ABSTRACT
Knowledge, skills, and attitudes are the three components of competence to which learning objectives of educational curricula extensively refer. Computation in an architectural education curriculum may easily be categorized under skills simply because there is a technical characteristic attributed to its use in design. This chapter sets out what may constitute a computational foundation for the learning of design thinking. The first part is the concept of employing the methodological devices of repetition and variation to deal with and organize complexity. The second is the concept of employing formal devices to talk about design. The geometric ornaments in Islamic architecture show variation over time and geography. They cover a larger domain within which the star-shaped Seljuk patterns comprise a particular geographical and temporal frame. It is necessary that, for the sustainability of a contemporary design education, students acquire early on an awareness of the dynamic nature of design knowledge.
