Generative Systems: Evolving Computational Strategies

“Design, as understood broadly, is concerned with the process of form.” This quote summarizes the main point and argument that Therese Tierney is trying to make in her recent article titled “Generative Systems: Evolving Computational Strategies.” The design process is one of creating forms and structures, and has been implemented using various tools throughout the history of design. There are two parts to design; one being the physical design process and the second being the theory behind that design. So called “first generation design theorists (Bruce Archer, Herbert Simon, et al.) were concerned with how to rationalize the architectural product.” The second and third generation design theorists have shifted from this rational architectural product to a more integrated design approach incorporating the social aspects into the design process. Architectural design has become so much more than just “problem solving.” It has become an innovative and creative process focusing much more on invention. Whereas traditional architecture focused on the problem at hand and how to solve it, modern day architecture has shifted to a imaginative and hybridized system of design.
This shift in the design process has been largely brought about due to the advent of new computational strategies and new methodologies of design. Most of the time when talking about digital design the focus is on the software and hardware used in the specific design process. What many people miss out on is the theoretical components involved in the process. There is a large human component in digital design. Not just in the creation of new software but in the actual design process. These new digital means of design are simply new tools for a new generation of designers. It is a cognitive design process that involves a set of parameters, rules and guidelines of design. Digital design is an interaction between designer and computational systems. There is a general apprehension among older generations that digital design is taking away from the design process and that technology is now performing all of the design and the new generation of designers is merely clicking buttons and the design magically appears. This is far from reality. New design software is just another tool in the proverbial tool box of architectural and more broadly design practice.
Design theory and physical construction practices are becoming increasingly digital and this process is something to embrace not fear. There is a whole new world of design innovation and creative processes that exist if we only seek to take advantage of new digital software and digital practices. But there is one constant in any design be it digital or analogue, time. Time brings about change and this change can either help or hinder the design process given the designers approach to time. If viewed as a helpful presence and taken into consideration throughout the design process then the theory of time can aid in creating new and innovative design strategies and potentials. Change is the only constant and with the dawn of new digital production we are in an era of extreme change that needs to be embraced.