Pedagogic Potential of a Parametric System based on the Box-Packing Concept

Abstract

In this study we examine pedagogic values of the Box Packing concept, a puzzle problem, initially published as a demonstration within the Wolfram Demonstration Project, gathering 27 identical boxes of any proportion, in a regular cubic body. Methodologically based on the content analysis of realized educational experiments, the research is aimed at enlarging possible use of mathematical/geometric concepts in architectural education, particularly in domain of parametric design. After briefly explaining the concept and original demonstration, and giving an overview of its usage in several courses in various contexts, highlighting pedagogic implications of its use (including development of capabilities to recognize architectonics in pure geometric form, acquiring basic modelling skills, manipulating geometric bodies, understanding parametric systems, materialization in various materials including recycled ones, etc.) we focus on its transposition into a parametric system created as a Grasshopper definition (visual algorithmic editor for Rhino 3D software), analyzing the creation of algorithm and characteristic elements of the definition and discussing their potential application in solving other parametric problems.