[ONL]

In the last decades some classic generative systems were studied and implemented with the aid of computation, allowing the architects to design more complex shapes. The production of those shapes is possible by the new means of production (all kind of machinery) which are now applied to construction. Architect Pieter Schreurs, from ONL, explains the use of parametric design and how they are fabricating complex architecture. ONL was funded and is led by architect Kas Oosterhuis and visual artist Ilona Lénárd. They design using computational design as an exploratory tool. This interview was recorded at the ONL office in Rotterdam, 04thMay 2015.

In this conversation about digital fabrication and complex shapes Pieter talks about their design process and manufacturing process of contemporary architecture. When he explains about the design of A2 cockpit, he stresses the importance of architects to have programing skills, otherwise it would be impossible, for instance, to draw ten thousand elements by hand. It is a big challenge for architecture professors to think the way architecture should be taught in this scenario.

Architects must have an open dialogue with the industry that will manufacture their buildings. In this contemporary approach, explained by Pieter, architects also have to be able to control the machines and communicate their design to the industry. At the beginning it could be a difficult task because the machines have been used in a traditional way for many years. In the other hand new companies are emerging to help architects in the production of complex shapes, and some architectural firms are forming groups of specialists to deal with complex shapes.

The implementation of a fully parametric design process is not an easy task, it demands from architects new skills, new knowledge, new design approaches. Although some offices like ONL have already implemented this contemporary approach to design for many years now, computational design is not an ubiquitous discipline. If architects need to learn different skills nowadays, it is important to discuss what changes need to be made in the architectural education.