Architecture dominates the Design and Computation gallery at SIGGRAPH 2008. The Phare Tower, La Défense by Marte Doscher and Satoru Sugihara uses computational design for the "diagrid" of the structure. All images ACM SIGGRAPH 2008. 

This summer at SIGGRAPH 2008, there will be two art galleries at the Los Angeles Convention Center (Aug. 11-15): Design and Computation and Slow Art. Both galleries will be accessible in their own open areas next to each other in Hall H and are very different yet complementary showings.

Design and Computation
Lira Nikolovska, Ph.D., will present the Design and Computation gallery. Fittingly, she received her Ph.D. in the Design and Computation program at the School of Architecture at M.I.T.

The Design and Computation gallery is comprised of works that show how these aspects of computer graphics may be used to demonstrate expressions of real life art.

In Continua by Erwing Hauer and Enrique Rosado, the walls become art.

Architecture is one very common way of blending art with mathematics, and certainly seems to dominate the gallery. Dr. Nikolovska was quick to point out that architecture doesn't really dominate this year even though it seems to. The 40 skyscrapers submitted this year comprise a single curated piece that was sought out for a particular gallery sponsor who requested submissions of concept work.

Dr. Nikolovska said, "Pushing the envelope is part of the process. Some are using Maya to make buildings but Maya is not designed for this. How far can a person push the software?" Of course, CAD tools were used to design some of the skyscrapers. Dr. Nikolovska said that a new trend is to script the facade rather than build it in a 3D program. 3ds Max with the architecture plug-ins are popular along with Revit Architecture by Autodesk. Rhino is used a lot. Some even use CATIA (Computer Aided Three dimensional Interactive Application), known more so for modeling planes. In fact, more and more, tools are being customized and off-the-shelf tools are pushed to the limits.

Some architects are even making use of rapid prototyping to visualize the finished product and make changes. A typical design may take two to three years on some buildings just to figure out the facade. With modern printing techniques, this time can be reduced by months. Hundreds of changes that are made to a building are sped up with the use of 3D tools and lead to complexity and craftsmanship being handled more easily. Hence, complexity and craftsmanship are part of the evaluation of the pieces in the gallery.