Performative Ornament: Computational and Material Logics of Repetition and Difference

This paper describes a series of research seminars investigating the contemporary capacities of architectural ornamentation in the context of computational design and digital fabrication technologies. The pedagogy explores potential overlaps between ornamental systems and logics of performance-driven design, challenging students to formulate a critical agenda vis-a-vis the relationship between the two. How can material assemblies produce innovative, symbolic, or communicative visual effects while also addressing specific performance criteria? What kinds of new aesthetic, figural, representational, expressive, and spatial qualities can emerge from such a synthetic approach?