Parametric (Pre)Tensions: Design at Warp Speed

Keith Besserud, Director of BlackBox, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill presents a project that entailed the design of a completely new city for 1.75 million people. SOM was asked by the client to develop a detailed digital model that would enable the creation of a large physical model for real estate and business development marketing purposes. In this presentation he shares anecdotes of how a team of designers improvised a workflow that introduced parametric tools (CityEngine) into an absurdly accelerated design workflow, highlighting both examples where parametrics saved the day, as well as examples of "major collateral damage".