Cluster Zero
Certificate in Computational Thinking with Grasshopper
Eight weeks, live with Jak, to stop copying scripts - and start building your own. Two certificates. Fifty seats. Once.
Founding rate £495 - or 2 × £250. Full refund after Week 1 if it isn't for you.
The founding deal, in plain English
OCN London accreditation for this certificate is being finalised for the September launch. Cluster Zero runs now - before the stamp lands.
You complete the full assessment during the cohort and receive your certificate. The moment accreditation completes, it's upgraded to the official OCN London-accredited Level 4 and backdated to you. You get in first, at founding price.
The Problem
You can follow any tutorial. You still freeze at a blank canvas.
Almost every Grasshopper course works the same way: a finished script, explained node by node. You follow along, it runs, and you feel like you understand it. Then the brief changes - and none of it transfers. That feeling of understanding was the illusion of understanding.
Tutorials teach sequences, not thinking
You learn to reproduce one result by copying one set of steps. The moment the problem is different, you're stuck - because you were never taught how to start from nothing.
It works once, then breaks
AI will happily generate elaborate output with no logic underneath. In the hands of someone who knows what they're doing, it's a tool. In the hands of someone who doesn't, it's a crutch.
A working script no one can read
A script that can't be read, maintained or handed to a colleague is a liability - the computational equivalent of an illegible drawing, and how knowledge quietly gets lost in a studio.
The Shift
It isn't more Grasshopper. It's the thinking that makes it powerful.
Decompose a problem before you touch the software. See data and systems, not just geometry. Build scripts that are readable, reusable, and hold up when the brief moves. That is the difference between a computational designer and someone who can only follow instructions.
Become the author of your own logic - not the consumer of someone else's.
And that's how you stay ahead of AI rather than behind it: with these skills, AI amplifies your thinking. Without them, it replaces it.
Proof
Cluster Zero is new. The thinking behind it isn't.
This is the first cohort, so no one has graduated it yet - which is exactly why it's at founding price. But designers have been learning to work this way with Jak for years. Here's what they say.
"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, wired into one way of thinking.
The Tekne Lab Computational Thinking Framework. The first two pillars give you the vocabulary - geometry and data. The second two give you the thinking and the professional standards that decide how you use it.
From Shapes to Systems
Read geometry and numbers as raw material - points, curves, surfaces, and 0-1 normalised control that makes parameters behave.
Data Principles
Command lists and data trees - the real medium of Grasshopper - and fix data-matching errors instead of fighting them.
Bidirectional Thinking
Storyboard a script before you open it, and reverse-engineer any result into the parametric system that produced it.
Professional Scripting Standards
Name, group and annotate to a studio standard - and build a reusable library you carry into every future project.
The Structure
How the eight weeks run.
Two parts, with one external certification as the gate between them. Around 4 hours a week, fully online and self-paced - and a live session with Jak every single week.
Foundations of Computational Thinking
All four pillars, built from the ground up - geometry, data, the thinking processes, and professional standards. No downloads: you build everything yourself.
↓ You submit - an annotated sketch workflow + a recorded walkthroughMcNeel Grasshopper Level 1 Certification
A 125-question exam, set and marked by McNeel - your external proficiency check. Included, with two free retakes. A pass is required to move into Part 2.
★ Certificate 01 - external, recognised, includedApplied Computational Design
An independent project applying all four pillars to a brief of your own. With your Part 1 work, this forms the Tekne Lab assessment of how you think - graded Pass / Merit / Distinction.
↓ You submit - design sketches, renders, and your own scriptThe Credentials
You don't leave with one certificate. You leave with two.
One proves you can operate Grasshopper. The other proves you can think - and that one is your recognised qualification in computational thinking.
McNeel Grasshopper Level 1 Certification
Set and marked by McNeel - a 125-question exam that gives you a clean, externally recognised tick: yes, you can drive the software. The table stakes for working in practice. Included, with two free retakes.
Certificate in Computational Thinking with Grasshopper
The Tekne Lab assessment of how you actually think - judged across your Part 1 workflow and Part 2 project, graded Pass / Merit / Distinction. This is the qualification a checkbox exam can't give you.
Most courses stop at the first. The entire point of this one is the second.
The Outcome
What you'll walk away able to do.
Who's teaching this
Hey - I'm Jak.
I'm an architect and computational designer based in Bangkok, and I've spent the last 13 years making Grasshopper central to how I design - from digital fabrication at university, to building art and architectural installations as a fabricator, to running a Computational Design master's programme, to running projects at Foster + Partners.
We're in the middle of a computational design boom. What used to belong to a handful of elite practices is now essential across the industry - but the education never caught up. It stayed haphazard, with no professional standard. I spent years scouring the web for answers and fixing my own scripts by accident, without really understanding why they worked.
Two things changed everything. First: almost any project in Grasshopper comes down to a handful of principles, applied well - nothing more. Second: the environment you learn in decides whether you thrive or shut down. That's why Cluster Zero is live, small, and built around a community - not another library of videos to watch alone.
I've been through the struggle so you don't have to. For eight weeks, my job is to get you to design freedom.
I run a £3,000 one-to-one coaching programme. Eight weeks of live access to me is built into the £495.
The Offer
Everything in Cluster Zero, at the founding rate.
or 2 × £250 over two months.
Both certificates included.
Total value £2,000. The founding rate exists once - and it closes at 50 seats.
Claim a founding seat →Try the first week
Complete Week 1. If Cluster Zero isn't for you, tell us before Week 2 and we'll refund you in full.
50 seats, at this rate, ever
The founding rate exists once. Every cohort after this runs at the full accredited price. £495 is the founding door - and it closes at 50.
Before you ask
Questions worth answering
I work full-time. Can I keep up?+
Yes - the cohort is built for people with jobs. It's about 4 hours a week, the live sessions are recorded, and everything between them is self-paced. You set the rhythm around your work.
Do I need to be good at Grasshopper already?+
No. It starts from shapes and systems and builds up from there. Complete beginners and self-taught designers both have a place - the point is to give you the thinking, whatever your starting level.
What software do I need?+
Rhino and Grasshopper. [TODO: confirm the version and add any trial or student-licence guidance.]
Are the live sessions recorded?+
Yes - every live session is recorded and yours to keep. A clash with work doesn't mean you miss it.
How hard is the McNeel exam - and what if I don't pass?+
It's an external proficiency check, included with two free retakes. By Week 5 you'll be ready for it, and the retakes mean a single off day costs you nothing.
What happens if OCN London accreditation doesn't complete?+
You keep everything - the full course, both assessments, the community and your Tekne Lab certificate. Your founding terms stand and you're not charged the difference. You're never paying for a promise that didn't land.
Can my employer pay? Do you invoice?+
Yes - we can invoice your practice directly, which makes this straightforward to fund as CPD. [TODO: add a contact or invoice-request link.]
What's Next
A starting line, not a finish line.
Coding of Form
Carry on into an advanced library and community of practice - project resources, scripts, and regular sessions with designers who keep developing beyond formal training.
Advanced modules
Direct continuation into Rhino Inside Revit, facade rationalisation, structural form-finding, parametric animation and rendering.
Be one of the first fifty.
Cluster Zero onboards on 20th July. Once the fifty founding seats are gone, this founding rate is gone for good.
Claim a founding seat →