Journey of a Computational Designer with Nicholas Rawitscher Torres| AG 41

https://youtu.be/BQvc0eiQl7c

Journey of a Computational Designer

Nicholas has lived every aspiring computational designer’s dream which is to work for some of the biggest firms in the world who are at the forefront of computation, travel and also acquire new skills and technologies. In this episode, you will get to listen to Nicholas’s journey into Architecture and inevitably Computational Design, studying Architecture at Universidad de Los Andes Columbia, working at MAD Architects, 3XN & Fojab Code, discussions on Architectural Education, learning how to code, BIM, Automation,  visual programming, and a whole lot more.  Here’s a brief on Nicholas. He completed his Bachelor in Architecture in 2015 from Universidad de Los Andes. He then went on to work as a Graduate Architecture Intern at MAD Architects and also at 3XN/GXN. After which he pursued his M.Arch in the DRL Program at Architectural Association, London.  He worked as a Computational Designer and Software Developer at FOJAB for about a year and then went on to work as a Computational Designer at Zaha Hadid Architects. He is always found studying something related to computational design and always pushing his own boundaries. There’s a lot to learn from this episode and hopefully it inspires to become a computational designer too. 

Podcast Shownotes

02:00 Nicholas’s introduction to Architecture 03:40 Studying Architecture in Columbia  06:10 Architectural Education 07:20 How Nicholas picked up on Computational Design 12:30 A Parametric Tower for his Thesis & exploring computational design. 14:30 Moving overseas & Working at MAD Architects 22:00 Inefficiency in Beijing

“The Architectural Industry has bad staff management.”

22:50 Working at 3XN & Work-Life Balance 26:00 First C# Component  27:00 Architectural Competitions  30:30 Joining the DRL Program 37:30 Understanding Vector Mathematics

“Visual Programming is Superficial.”

40:50 The overlap between Mathematics, Computation, & Architecture. 42:05 Helium Based Drones - Thesis at DRL 45:30 

“The market demands automation and it is in every industry. And it is now arriving in Architecture as well.”

48:30 The importance of learning how to code

“People should learn how to code. It is similar to ‘reading & writing’”

50:50 AI & ML in Architecture 54:10 Jumping to another industry.

“There are no meshes for Architecture.”

54:10 Jumping to another industry. 59:50 Daily Routine 1:01:00 Working with BIM at Fojab Architects  1:01:20 Encounter with the Revit API

“I don’t know Revit but I know how to code in Revit.”   

1:03:20 Creating Dynamo Nodes using C# & Visual Studio 1:06:50 Advice for those getting into the Computational Space

The Quick Fire Round

Books

• Emergency by Steven Johnson
• Allure of Machinic Life by John Johnson
• The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins
• The Great War for Civilization 

Favorite Series

• Vikings
• Black Mirror

“I don’t think consciousness only belongs to humans.”

Favorite Music

• Martin Roth
• Alex
• Nicholas Jar
• Christian Loefler

Favorite City

• London

Connect with Nicholas

Linkedin

Notable Mentions

Rem Koolhaas Greg Lynn Johanna Freeman MVRDV Architectural Theories of the 90s UNStudio OMA MAD Architects Ma Yansong DANG Qun Yosuke HAYANO 3XN DRL Program Shajay Bhooshan Patrick Schumacher - Volume 1 Theodore Spyropoulos Seymour Papert Alan Turing - Morphogenesis  John von Neumann MIT Artificial Intelligence LAB Marvin Minsky Algebra & Calculus in Computational Design Unity, Population Logic, Super Organism. Air-Based Architecture that can constantly reconfigure - Nicholas’s Thesis at DRL Cybernetics Understanding Life through Machines Logo Programming Language - Seymour Papert Refik Anadol Data Structures & Algorithms Course - ‘Critical’ Khanacademy Machine Learning by Curiosity Click here to listen to our top episode on Archgyan The Archgyan Podcast is sponsored by our Courses. Sign Up Now to start your Architecture & Interior Design Journey.