Digital Media I

The course will help to develop basic skills in visual literacy and communication through the use of digital media. Considering that one of the primary roles of architects in the late twentieth century was that of a designer and organizer of information, the course will develop basic digital modeling and drawing skills in conjunction with the examination of contemporary presentation techniques developed by established architects and their projects. While digital media were originally developed to assist, enhance, or replace manual methods (i.e. CAD), an attempt will be made in this course to emphasize the uniqueness of digital media as a form of design thinking. Instead of simply transferring to a computer ideas preconceived in the designer\’s mind and using the computer screen simply as a means of depiction, it is perhaps more appropriate for the future architect to employ the techniques, methods, and processes of digital media in order to form, read, and communicate design intention.The first part of this course (module 3) will cover issues related to two-and three-dimensional representation, i.e., painting, drafting, multi-media, hyper-media, modeling, and basic VRML. The second part of this course (module 4) will cover issues related to rendering, animation, and scripting. The assignments will be introduced in phases which will coincide with the introduction of softwares, theories, and techniques during the course.