Computers and architectural design: Going beyond the tool

More often than not, discussions taking place in specialized conferences dealing with computers and design tend to focus mostly on the tool itself. What the computer can do that other tools cannot, how computers might improve design and whether a new aesthetic would result from the computer; these are among the most recurrent issues addressed in those forums. But, by placing the instrument at the center of the debate, we might be distorting the nature of design. In the course KEYWORDS, carried out in the years 1992 and 1993 at the ETH Zurich, the goal was to transcend the discourses that concentrate on the computer, integrating it in a wider theoretical framework including principles of modern art and architecture. This paper presents a summary of the content and results of this course.