Computational design and built environments: The quest for an alternative role of the digital in architecture

Drawing has always been the most powerful instrument for the conceptualization, interpretation and representation of spaces and forms. Today, the computer screen complements the eye-brain telescope with an additional lens that increases the ability to understand, visualize and ultimately design the built environment. Computational design is dramatically shifting not only established drawing and modeling practices, but also - and perhaps most importantly - design thinking processes in the very conception and morphogenesis of forms and of their complex relationships in space. Specifically parametric modeling allows to understand geometry and manipulate shapes in dynamic, articulated and yet intuitive ways, opening up unprecedented design opportunities but also diminishing the importance of the design process for the sake of formal complexity. This chapters offers some insights on the incredible design opportunities offered by new computational instruments, as well as highlighting circumstances in which the act of 'modeling' takes over the 'design.'