Processing Cities Seminar 2010:
In this seminar, students used computation to critically engage discursive models of cities from Kevin Lynch’s ‘Image of the City’ to Rem Koolhaas’ ‘Junkspace.’ The class created interactive applications that visualize these models, but also challenge them by opening the city to new computational interpretations. Students learned Processing, a simple, open-source programming language for visual designers, in order to image cities and make them legible in pluralistic ways. The practical goal of the course was to empower graphically-oriented students with basic skills in computer programming, which they can use to build an unlimited range of applications on future projects in school and practice. The intellectual goal of the course was to prompt students to ask how our images of cities, presented as interactive geometries, might be reconsidered in relationship to computation.
John Zissovici
Associate Professor
Cornell Department of Architecture
John Zissovici received his bachelor’s and master’s of architecture from Cornell University. He teaches architectural design and courses that deal with the impact of digital media on architectural thinking. His current research on imagescape urbanism in Google Earth, brings into alignment his various teaching interests.
Yanni A. Loukissas
Visiting Lecturer
Cornell Department of Architecture
Yanni Alexander Loukissas teaches design theory and studio, with a focus on computational methods. He holds a Ph.D. in design and computation from MIT, as well as a Master of Science in architecture studies, also from MIT, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell. He has written and lectured extensively on the culture of computation in architecture and related fields.
