Computational approaches in design

Computational Design is a multidisciplinary area of study which, in general terms, can be defined as the application of computational strategies to design process and whose relevant aspect relates to the creative logical nature and not to the mere instrumental component of the “calculation”. In design context, and in comparison with the real world, the computational project strategies instantiate themselves in the ability to manage a complexity of items, both as a set of structures and relationships and for the amount of data generated. The paper aims to investigate the concept of pattern, or rather the "path" that characterizes the structure, the relationships, the data and the solutions of the design process proper of computational approach. A concept, this, whose transversality between the research fields allows to overcome the disciplinary specificities and the design scales, to develop a relationship that finds a formal expression between a structure and a surface. To the static nature of the traditional typological models, in the pattern the computational project identifies both its own logical-creative structure, as well as the operational strategies of reworking a code in morphological variables. The paper shows some simple compositional patterns adopted by authors in researching responsive morphologies and relational design, which from a common generative matrix have found expression in various contexts of the project, including: i) analysis and destructuring of an installation based on the principle of the wave, identifying the morphological pattern through a process of abstraction and recomposition; ii) responsive dynamic forms based on the compositional principle of folding paper, highlighting the characteristics of modularity and extensibility; iii) iterative structures, in which the morphology enters into relationship with the material to give shape to specific performance configurations.