Digital Architecture Research Centre (DARC) is the newest research centre at Kent School of Architecture and Planning (KSAP) focusing on the application of digital technology in architecture. DARC looks to explore the creative use of digital technologies to enhance design and fabrication possibilities for architecture and the built environment. The Centre has streams headed by members:
- Generative design and computational creativity
- Digital fabrication and robotics
- Digital visualisation and mixed reality.
DARC promotes an innovative interdisciplinary research environment exploring intersections between architecture and digital technologies, to open up and expand the schools research agenda and funding possibilities. The new research centre aims to promote a fundamental shift in architecture and design thinking to develop design methods for the utilisation of computational technologies in architectural design, fabrication and assembly.
The Centre is a new interdisciplinary direction for KSAP, founded on members’ expertise and international research profiles to open up new avenues of research activity. DARC draws on expertise university wide and attracts knowledge and research in the field of digital architecture through collaborations, adding to its high quality research output, and looks to enhance the faculties Digital Humanities theme, principally in the areas of Digital Creative Arts and Digital Heritage.