FS2014 | Information Architecture of Cities

Understanding a city is fundamental for the meaningful design and management of a city. “Information Architecture and Future Cities” opens a holistic view on existing and new cities, with focus on Asia. The goal is to better understand the city by going beyond the physical appearance and by focusing on different representations, properties and impact factors of the urban system. We explore the city as the most complex human-made organism with a metabolism that can be modelled in terms of stocks and flows. We investigate data-driven approaches for the development of the future city, based on crowd sourcing and sensing. You will learn to see the consequences of citizen science and the merging of Architecture and information space. The course describes origins, state-of-the-art, and applications of information architecture and simulation. Both rapidly gain importance in the design of buildings, cities and territories. As course requirement, there will be three short exercises.

Where: HIT F22
When: Mondays 11:00 – 12:00
2 ECTS

Supervision:

Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schmitt    gerhard.schmitt@sl.ethz.ch
Denise Weber                      denise.weber@arch.ethz.ch
Dongyoun Shin                   shin@arch.ethz.ch

Flyer

HS 13 Information Architectur of Cities – IBook

FS2014 | Visualize ComplexCity

Analyzing and understanding cities is an important phase in urban design. In the future, communication of such is as important. In this course you will use programmatic data visualization to gain new insights to the inner workings of a city and explain them with animation videos to a broader audience.

To do so, you will learn in the course how to connect the two worlds of programming and animation. In the first part of the lecture, you will acquire basic programming skills and write your first programs. At the end of the two weeks, you will develop a first simple computer-game. In the second part of the course, we will jump into the world of animation. Basic animation principlesare taught. At the end of this two weeks session, a short animation will result which will tell the story of one of the many feedback loops in the urban context. The third two weeks session will then connect the before learned and you will combine your new programming and animations skills to visualize abstract data collections in comic-style videos. The last weeks of the course will focus on developing your own project. The result will be a video which tells a story of a particular property in the city.

You will learn how to use Python programming as a tool and how to render an animation using Blender.

Where: HIT H12
When: Fridays 12:45 – 14:45
4 ECTS (for 80% attendance)

Supervision:
Dani Zünd,

Lukas Treyer

 

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FS2014 | New Methods in Urban Analysis and Simulation

 A solid knowledge of computational methods is an increasingly important key competence for future architects or urban planners. In this course you will learn how to analyze and generate spatial configurations with advanced computational methods. 

In a series of theory lectures we explore how designing and planning of cities could become evidence based by using scientific methods. Various exercises will provide training for your skills in working with state-of-the-art yet office proven design tools (Depthmap, Ecotect, and Rhino/Grasshopper). In an integral project work, you will deepen your knowledge in spatial analysis and simulation methods such as Space Syntax using Depthmap software and environmental analysis with the program Ecotect. In addition you will acquire skills for using analysis methods for generative design processes. Therefore we introduce you into the parametric design software Grasshopper for Rhino 3D. 

Based on the methods introduced during the semester, you will learn and understand different effects of planning and design interventions on urban life. At the end of the course you will be able to interpret analysis and simulation results, and to apply correspondent computational methods for your own planning projects.

Lecture, HIT F22 – Value Lab
Exercise, HIT H12

Flyer

Supervision:

Dr. Reinhard König

Estefania Tapias

Matthias Standfest

 

L10 – Das System Territorium – Landschaft und Wasser. Territory as a System – Landscape and Water

2013-12-02 / Valuelab HITF22

Gerhard Schmitt / Das System Territorium – Landschaft und Wasser. Territory as a System – Landscape and Water

PDF / IBook File available at the Chair

L09 – Das System Territorium – Organisation und Mobilität. Territory as a System – Organisation and Mobility

2013-11-25 / Valuelab HITF22

Gerhard Schmitt / Das System Territorium – Organisation und Mobilität. Territory as a System –  Organisation and Mobility

PDF / IBook File available at the Chair

L08 – Das System Stadt – Makro, Mikro und Zurück. City as a System – Macro, Micro and Back

2013-11-18 / Valuelab HITF22 und Singapore

Dirk Hebel / Das System Stadt – Makro, Mikro und Zurück. City as a System –  Macro, Micro and Back

PDF File with the exercise explanation: Exercise_3

L07 – Das System Stadt – Soziologie. City as a System – Social Science

2013-11-11 / Valuelab HITF22 und Singapore

Gerhard Schmitt / Das System Stadt – Entwurf. City as a System – Design

PDF / IBook File available at the Chair

L06 – Das System Stadt – Entwurf. City as a System – Design

2013-11-04 / Valuelab HITF22

Gerhard Schmitt / Das System Stadt – Entwurf. City as a System – Design

PDF / IBook File available at the Chair

L05 – Das System Stadt – Materialflüsse. City as a System – Material Flows

2013-10-28 / Valuelab HITF22

Gerhard Schmitt / Das System Stadt – Materialflüsse. City as a System – Material Flows 

PDF / IBook File available at the Chair

L04 – Das System Gebäude – Habitat. Building as a System – Habitat

2013-10-14 / Valuelab HITF22

Gerhard Schmitt / Das System Gebäude – Habitat. Building as a System – Habitat

PDF File with the exercise explanation: Exercise 2