Rethinking Parameters in Urban Design

This paper describes the unique coupling of an architectural urban design studio with an in-depth digital media course for the purpose of exploring new avenues of architectural expression, urban form-finding, and communication through the exploration of urban parameters. By merging descriptive parameters of urban situations with digital parametric tools, the understanding of urban design processes was enhanced by the possibility to perceive and comprehend larger problems of spatial urban experiences. The paper discusses how variables, goals, and outcomes of this urban design studio, as well as its integration with digital parametric design, allowed the participants to create an innovative urban design language. It reviews the implications for design education, as well as for the understanding and communication of complex urban designs that are responsive to a variety of parameters. This work lies in the tradition of artists who push media to explore new interpretations of both the media themselves and of their artwork as much as it does of the use of parametric systems as technological tools.