Sentience-Towards a responsive and systems driven design process.

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Citations

Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/m039k5293

Abstract

Sentience is a pilot project and call for an alternative to the current design process most widely accepted and practiced in architecture and design. It challenges the current use of technology as simply a means for representation and end production, by suggesting a truly explorative and multi-disciplinary approach to designing through computation. Cutting- edge work such as Neri Oxman’s Material Ecology studies, or the fibrous, robotically-fabricated pavilions by Achim Menges exemplifies the potential for technology’s use in design that is not limited to generating form, but is attuned to the dynamic qualities of living systems. Integrating computation and design in an experimental and nonlinear, systems- driven process, I designed and built custom hardware modules to collect, visualize, and materialize the sound quality of various spaces. While a functioning data collection and design generating system was achieved, I found that in order to maximize the potential of computation for design, in the form of dynamic living systems, a truly interdisciplinary platform of artists, designers, scientists, and engineers is necessary. Sentience serves as a prototype for the future of cross-disciplinary design, experimental processes, and the transformational role computational systems have in contributing to our ever-evolving physical environments.

Creator