LTU_CoAD

The Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture selected Lawrence Tech as the host of this year’s important international conference. Hosting significant portions of the conference on the LTU campus allows the university itself to become an active part of the conference experience. Attendees will encounter LTU’s facilities, research, faculty, students, and culture of hands-on experimentation firsthand, while students and faculty gain direct access to lectures, exhibitions, workshops, research presentations, and informal exchanges with leading practitioners and researchers from around the world.

Workshop 7 - Rewritten from Scratch: Grasshopper 2 for Everyone

Instructors: Japhy Walton (McNeel and Associates, https://buff.ly/hd6qr8i), Kate Zimmerman, (HGA, https://hga.com/)

Grasshopper 2 is a complete rewrite of one of computational design’s most widely used visual programming environments. With new data structures, components, native looping, and a redesigned approach to algorithms, no previous Grasshopper 1 experience is required. Rewritten from Scratch is a full-day, hands-on introduction to Grasshopper 2 in Rhino WIP for complete beginners and experienced GH1 users. Through progressive exercises, participants will learn the GH2 canvas, data flow, data types, lists, matching behavior, and core components.

Participants will build parametric relationships using geometry, mathematics, and logic; create multi-step definitions; read and debug unfamiliar workflows; and understand how GH2 differs architecturally from GH1. By the end of the workshop, each participant will have developed a working definition, gained confidence in how GH2 organizes and processes information, and received a reference guide to essential workflows. The workshop supports practitioners, students, and educators seeking an accessible foundation for successful continued independent learning.

Duration: 1 Day
📍 LTU - In Person
🎟 https://buff.ly/9tA18KB
Check out the website to see a full list of workshops and more info.

LTU CoAD earned a 10-year extension of its accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), effective July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2036.

NASAD accreditation provides a framework of national standards against which schools assess the quality of their educational services. These standards ensure continuous improvement and provide focus for schools to deliver on their mission, innovate, and drive impact. NASAD-accredited schools have successfully undergone a rigorous review process conducted by their peers in the design education community, ensuring that they have the resources, credentials, and commitment needed to provide students with first-rate, future-focused design education.

Lilian Crum, Interim Dean of CoAD, said, “I commend our faculty, staff, and students for achieving this accreditation. Not only does it reflect the quality of the professionals that make up the CoAD team but their dedication to our mission and our students.
“NASAD accreditation is a point of distinction for LTU for students who are seeking the highest-level design education. It was a goal of our college to continue that legacy of quality.”

Founded in 1944, NASAD is an organization of schools, conservatories, colleges, and universities with approximately 318 accredited institutional members, ten of which are Michigan-based. It establishes national standards for undergraduate and graduate degrees and other credentials for art and design and art/design-related disciplines and helps institutions and individuals engaged in artistic, scholarly, educational, and other art/design-related endeavors.

ACADIA 2026 provides Lawrence Technological University with a unique opportunity to host an international community of architects, designers, researchers, educators, and technologists working at the forefront of computational design and emerging technologies. With events taking place both on LTU’s campus and at the Hudson’s site in downtown Detroit, the conference connects the university directly to the world’s broader architectural, design, technology, and industry communities. This dual setting places LTU at the center of conversations spanning artificial intelligence, digital fabrication, robotics, computation, advanced manufacturing, and new modes of architectural practice.

Workshop 4&5 - Grant Proposal Writing: Strategy, Structure, and Craft

Instructors: Dr. Shahin Vassigh, Florida International University

Designed for tenure-track faculty, doctoral students, and anyone developing a project that needs funding, this two-day workshop guides participants from an initial concept to a complete draft proposal through instruction, discussion, and hands-on writing.
Participants will learn how grant writing differs from academic writing, identify appropriate funding opportunities, build persuasive narratives, establish feasibility, and communicate significance to reviewers. The workshop also addresses team building, collaborative planning, coordination with institutional research offices, realistic submission strategies, and effective responses to rejection through revision and resubmission.

Proposal development will cover rationale, goals, objectives, significance, research methods, impacts, outcomes, dissemination, budgets, and budget justification. The workshop is especially valuable for participants who have a concept ready to develop.
By the end of the workshop, each participant will leave with a five- to ten-page draft proposal and a clearer understanding of what the project will accomplish, why it matters, and how it will be completed.

Duration: 1 Day Online OR 1 Day Online + 1 Day In Person (2 Options)

Location: Online OR Online + LTU - In Person

Tickets live on https://buff.ly/9tA18KB starting 8/21! Check out the website to see a full list of workshops and more info.

The Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) selected LTU'S College of Architecture and Design to host this year’s international Conference. The pillars of our college: design, technology and practice. are the very concepts ACADIA will explore Humanism Recoded, the theme of the conference. We're delighted to serve as the catalyst for this international exchange of ideas at the forefront of computational design and advanced fabrication.

LTU faculty members Karl Daubman, FAIA, FAAR, former Dean of CoAD, Interim Provost, and University Distinguished Professor; Lee-Su Huang; Sara Codarin, PhD; Teng Teng, PhD, also an ACADIA board member; Gretchen Wilkins, PhD; Masataka Yoshikawa; Quan Thai; and Carla Diana serve as organizers and scientific committee members at ACADIA 2026.

Workshop 2 - Robotic Perception Workflows for Hybrid Assembly

Instructors: Jiaying Wei, Carnegie Mellon University (www.jiaying-wei.com), Joshua Bard, Carnegie Mellon University (https://joshbard.com/)

This workshop presents a focused ROS-based perception-to-fabrication workflow for human-robot assembly. Participants will use fiducial markers, skeleton extraction, pose estimation, registration, inspection, and eye-in-hand sensing to connect perception with robotic planning and ex*****on. These tools will support human-encoded commands that trigger guided assembly, projection, inspection, marking, and collaborative or autonomous actions. Working in groups, participants will deploy a preconfigured sensing-to-action pipeline and contribute to a collective prototype. They will use markers for computational registration and human-authored commands, translate sensed material information into fabrication tasks, and document pose-estimation and inspection workflows. Optional extensions will introduce FoundationPose and YOLOv8 segmentation.

Designed for a three-day format, the workshop emphasizes reliable, deployable methods and requires no on-site machine-learning training. A tested instructional stack, developed through Architectural Robotics with Perception at Carnegie Mellon University, will enable rapid setup using a standardized ABB IRB120 robot, controller, and transferable ROS-based workflow for efficient collaborative prototyping and learning.

Duratoin: 3 Days

Location: LTU - In Person

Tickets live on https://buff.ly/9tA18KB starting 8/21! Check out the website to see a full list of workshops and more info.

Rooted in Detroit, a city world-renowned for exceptional architecture and design, LTU actively carries that legacy forward as the proud steward of Frank Lloyd Wright’s historic Affleck House and the treasure-filled Albert Kahn Library and we’re proud to bring our treasures to a global audience as the host of this year’s Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) Conference.

Workshop 1 - Soft–Hard Programmable Furniture: Gradient Multi-Material 3D Printing between Comfort, Structure, and Domestic Use

Instructors: Teng Teng Lawrence Technological University, Yefan Zhi, university of pennsylvania

This three-day workshop explores soft–hard programmable furniture through gradient multi-material 3D printing. Rather than separating structure and comfort into rigid frames, cushions, upholstery, or protective edges, participants will investigate how these qualities can be integrated within a single printed system.

Using stools, benches, low seats, side tables, backrests, and flexible edges as case studies, participants will identify where furniture must be rigid, soft, compressible, tactile, or protective. These requirements will be translated into gradient material zones using prepared Rhino and Grasshopper templates that control geometry, rib density, surface texture, infill, and material composition.

Fabrication will use two instructor-provided custom multi-material printers. A compact printer with a build area of approximately 30 × 30 cm will support rapid material samples, detail tests, gradient studies, and scale models. A larger printer with an approximately 1 × 1 m build area will produce full-scale components and usable prototypes.

Outcomes will include a soft–hard material sample atlas, small-scale furniture studies, full-scale printed components, and exhibition-ready prototypes. Through sitting, leaning, pressing, bending, and touching, participants will evaluate how material gradients can create integrated cushioning, structural continuity, soft edges, tactile surfaces, and new aesthetic possibilities for furniture design.

Duration: 3 Days

Location: LTU - In Person

Tickets live on https://buff.ly/9tA18KB starting 8/21! Check out the website to see a full list of workshops and more info.

CoAD congratulations goes out to alumnus Eric Klooster BSArch ‘09, MArch ‘12, Principal at Inform Studio for being Honored with an AIA Detroit Young Architect Award.

The award honors emerging leaders shaping the future of architecture through design excellence, leadership, and innovation.

LTU CoAD is offering a new and unique Architectural Specifications Certificate program, debuting in the fall 2026 semester.

Find more information here: https://buff.ly/EVDOpsO

We’re highlighting Scott Shall, LTU professor of architecture, Founding Member of houm, and International Design Clinic founder for his recent sabbatical research.

In the spring and summer of 2025, the International Design Clinic (IDC), in partnership with Shalom Ministries, Fielding International and a variety of local activists, created a community-led strategy and phased approach to design and construct a new community space for the Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood of Detroit.

The final proposal utilized donated, undervalued, or reclaimed resources to transform the previously unfinished, 2000-sf space into a community hub that will offer free therapy services, nutritional justice programming, and other community-centered support. The work utilized a mix of low- and high-tech approaches, including 3d scanning, digital simulation and AI in order to give community partners a greater voice in the project.

In the spring and summer of 2026, the IDC, with their partners, will fabricate and install the first portions of the work, with the intention of finishing the project within the year. For more information: https://buff.ly/MUyfzuG