ACSA’s annual meeting is off to a roaring start with a panel on digital methods in studio. This is a familiar formula by now, but it included a good case study of the work SOM is doing with Stanford’s engineering program. Like Northwestern’s project, the sight of engineering students and resources being turned loose on a high rise program–especially with a critic team made up of a consortium of local design schools and firms–is particularly impressive and not a little bit frightening. The highlight, though, was an extended discussion between Branko Kolarevic and Beverly Willis about applications of computer modeling on a city scale. Architectural education conferences can have their share of fluffy conversations. This wasn’t one of them.