METU and TU Delft

METU and TU Delft

In 2010, Bilge İmamoğlu received his PhD for conducting research about the professionalization of Turkish architecture. The title of the work is ‘Architectural production in state offices: an inquiry into the professionalization of architecture in early republican Turkey’. The research took place both at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, and the TU Delft.

Developments in information and communication technology have an impact throughout the entire life cycle of a building, not only from a process and technical point of view but also from a creative design and materialization point of view. The rise of spatial modeling and form creation techniques enables architects to deal with forms that previously could barely be drawn or built, and that require nonstandard engineering and construction methods for their materialization. Therefore, the exploration and adoption of new techniques and methods for design and manufacturing, including parametric design approaches, performance-based design approaches and digital manufacturing techniques, are necessary. Parametric design enables the exploration of alternative designs within a single representation using parameters and associative relationships to control geometric and constructive aspects of the design. In performance-based design, performance goals with respect to various aspects, such as comfort and structure, are explicitly developed and updated during the design, and assessed and guarded throughout the design process. Digital manufacturing enables innovative design exploration through physical prototyping during the design process, and mass customization of non-standard architecture towards industrialization in a cost-effective manner.

The Faculty of Architecture of TU Delft and the Department of Architecture of METU developed a Joint Master of Science Program on Computational Design and Fabrication Technologies. The program aims to form a well-structured collaboration between the two universities in a graduate program ending with a double Master of Science degree. The Joint Program focuses on Computational Design and Fabrication Technologies with the goal of research in cutting edge design technologies and new design tools as well as new design paradigms in architecture. Candidates are expected to be adequate in research and have a background to follow up new design technologies and to enrich research and design in the field of architecture.

A graduate of the program is expected to be competent in one or more scientific disciplines, in doing research as well as in designing; and to have a scientific approach; to possess basic intellectual skills; to be competent in co-operating and communicating; to take account of the temporal and social context in addition to the exit qualification criteria for professional architecture programs in the countries of participating universities.

For further info contact department chair Guven Arif Sargin (sargin@metu.edu.tr) or program coordinator of computational design, Arzu Gonenc Sorgun (arzug@metu.edu.tr)