Data Physicalization is an emerging research area that explores new techniques to design and to encode data into physical artifacts through geometry or material properties. Recent advances in Computational Design and Fabrication offer new opportunities to complement traditional screen-based visualizations enhancing people’s ability to discover, understand, and communicate data.
This course uses a data visualization approach to define new methods of computational design and digital fabrication. Students will create unique, data-driven, everyday objects and sculpt meaning into them. Through the use of platforms such as Rhinoceros, a 3D modeling software, and Grasshopper, a visual programming language, students will be introduced to fundamental computational methods for designing and fabricating, as well as the understanding of digital fabrication strategies for parametrically generated design.