This course explores the role of computation in the conception and representation of form and shape. Learn Python programming language as a creative medium for design, architecture, art and beyond. Learners will develop, analyze and critique algorithmic approaches to digital drawing, modeling, and projection. Specifically, the powerful and robust Python Rhinoscript library will be introduced and explored in detail. This library allows Rhinoceros, the popular 3D graphics and computer-aided design (CAD) modeling software to be scripted with text-based code. Scripting in this manner can automate existing processes and can lead to novel kinds of relationships, and orders of shape and form.

Architects, sculptors, and any artist or designer interested in either fabrication or communication of form and shape will recognize the importance of projection–the the transformation of three-dimensional geometry onto a two-dimensional picture plane, cut sheet, paper, or screen. As a result, this course focuses not only on the generation of geometry, but the output of geometry.

In parallel to extending learners' technical proficiency, this course will touch on the conceptual and theoretical implications of algorithmic design. Each of the five lessons will build upon each other to develop an understanding of the Python language, algorithmic strategies, and digital geometric craft (the interrelated structures and topologies that make up digital models).