Scratching the Surface of Parametric Design Possibility

This lecture will examine Antoni Gaudí's studio-based architectural design research from 1912–26, detailing major findings and interpreting them as parametric insights that go wider and deeper than many contemporary formal preoccupations. With his investigations into generative design, the richness of Gaudí’s pre-digital parametric design warns us to avoid the creative constraints that parametric software may inadvertently impose were it to lead rather than aid the way we design.

Mark Burry is an architect, writer and the founding Director of RMIT University’s Design Research Institute (DRI). Along with his research into Antoni Gaudí in Barcelona, his works focus on putting design theory into practice by ‘challenging’ architecture and digital design, as well as transdisciplinary design education and practice.