A hermeneutical sketch of design computation

Abstract

Design computation is considered in a hermeneutical approach as a way of doing and thinking. The hermeneutical framework presented delineates the interpretive modes of design computation which are then exemplified through a protocol analysis of a simple design task carried out by a group of first year architecture students. The ways in which participants bring meaning to a specific design situation through computational means relate to key notions of interpretation. The inquiry focuses on the benefits of using language by writing, for both articulating/monitoring ideas and actions in the past and operating/processing on those in the future. Keywords: design computation; doing and thinking; hermeneutics; language; design process.