Design System Assemblages - the continuous curation of Design Computation Processes in Architectural Practice

Paper in proceeding, 2017

This paper maps design systems, a mode of operations formulated by Dsearch, a design computation R&D unit at White arkitekter AB. The authors also discuss the organisational learning resulting from facilitation of architectural design with computational methods and development of bespoke workflows. Two design system cases are described using assemblage theory, as developed by Manuel DeLanda. This materialist ontology is found useful, both in terms of research reflexivity and descriptive clarity. The authors critically assess their position as insider action researchers; rather than perceiving academic knowledge as necessarily distinct from practical, the paper shows that knowledge produced in design practice, research and development in practice, and academic research, differs in degree - not in kind. Design computation management is considered an emergent mode of architectural practice, beyond the specific aspects of form making - bridging project, development and research dynamics. The research and design methodologies laid out here should be read as steps towards an epistemological foundation for prototype driven organisational learning with respect to design computation in architectural practice.