The Digital Corbeled Wall. A Pedagogical Approach to Digital Infrastructure and Traditional Craft

Abstract This paper investigates a pedagogical approach to the digital by revealing the contemporary, globalized infrastructure of design through engagement with local traditional craft in India through a workshop style course. The process of the workshop exposed the principles of digital vernacular, identified as a way of designing and building that integrates the contrasting technologies and techniques of designing and making seen around the world. By exploring the intersections between seemingly opposing concepts— traditional masonry and computational design this paper exposes opportunities for the future integration of handwork, craft, and technology. The workshop approach highlights how abstract values like material knowledge and craft skill can inform a design algorithm to generate a parametric model of a wall. [Figure 01]. Taking into consideration perspectives of the various participants, the paper will examine several layers of learning. It will conclude with an explanation of pedagogical strategies for learning about digital infrastructures and an argument for re-examining digital fabrication not just as a futuristic practice, but for its pragmatic utility here-and-now. Most crucially, the discussion makes a suggestion towards the future of design and the future of education, and why it is of value to involve designers and architects in the practice of making.