The way we construct things and how we use digital information to build buildings today is undergoing a dramatic change. AR and AI will be playing a key role in how we design, develop, and build things in the future. The overlaying of digital information onto the built environment in order to both facilitate the construction and to allow everything to be derived from a single database has been the status quo for the automotive and aerospace industries for decades. This workflow is slowly finding its way into architecture.

SCI-Arc has reimagined this Design Development class in an all-digital format that spans from digital mark ups, to digital building systems simulations, into a final video presentation. Building assemblies and components are no longer to be represented in static drawings, printed on large sheets of paper but rather in the format of dynamic animations of building assemblies, considering multiple dimensions including materiality, sequencing, cost, life-cycle, etc.

The intent of this course is to develop a cohesive understanding of how architects communicate complex building systems for the built environment and to demonstrate the ability to document a comprehensive architectural project and stewardship of the environment in the twenty-first century using a range of digital tools to simulate the integration of complex systems.