Syntactic Structures in Architecture: Teaching Composition with Computer Assistance

The present paper outlines a plan for the teaching of architectural composition with computer assistance.The approach is to introduce students to a series of architectural languages characterized by a vocabulary of elements and a grammar whose rules indicate how these elements can be placed in space. Exercises with each language include the analysis of precedents, the generation of forms using a given rule set, and follow-up studies with an expanded rule set. The paper introduces languages and exercises through illustrative examples. This architectural content can be taught in the traditional way. The use of computers is motivated by expectations which are stated, and some basic requirements for the needed software are listed. Work to develop this software has started