The Department of Architecture at the Technical University of Munich offers Mentoring Masters as part of its consecutive Master’s courses. These Mentoring Masters offer students to study with selected professors with individually tailored curricula according to respective focal points. The Chair of Architectural Informatics (Prof. Dr. Frank Petzold), the Chair of Building Technology and Climate Responsive Design (Prof. Thomas Auer), the Professorship of Structural Design (Prof. Dr. Pierluigi D’Acunto), and the Professorship of Digital Fabrication (Prof. Dr. Kathrin Dörfler) jointly offer the Mentoring Master “Computational Methods in Architecture”.

The focus of this Mentoring Master is to train students to become leading creatives and innovators in the field of digital tools, who can actively contribute to the design of future processes and technologies. We provide an interdisciplinary, theoretical, and practical understanding of designing and planning in a digital environment, exploring themes such as climate-responsive design, structural design, human-computer interaction, public participation, and digital fabrication. Overall, the Mentoring program focuses on using computational methods as a common language and medium to connect different disciplines towards a holistic approach to design in architecture.

Focus Areas:

●       Computational Architectural Design: Computer-aided generative and parametric design methods

●       Digital Design Decision Support: Computer-based information systems to support design and decision-making processes

●       Computational Structural Design: Computer-aided conceptual design of structures with equilibrium-based models and structural form-finding supported by machine learning algorithms

●       Digital Fabrication: Integrative approach to architectural design for digitally controlled building processes

●       Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Fabrication Information Modelling (FIM): The process of creating and managing digital information models representing physical and functional characteristics of buildings (BIM) and how they are made (FIM)

Collaborators:

●       Chair of Architectural Informatics

●       Chair of Building Technology and Climate Responsive Design

●       Professorship Structural Design

●       Professorship Digital Fabrication

Requirements (to be met at one or more of the four cooperating chairs and professorships):

●       At least one project at one of the participating chairs

●       At least two seminars at one of the participating chairs (total 12 ECTS)

●       Exposé for the Master Thesis (a semester before the thesis, 3 ECTS)

●       Master Thesis

Application:

Entry into Mentoring program is possible in the first and second semester of the Master’s degree. Interested students should submit a short letter of motivation via mail to the secretary of the selected chair or professorship in the winter semester by the end of November and in the summer semester by the end of May.

Existing Collaborations:

• Chair of Computational Modeling and Simulation, TUM Department of Civil, Geo and Environmental Engineering – BIM, BIM Advanced
• Chair for Computer Aided Medical Procedures and Augmented Reality, TUM Department of Informatics - Interactive Visualization
• Media Informatics and Human-Computer Interaction LMU - Escaping Flatlands

Related Research Projects

https://www.arc.ed.tum.de/en/ai/research