Integrating Computational Design and Traditional Crafts - A Reinvention of Bamboo Structures

Abstract

This paper searches for an alternative design method of integrating traditional material craft and computational design. It begins by analyzing Chinese philosophical view of nature, and proposes a natural design built method. The paper demonstrates the idea with two bamboo structure projects. In China, bamboo is closely linked to culture values and traditional craftsmanship. The projects research on the formation logic of bamboo system, and employs computational design method to activate the system formation. The projects strive to investigate computational design with unique eastern characteristics, to find out how it can help to reinvent its traditional values, and to search for a unification of formation logic and material sensibility.