Programming language in Architecture
Parametric design is a process based on algorithmic thinking that enables the expression of parameters and rules that, together, define, encode and clarify the relationship between design intent and design response. It's quite easy to distinguish something designed using parameters and algorithms from the rest, so it gives us a message "I'm contemporary, I was rethought".
Programming languages in Parametric Architecture:
Algorithmic is a term that refers to the use of procedural techniques in solving design problems. Technically an algorithm is a simple instruction. It relates as much to standard analog design processes, as it does to digital design processes. Within the field of digital design, however, it refers specifically to the use of scripting languages that allow the designer to step beyond the limitations of the user interface, and to design through the direct manipulation not of form but of code. Typically algorithmic design would be performed through computer programming languages like RhinoScript, MEL (Maya Embedded Language), Visual Basic, or 3dMaxScript.
In contrast, due to the difficulty of programming, the applications Generative Components and Grasshopper bypass code with pictographic forms of automation. An algorithmic design exploits the capacity of the computer to operate as a search engine, and perform tasks that would otherwise consume inordinate time. It lends itself to optimization and other tasks beyond the limitations of standard design constraints.
Since the late 90s, these advances have coincided with the emergence of a number of digital research units within the commercial practice, such as the Specialist Modelling Group at Foster and Partners, Gehry Technologies spun off of baGehry Partners, the Advanced Geometry Unit at Arup, and CODE at Zaha Hadid Architects. These in-house digital research units have been developed as a means of ensuring that the complex buildings of today are designed and constructed efficiently, on time and within budget.
