Option Studio: Self-Driving Architecture – ARC3015

Through a series of cumulative exercises during the semester, students developed architectural proposals for a specialized research facility at the University of Toronto – the Vector Institute. In March of 2017, the University of Toronto collaborated with private industry, the Government of Canada, and the Government of Ontario to launch the Vector Institute – an independent, non-profit research institution dedicated to the transformative field of artificial intelligence (vectorinstitute.ai). Building on the University of Toronto’s historical strength in artificial intelligence research, the Institute aims at to build: physical infrastructure for cutting-edge computing and data analysis, teaching spaces and student facilities, and spaces supporting promotion and knowledge transfer. In this studio, we explored recent advances in digital design technology, in performance simulation, and in artificial intelligence. We worked to situate these into a broader discussion around the state of computational design methods while designing an architectural housing for the Vector Institute.