Research and Design in Shifting from Analog to Digital

In this paper we track the evolution of computational design from its analog origins to its contemporary digital regime. Our long term goal is to qualify and quantify the implications of digital computation on design thinking and its influence on the architectural practice. Meanwhile, we present the results of our past few years of collaborative research in design and computation that illustrate the nature of the intellectual engagement required for appreciating the potential of digital design thinking and making. In a temporal frame, these results are expressed as a constellation of punctuated innovations emerging sporadically during the painstaking process of tackling architectural problems using digital means. In the long run, they hopefully amount to an approach to fleshing out a paradigm shift from analog to digital and building a knowledge foundation of architectural methods.