Ludger Hovestadt: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2022

Name Prof. Dr. Ludger Hovestadt
FieldDigital Architectonics
Address
Inst. f. Technologie in der Arch.
ETH Zürich, HIB E 15
Stefano-Franscini-Platz 1
8093 Zürich
SWITZERLAND
E-mailhovestadt@arch.ethz.ch
DepartmentArchitecture
RelationshipFull Professor

NumberTitleECTSHoursLecturers
052-0629-22LCAAD Practice: Operative Abstractions - From Aristotle's Syllogism to Machine Learning Information 2 credits2GL. Hovestadt
AbstractThis course aims to present the notion of abstraction as a central (operative) concept enabling our science, technology and lifestyle to transition to its 20th-century modalities.
ObjectiveThis course aims to present the notion of abstraction as a central (operative) concept enabling our science, technology and lifestyle to transition to its 20th-century modalities. This notion will be illustrated with the example of a computer as a technical object. We will thoroughly show how computers work and what computer code is about within a broad multidisciplinary historical context.
ContentAs the practical part of the course, we will be building a simulation of a computer from scratch using the most elementary logic circuits and the Logisim software. Then, we will design a computer language which will allow us to write programs for our computer. Finally, we will explore how, starting from such an elementary language, it is possible to develop all the complexity in contemporary computation, including machine learning.
Lecture noteshttp://www.caad.arch.ethz.ch
Literaturehttp://www.caad.arch.ethz.ch
Prerequisites / NoticeNo previous knowledge is required for joining this course.
052-0635-01LMathematical Thinking and Programming III Information
Does not take place this semester.
2 credits2VL. Hovestadt
AbstractAn introduction to information technology for architects. It is not about the HOW, but rather about the WHAT, not about virtuosity when dealing with digital tools, but rather about understanding coding. Not about pragmatism, but rather about literacy. It forms the basis of digital architectonics, the art of joining, which needs to be cultivated with care, prudence and patience.
ObjectiveNormally, one would expect this course to teach students how to draw architecture while using computers. This course does not because digital architectural models are not drawn, but encoded.

In the current discussion about building information models (BIM), we see how blocked the situation can become when one draws architecture digitally. Today, digital models are a tedious 'minefield' with hundreds of gigabytes of data of all kinds. A digital model as code, however, is lightweight, compact and fast – a sparkling crystal, like poetry.

That is why coding is the focus of this course. More specifically, students learn to read code and to value thinking in code. Learning active coding goes beyond the time-frame and should not be forced upon people. Thanks to digital awareness, students can quickly learn a wide variety of software using help available in the Internet, and competently use it according to their personal preferences. The aim of the course is for the students to develop as architects and to grow a digital personality.

Specific reference is made to the history of architecture in conjunction with mathematics and philosophy. The essential tool of the trade is the lambda calculus in the implementation of Mathematica. The information technology interconnection of all digital media will be presented: text, image, graphic, model, animation, film, audio and the corresponding software. Current issues will be discussed: Internet, Internet of things, cryptography, privacy, big data, machine intelligence, building information models, responsive cities, smart homes, robotics, energy and logistics. Current and historical modelling processes will be worked on.
ContentThe Mechanics of Digital
Introduction and overview on folding
Calculus
Text and numbers
Lists and colours
Pictures and films
Cryptography and communication
Rules and graphs
Graphics and Animation
3D models
Solid models
Music and sound

The Big Plenty
Parsers
Databases
Machine intelligence
Many images
Many texts
Many drawings
Many models
Smart buildings
City and country
On the Internet of Things

A Digital Archaeology of Architecture
The geometry of Euclid
The architecture of the Greeks
The arithmetic of Ptolemy
The architecture of the middle ages
The geometry of Descartes
The architecture of the Renaissance
The arithmetic of Lagrange
The architecture of the Enlightenment
The algebra of Boole
The architecture of the classical period
The theory of categories
The architecture of the 20th century

The Digital Architectural Model
Architecture and poetry
The perspective model
The probabilistic model
The crystal
The hybrid
The continuum
The Oikos
The model concept 1920
The model concept 1950
The model concept 1980
The model concept 2010
Brand and style
052-1109-22LArchitectural Design V-IX: Meteora #07 Reasons (L. Hovestadt) Information
Please register (Link) only after the internal enrolment for the design classes (see Link).

Project grading at semester end is based on the list of enrolments on 1.11.22, 24:00 h (valuation date) only. This is the ultimate deadline to unsubscribe or enroll for the studio.
14 credits16UL. Hovestadt
AbstractThis studio works on the idea that a substantial understanding of
today's technology (internet of things, big data, machine
intelligence ...) changes the perspective to architectural theory
and will result in different architectural designs and building
Constructions.
Objective1) Identification and understanding of the challenges of today's
technologies;
2) techniques of working within the plenty of the internet;
3) a methodology to design digital architectures;
4) understanding of the shift from hard building construction to soft building applications, and
5) an understanding of the importance of becoming a literate digital persona in order to be an architect today.
ContentMETEORA #07

will use artificial intelligence
        to write a text to explicate a precise position in today's world,
        to create a spectrum of images to reflect this world
        and design an architectural artefact which brings things into adequate proportions
Prerequisites / NoticeIndividual work only.

Introduction: 20.09.2022, 09:30, HIB E15.
Intermediate crits: Dates will follow.
Final crits: 20./21.12.2022
No extra costs.
064-0015-22LPhD Colloquium Theory of Information Technology for Architects Information 2 credits2KL. Hovestadt
AbstractInformation technology plays an increasingly important role in research. To meet this challenging development, it is not only important to acquire respective skills, but also to consider and understand information technology in what sets it apart from other gestalts of technics (like mechanics, dynamics, or thermodynamics).
ObjectiveThe aim of this colloquium is to counter an observable tendency, that proportional to the degree in which students master practical skills in computing, they increasingly submit uncritically, in their understanding and framing of problems, to the dictation of schemata and templates implemented by technical systems.
ContentThe starting point for this colloquium is to comprehend computing not in terms of skills, but as a literacy which we can experience emerging today. Like in the case of writing as well, computing cannot exhaustively be reduced to either logics, grammar, arithmetics, or analytics. Rather, computation, if comprehended as a literacy, relates to any of the established categories of learning and raises questions of an architectonic kind. This colloquium draws from the principal richness of cultural forms of knowing and learning and thematizes approaches to formulate a theoretical stance on information technology for architects which is driven by and resting on the actual reality of computability today. In this, it is complementary to those theory courses on technology offered by the historical disciplines at ETH.
Prerequisites / NoticeTo benefit from this course, you should have a practical affinity to technics, as well as an abstract interest in information technology in its comprehensive cultural context.