Ludger Hovestadt: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2022 |
Name | Prof. Dr. Ludger Hovestadt |
Field | Digital Architectonics |
Address | Inst. f. Technologie in der Arch. ETH Zürich, HIB E 15 Stefano-Franscini-Platz 1 8093 Zürich SWITZERLAND |
hovestadt@arch.ethz.ch | |
Department | Architecture |
Relationship | Full Professor |
Number | Title | ECTS | Hours | Lecturers | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
052-0629-22L | CAAD Practice: Operative Abstractions - From Aristotle's Syllogism to Machine Learning | 2 credits | 2G | L. Hovestadt | |
Abstract | This 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. | ||||
Objective | This 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. | ||||
Content | As 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 notes | http://www.caad.arch.ethz.ch | ||||
Literature | http://www.caad.arch.ethz.ch | ||||
Prerequisites / Notice | No previous knowledge is required for joining this course. | ||||
052-0635-01L | Mathematical Thinking and Programming III Does not take place this semester. | 2 credits | 2V | L. Hovestadt | |
Abstract | An 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. | ||||
Objective | Normally, 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. | ||||
Content | The 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 | ||||
052-1109-22L | Architectural Design V-IX: Meteora #07 Reasons (L. Hovestadt) | 14 credits | 16U | L. Hovestadt | |
Abstract | This 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. | ||||
Objective | 1) 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. | ||||
Content | METEORA #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 / Notice | Individual work only. Introduction: 20.09.2022, 09:30, HIB E15. Intermediate crits: Dates will follow. Final crits: 20./21.12.2022 No extra costs. | ||||
064-0015-22L | PhD Colloquium Theory of Information Technology for Architects | 2 credits | 2K | L. Hovestadt | |
Abstract | Information 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). | ||||
Objective | The 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. | ||||
Content | The 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 / Notice | To 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. |