“Design Research as Practice”

This book chapter / essay presents work by Alvin Huang and appears in ACADIA 2022: Realignments — Toward Critical Computation.

Author: Alvin Huang
Publication: ACADIA 2022: Realignments — Toward Critical Computation
Editors: B. Bogosian, B. Farahi, J. Grant, and J. Scott
Publisher: Riverside Architectural Press
Year: 2022
Type: Book chapter / essay

Abstract

Prepared in connection with the ACADIA Digital Practice Award, this essay positions Synthesis Design + Architecture at the intersection of research and practice. Surveying more than a decade of work across speculative proposals, objects, installations, interiors, façades, and buildings, Alvin Huang argues that computational design achieves its greatest value not through novelty or optimization alone, but as techné: embodied knowledge joining tools, techniques, and creative possibility. The work describes an experimental practice that balances vision with pragmatism while challenging architectural conventions.

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