing source of information.
Jeroen explained that his longer term vision (whose realization lies beyond
the scope of just a semester or two, of course) is to design a responsive 3D
printer. He envisions a construction 3D printer that could go onsite and print
homes and other structures on the spot. This responsive printer would react
in real time to data lowing in from sensors. Inlowing sensor data would
be rapidly interpreted by intelligent design software that would guide the
printer to fabricate structures optimized for the conditions in a particular
environment.
A responsive 3D printer would receive constantly updated design instruc-
tions and would adjust its printing process accordingly. Responsive design
software of the future could continually adjust the construction of printed
structures. Intelligent design software could adjust the shape of the structure's
footprint in order to make the structure more stable. In addition to guiding
shape, responsive and intelligent design software could also guide the materi-
als, or combination of materials, used by the 3D printer.
 
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