This course is an introduction to digital tools in architectural design using vector and raster graphics. Digital tools are taught along digital design concepts and properties, hand drawing and geometry. The most important educational aims are the acquisition of basic design skills within vector and raster graphics environments, the creative incorporation of digital design tools into the conventions and methodologies of architectural design, and the overriding of software limitations for the visualization of spatial qualities and characteristics according to personal expressive choices.
Students are trained to use digital design tools and understand their benefits and drawbacks compared to the respective analogue means. Course subjects include coordinate systems and subsystems, the properties of digital elements and editing, the classification and separation of information (layers), the properties of vector and bitmap files, the hierarchies of digital elements and transformation tools. Throughout the course we compare properties of digital tools, such as drawing accuracy, to the foundational importance of sketching and geometry for the conception and representation of space.