After successful completion of the course, students are able to...

- to develop an approach to design that serves environmental protection and the integration of architecture and the environment on different scales;

- to develop an approach that projects overlappig and hybrid land use, hybrid building typologies and integrated design solutions;

- to integrate existing terrain, climate and ecosystems into the design;

- to consider microclimatic and modulate it so that it meets different requirements;

- to plan and execute computer-aided workflows, to integrate GIS and parametric modelling with optimization tools for the purpose of transscalar design;

Embedded Architecturesis a design framework that focuses on intensive architecture and environment integration (terrain, climate, ecosystems, etc.). The studio will work on sites within the city limits of Vienna that border vineyards and green areas, as well as nearby nature parks. Projects will address questions of integrating mutiple species in architectural projects and developing corresponding hybrid building typologies. Special focus is placed on the interface between architectures, terrain, fauna and flora, etc.

The studio will focus on trans-scalar computational data-driven modelling and design. This includes utilizing cartographic data from GIS and data from other sources, such as simulations, to generate designs through computer-aided methods and tools. In the studio special focus will be placed on elaborating computational workflows. This requires good working knowledge in Rhino and Grasshopper.

Due to likely Covid 19 restrictions, lectures, workshops and project discussions will be offered online  in the summer semester 2021. These take place during regular class time on Thursdays. The slides of all lectures are made accessible on the course-specific Nextcloud folder.

GIS (QGIS & SAGA GIS) as well as computer-aided data-driven design and analysis processes in Rhino / Grasshopper are introduced and will be integrated into the design process. Project-specific computational workflows are developed.

Selected literature study is necessary in order to obtain relevant background knowledge.

Lectures and seminars serve as an introduction to the subject of "Embedded Architectures" and computer-aided design methodologies and tools.

The studio takes places in Thursday starting from 9:00 am and normally until 13:00 am. The duration can vary according to the size of student group.

There are occasional tutorial or seminar sessions on Thursday afternoons and Friday.

The studio will be in close exchange with the Ecolopes research projects that researchers how the building envelope can be designed from a multi-species perspective to support urban ecosystem, how such an approach can counteract environmental degradation and support human health and well-being through human-nature interaction.

Interim presentations with submission of specified parts of the work and final presentation of the studio work with invited guest critics.

Due to likely COVID 19 restrictions, the studio and the presentations will take place online during the summer semester 2021.

This studio is designed for students with good computer skills who want to deepen their ability to develop data-driven computer workflows that integrate GIS and parametric modeling and computer simulation and optimization tools. The studio will work with QGIS and SAGA GIS as well as Rhino and Grasshopper.

Good knowledge of the English language and of Rhino and Grasshopper are required to participate in the studio.