The Natural Forces Laboratory: Ralph Knowles and the Instrumentalized Studio

The first in the Studies in the Design Laboratory epub series produced by the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and the CCA, this publication finds an origin of computational design in the work of Ralph Knowles at the Natural Forces Laboratory at the University of Southern California, beginning in 1967. It features interviews with Knowles, a selection of images of solar studies carried out at the laboratory, and analysis of the laboratory’s work, with emphasis on the heliodon and solar envelope projects.