DME2100 Research in Design Computation
2017
Boston Architectural College
Department of Architecture
6.034/6.844 Artificial Intelligence
2016, 2018
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of Electr. Eng. & Comp. Science
4.542/4.581 Proseminar/Research Seminar in Computation
2016 - 2021
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of Architecture
Some Courses I Took, with my Term Projects
MATH130 Classical Geometry
A course on "the classical geometries", that is, affine, projective, Euclidean, hyperbolic and spherical geometries, offered by the Harvard Department of Mathematics. The textbook for this course was Stillwell, J. (2010) The Four Pillars of Geometry, Springer. I took this course in the Spring semester of 2020 when it was taught by Prof. Eylem Yildiz. In my final term project, "Classification of Finite Arrangements of Lines that Contain Shapes", I worked on a problem related to the combinatorics of line arrangements. In particular, I studied methods of classifying point-line arrangements that have the special property of containing realizable shapes (planar figures). I cover this early work in two arXiv papers that you can access here and here.
18.0651 Matrix Methods for Data Analysis, Signal Processing, and Machine Learning
A course on linear algebra concepts used for data analysis, statistics, optimization, and machine learning (in particular, neural networks), offered by the MIT Department of Mathematics. The textbook for this course was Strang, G. (2019) Linear algebra and learning from data. I took this course in the Spring semester of 2019 when it was taught by Prof. Gilbert Strang. In my final term project, "Linear Algebra for Shape Registration: A Comparison of Three Methods", I analyzed and compared three algorithms for point-set registration, namely, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Singular Value Decomposition (SVD), and Iterative Closest Point (ICP). You can access a copy of this project here.
6.863/9.611 Intro to Natural Language Processing
A laboratory-oriented course, offered by the MIT Department of EECS, focusing on understanding the biological human “faculty of language” and how that understanding can be integrated into natural language processing systems. I took this course in the Spring semester of 2018 when it was taught by Prof. Robert Berwick. In my final term project, "Natural Language and Spatial Rules", I worked on: (a) a model for spatial semantics representation that combined rules for verbal description and rules for shape generation, and (b) an implementation of this model with context-free rules and lambda calculus forms. You can access a copy of this project on ArXiv.
6.803/6.833 The Human Intelligence Enterprise
A seminar-style course, offered by the MIT Department of EECS, focusing on reading and analyzing seminal texts directed at the development of a computational understanding of human intelligence. I took this course in the Spring semester of 2015 when it was taught by Prof. Patrick Winston. In my final term project, "Verbal Description Styles and Envisioning of Spatial Compositions", I conducted an experimental study focused on: (a) cataloguing the verbal styles by which spatial compositions can be described, and (b) testing the effectiveness of those styles in the task of envisioning, i.e., the reconstructions of these compositions from their descriptions alone. You can access a copy of this project here. Here is the MIT OpenCourseWare website for this course.
Recommended Readings & Other Resources
This is a partial collection of books and other resources that have been useful and inspiring for me over the course of my education that may be of interest to students, educators, and researchers (note: this list is ongoing, and is in no particular order). It mostly contains books that focus on the relationship between calculating and design, but it also contains texts that should be of broader interest. Most of these should be available at a university library or online and you can also find used copies of books from Amazon, eBay, or AdeBooks.
Books
Shape: Talking about Seeing and Doing
by George Stiny
A monograph on the subject of shape grammars. The book is dedicated to showing how visual calculating in shape grammars includes symbolic calculating in classical computing machines and how in this way it broadens calculating to include art and design.
The Sciences of the Artificial
by Herbert A. Simon
A seminal book on design and artificial intelligence. Among other important ideas, it includes Simon’s educational programme, “The Science of Design”, aimed at incorporating the tools of artificial intelligence as aids to the design process.
Computation: finite and infinite machines
by Marvin L. Minsky
One of the best early books on abstract models of computation, based on lecture notes from classes taught by Minsky at MIT. One of the interesting aspects of the book is the in-depth discussion of how different models of computation are connected, such as the relation of finite automata to neural networks, of Turing machines to recursive functions, of digital computers to register machines.
A History of Modern Computing
by Paul E. Ceruzzi
A great book on the history of digital computers. Extensive analyses of the different developments in hardware and software from the 1940s to early 2000s, providing insight into the corporate, cultural, and social environment surrounding them.
Structural information theory: the simplicity of visual form
by Emanuel Laurens Jan Leeuwenberg and Peter A. van der Helm
This book covers in a comprehensive way "structural information theory", a theory about the way the human visual system organizes a raw visual stimulus into objects and object parts.
Linear algebra and learning from data
by Gilbert Strang
A textbook that aims to explain the mathematics on which data science depends: linear algebra, optimization, probability and statistics. All these topics are necessary to understand the architecture and mode of operation of neural network technology.
Aesthetic measure
by George David Birkhoff
This classic book develops a systematic approach to measuring the aesthetic value of particular classes of aesthetic objects, (e.g., polygonal forms, ornaments, tilings). Important aesthetic issues are discussed, such as the "unity" and "variety" of formal elements.
Transformations in Design: A Formal Approach to Stylistic Change and Innovation in the Visual Arts
by Terry Knight
A great book that uses shape grammars as the underlying model of computation for investigating style and stylistic change in art and architecture.
Introduction to the theory of computation
by Michael Sipser
A well-written modern textbook in theoretical computer science, focusing on three traditionally central areas: automata, computability, and time or space complexity. It explains the fundamental capabilities and limitations of computers from a mathematical perspective.
Architectural geometry
by Helmut Pottmann, Andreas Asperl, Michael Hofer, and Axel Kilian
A textbook for students in architecture or engineering design covering curves and surfaces, differential geometry, kinematic geometry, mesh processing, and optimization of shapes.
Formal engineering design synthesis
edited by Erik K. Antonsson and Jonathan Cagan
This book contains a series of late 1990s papers on formal computational methods for engineering design synthesis, written by a number of well known researchers in the area.
Builders of the vision: software and the imagination of design
by Daniel Cardoso Llach
A history of Computer-Aided Design and Numerical Control since the years following WWII until today, with original archival work on research on CAD developed at MIT between 1949 and 1970.
Architectural Morphology
by Philip Steadman
This book is about a research area called "configurational studies" of architectural form. It is mainly concerned with the possibility of using finite combinatorial geometry to describe and enumerate possible forms which buildings and their plans may take.
Logicomix: an epic search for truth
by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou
A graphic novel inspired by the early life of the philosopher Bertrand Russell. It builds on Russell's encounters with Frege, Cantor, Hilbert, Gödel, Wittgenstein, to introduce some of the biggest ideas in mathematics and modern philosophy.
Artificial Intelligence
by Patrick Henry Winston
A classic textbook on artificial intelligence. One of the few books that emphasizes the ideas behind the different representations and models of perception, action, and reasoning that drive the engineering of the subject.
Coleridge on Imagination
by I.A. Richards
A book on literary criticism and aesthetic theory which, among other great things, contains one of the best analysis of Coleridge's distinction between "fancy" and "imagination".
The four pillars of geometry
by John Stillwell
An introductory textbook in geometry that aims to show how the subject can be developed in four fundamentally different ways: Euclid-style constructions, linear algebra, projective geometry, and transformation groups.