Digital design is driven by a thinking in structures that emphasizes patterns of order and their interaction. The paper presents an introduction into such design thinking and emphasizes the exploration of organizational pattern in various level of abstraction and scale through the integration of computational methods and workflows. Using a speculative design studio, held at Aalto University as a case study, the paper introduces novel ways of integrating patterns as relational frameworks, in order to formulate future-oriented answer to complex design challenges focused on landscape and urban questions. Special focus is set on the discussion of the integration of theory based computational methods within a teaching environment.