Certificate in
Computational Thinking
with Grasshopper
Most Grasshopper training teaches you to follow a definition.
This teaches you to build one, explain it, and hand it to someone else.
Eight weeks. Two assessed submissions. A Level 4 Certificate accredited by OCN London.
Tekne Lab Computational Thinking
£900 - four cohorts a year, twenty places each. McNeel examination fee included.
The Problem
Computational Design, and Grasshopper in particular, has moved from a niche design skill into something expected across many design industries - but training has not kept pace, nor ever been professionally defined. A great deal of it remains ad hoc, with no shared professional standard.
Following a tutorial is not the same as being able to start from a blank canvas.
Most Grasshopper courses follow the same format: a finished script, explained step by step. You follow along, it runs, and it feels like understanding. When the brief changes, little of it transfers - because the underlying reasoning was never taught.
Tutorials teach sequences, not reasoning
Reproducing a single result by copying a single set of steps does not prepare you to approach a different problem from nothing.
AI without judgement
AI can generate elaborate output with no underlying logic. It is a useful tool for someone who understands the fundamentals, and a liability for someone who does not.
Scripts that cannot be maintained
A script that cannot be read, maintained or handed to a colleague is a liability - the computational equivalent of an unclear drawing, and a common way that knowledge is lost within a studio.
The Shift
The course teaches the thinking that makes Grasshopper effective, not additional features.
Decompose a problem before opening the software. Work with data and systems, not geometry alone. Build scripts that are readable, reusable and robust when the brief changes. This is the difference between a Computational Designer and someone who can only follow instructions.
The aim is to become the author of your own logic - rather than the user of someone else's.
Used well, these skills allow AI to support your design thinking rather than substitute for it.
What past students say
The methods have been taught for years.
Designers across architecture, product and academia have worked through this material with Jak. A selection of their feedback is below.
"It's all about understanding the 'why'"
"Amazing comprehensive layering of working knowledge in Grasshopper. It's not just about doing things in the program - it's all about understanding the 'why' you're doing things to generate your outcome. Top notch."
"The best course I've taken in Rhino/Grasshopper"
"Without a doubt, the Tekne Lab course has raised my ability to a much better level. I'd recommend it to anyone who needs to master the fundamentals relatively quickly."
"Every day was an 'aha' moment"
"The whole problem-solving approach was set up in a different way. Learning to break down the workflow and organise the script was a breakthrough."
"I strongly recommend this to professionals of any background"
"The progress I've achieved is reflected in my portfolio. It's all about the right attitude and mindset to make the most of this opportunity."
"It opened my mind and creativity"
"A great experience and opportunity to develop my skills in parametric architecture. I don't have any fear anymore of designing with complex geometries."
The Framework
Four pillars, forming one way of thinking.
The Tekne Lab Computational Thinking framework. The first two pillars provide the vocabulary - geometry and data. The second two provide the reasoning and the professional standards that determine how it is applied.
From shapes to systems
Read geometry and numbers as raw material - points, curves, surfaces, and normalised control that makes parameters behave predictably.
Data principles
Lists and data trees, the real medium of Grasshopper, and resolving data-matching errors rather than working around them.
Bidirectional thinking
Working forward from inputs to form, and backward from a required outcome to the inputs that produce it. Knowing what the constraint is, and reasoning back to the parameters that satisfy it.
Professional scripting standards
A definition only you can open is a liability, not an asset. Naming, grouping, internalisation, documentation and handover - the standards that make a script something a studio can own, audit and reuse.
The Structure
How the course runs.
Two parts, with one external certification between them. The course is largely self-directed - around four hours a week of video lessons and assignments - with a live session each week with the course leader to review work and resolve questions.
Computational principles and script development
All four pillars, built from first principles. Data structures, domains, remapping, attractors, list and tree logic, and the scripting standards that run underneath all of it. You build everything yourself.
↓ Submission - Portfolio and Reflective AccountMcNeel Grasshopper Level 1 Certified Examination
A 125-question examination set and marked by McNeel, sat independently, giving an external measure of software proficiency. The fee is included in your enrolment, with two retakes. A pass is required to proceed to Part 2.
★ Certificate 01 - external and recognisedIndependent Computational Design project
A project of your own definition, taken from brief through to a documented, handover-ready script. With your Part 1 submission, this forms the assessed evidence for the Certificate.
↓ Submission - Computational Design ProjectThe Credentials
You finish with two certificates.
One certifies that you can operate Grasshopper. The other certifies how you think, and is your recognised qualification in Computational Thinking.
McNeel Grasshopper Level 1 Certification
Set and marked by McNeel - a 125-question examination confirming you can operate the software competently. Included, with two retakes.
Exam details →Certificate in Computational Thinking with Grasshopper
The assessment of your reasoning, judged across your Part 1 submission and your Part 2 project against four published learning outcomes.
Most courses assess only the first. This course is built around the second.
Cohort Dates
Four cohorts a year. Twenty places each.
Enrolment closes two weeks before each start date, or when the cohort fills.
Places are allocated on enrolment. If a cohort is full, the next available start date applies.
Who teaches the course
Hey - I'm Jak Drinnan
I'm a British Architect and Computational Designer based in Bangkok, with fifteen years of experience making Grasshopper central to how I think and design - from digital fabrication workflows, to art and architectural installations, to leading an MArch studio in Computational Design, and as an Associate Architect at Foster + Partners. I have worked with and taught Grasshopper at every design scale and across most design disciplines.
Tekne Lab is the culmination of that experience. It is a Computational Design consultancy that helps people in one of two ways: we either do the work for you, or we teach you to do it yourself and leave you autonomous. The Certificate in Computational Thinking is the second of those, formalised - the teaching arm, opened up to a wider professional audience.
That range is the point. Architects, interior designers, engineers, jewellers, medical, aerospace - once you understand data and systems, the same thinking applies to any design problem in Grasshopper, whatever its scale or discipline.
Enrolment
What is included.
Every enrolment includes:
Per learner.
Both certificates included.
Twenty places per cohort. Enrolment closes two weeks before each start date, or when the cohort fills.
See cohort dates →£2,500
The same Certificate, the same assessment, delivered one to one. Weekly sessions scheduled around your work, and Part 2 built directly on a live project from your own studio. Start dates by arrangement rather than by cohort.
Enquire →From £5,000
For practices and universities enrolling a team. Includes the option of a Part 2 brief drawn from your own live work, so the assessed project delivers something you actually need.
Contact jd@teknelab.io →Accreditation
Tekne Lab has been delivering Grasshopper coaching and training for the last four years, and Jak has been teaching for over ten. That time has been spent learning where people actually get stuck, and what genuinely moves them forward. The Certificate in Computational Thinking is the result of that experience: the same approach, structured into a formal programme and opened up to a wider professional audience.
Tekne Lab is an approved centre with OCN London, a nationally recognised awarding organisation, and this Certificate is accredited through it at Level 4.
That matters for one reason. Your Certificate is not a claim made by the people who taught you. It is a credential assessed against published learning outcomes and externally quality assured.
Common questions
Questions worth answering
Can I keep up while working full-time?+
Yes. The course is designed for people in work. It requires around four hours a week, the live sessions are recorded, and everything between them is self-paced.
Do I need to be proficient in Grasshopper already?+
No. The course begins with shapes and systems and builds from there. It suits both newcomers and self-taught designers; the aim is to give you the underlying reasoning, whatever your starting point.
What software do I need?+
Rhino and Grasshopper. A free 90 day Rhino 8 trial can be downloaded and installed prior to starting the course.
Are the live sessions recorded?+
Yes. Every live session is recorded and yours to keep, so a clash with work does not mean missing it.
Is the McNeel examination fee included?+
Yes. Your enrolment covers the McNeel Grasshopper Level 1 Certified Examination, with two retakes. You sit it independently with McNeel from week five onwards, and the course prepares you for it. A single off day costs you nothing.
When does the next cohort start?+
Four cohorts run each year. Current start dates are listed in the cohort dates section above.
What is the Certificate worth?+
It is a Level 4 Certificate accredited by OCN London, a nationally recognised awarding organisation, assessed across two submissions against four published learning outcomes. You also hold the McNeel Grasshopper Level 1 certification on completion.
Can my employer pay, and do you invoice?+
Yes. We can invoice your practice directly, which makes the course straightforward to fund as CPD. Please reach out to Jak if you would like an invoice arranged.
Can I purchase multiple seats for my university or company?+
Absolutely - reach out to Jak at jd@teknelab.io to arrange a bulk order and enrolment.
Start with the next cohort.
Four cohorts a year, twenty places each. Enrolment closes two weeks before each start date, or when the cohort fills.
See cohort dates →