Week 4 Topic: From Architectural Design and the Image of Technology to Technology and the Image of Design: A preliminary survey of the shifting landscape

Frank Gehry’s, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

There is a clear differentiation between the design processes of architects in the past and those who practice today. These differences arise when comparing the method of the development of the morphogenesis process. Past architects were limited to their choice of technology, whereas, today designs are reliant on technology as the norm due to the endless variety of options. The complexity to complete designs of “round shapes and smooth, intricate surfaces” [1], in the past was achieved through the utilisation of particular complex programs that assisted in simplifying the process of design and construction. A great example of a well-executed piece of architecture that used technology to minimise confusion in the design process is Frank Gehry’s, “Guggenheim Museum Bilbao”. The style of its structure can be identified as a “smooth transformation” [2] and a “continuous variation” [3]. By presenting to the neighbourhood, a design which “attempts… to fold smoothly specific locations, materials and programmes into architecture while maintaining their individual identity” [4], Gehry, showcases the somewhat deformed curvilinear aspects to indicate “an intensive curvilinear logic which seeks to internalise cultural and contextual forces within form” [5]. Furthermore, Shoei Yoh’s work, “Municipal Sports Complex, Odawara: Galaxy”, was purely reliant on the use of technology. Technological design programs used by engineers along with Yoh were key to ensure efficiency whilst experimenting with different surface angles and positions to accurately ensure the design will be functional yet aesthetic. Consequently, technological advancements today have expanded the existing design options to cater for the “forms of bending, twisting or folding” [6], style that has recently emerged into the design world.

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r e f e r e n c e s

• Carpo, Mario, The Digital Turn in Architecture 1992-2012 (2013)

• [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] “Folding in Architecture,” by Greg Lynn (1993). pp.28, 30, 34, 38.

• “Morphogenesis and Emergence,” by Michael Hensel, Achim Menges & Michael Weinstock (2004-2006): pp.158-159.

Topic 3: A Universe of Discourse: Keywords

"Fundamental to computational design is the understanding of how systems, as form and as mathematical ordering constructs, operate”[1]. A designer is challenged with providing an optimum solution given a number of constraints or parameters. In each environment there are always finite resources. Also, present, will be constraints which could be physical, social or cultural or as a result of technological limitations. A dynamic design style which adapts to the environment within which it operates can be used to aid in the management of constraints and resources to achieve a similar optimal outcome. This is computational design. Parameters or limitations placed on a designer may be interpreted in different ways. Raymond says “some of the variable words, say lunch and supper and dinner, maybe highlighted but the differences are not particularly important”[2]. Society looks at a particular situation and forms numerous opinions or judgements. This variation in interpretation leads to different solutions which may be mutually exclusive. A set process may be used to deal with these parameters which could be derived from historical trends or conventions. This could be the form, performance being the result with the designer looking at parametricism within the tectonics of the project concern.

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r e f e r e n c e s

• [1] Menges, Achim, “Introduction,”Computational  Design Thinking (2011): 10-29.

• [2] Williams, Raymond, “Introduction,” Keywords: a Vocabulary of Culture and Society (1976/1983): 11-26.

Topic 2: The Archaeology of the Digital: Openings

It is by examining the importance of efficiency and the level of capability that determines the importance of technology in the design process in a “society of information”[1]. Methods of representing an architectural idea in the past were achieved “by hand, from initial sketches to final rendering”[2]. The introduction of software such as AutoCAD, Maya or Rhino have become essential tools in the practice of architecture in the 21st century as architects become more aware of the “core principles involved in parametric design”[3]. Furthermore, the cultural condition of society – that is, being revolutionised into a “society of information”[4], allowed the “invention of the computer possible, not the reverse”[5]. An architect’s understanding that “everything is calculable and therefore optimisable”[6], clearly indicates a logical thought process, similar to that of a computer. Although, the direction of these innovations as influences to the architectural profession remain uncertain, architects such as Shoei Yoh, begun to incorporate the use of “computer analysis in structural design”[7] in order to optimise concepts. Picon suggests, “The conception of buildings is indeed inseparable from the knowledge of who is going to inhabit them”, thus, stresses the importance of experimentation in design – that technology has made possible - based on the “key characteristics of the contemporary individual”[8]. In Yoh’s work, the Oguni Dome in Kumamoto, accuracy was key in developing a functional and safe structure. Digital technology allowed the examination of the “depth or relocating”[9] of the "supporting posts”[10] to be efficient and accurate, hence, were able to determine an exact degree of “slope for water drainage”.

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r e f e r e n c e s 

• [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [8] Picon, Antoine, “Introduction", “People, Computers and Architecture: A Historical Overview,”in Digital Culture in Architecture: an Introduction for the Design Profession (2010), pp. 8, 9, 10, 13

• [6] Morel, Philippe, “Notes on Computational architecture: On Optimization,” in Haecceity Papers, Volume 3, Issue 2 (Spring 2008), pp. 7

• [7] [9] [10] Lynn, Greg, ed., Archaeology of the Digital: Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Chuck Hoberman, Shoei Yoh (2013), pp. 105, 106

Topic 1: What is Theory? The Digital Turn in Architecture: a History of the Recent Past

There has been a dramatic shift in the methods of how new architectural designs are developed - traditional tools have been replaced by other cutting edge techniques. It is through the utilisation of various innovative technologies that has allowed a third industrial revolution - the digital age. This reliance on technology is expressed within Carpo’s text, “The Digital Turn in Architecture 1992 - 2012”. The text highlights the need for improvements in technologies within the design industry - particularly focusing on computer aided design (CAD). Emerging technologies therefore allow designers to experiment with new forms and techniques. The revolutionary development of “spline modellers, a new generation of software that... allowed the manipulation of curved lines directly on the screen” of a “nonlinear thinking machine”[4], has allowed architects to be more creative and futuristic in their design process. The development of this technology has improved the design process, particularly with regard to versatility and efficiency. 

The text, Architecture or Revolution, contrasts greatly to the view that society should adapt to the changes in the current digital revolution. The author metaphorically refers to the loss of skills being passed down through the generations via the diction, “the father no longer teaches his son the myriad secrets of his craft”[1] due to an “unfamiliar foreman”[1], that being, machines, which are strictly taking control in the digital world.

The text advances the notion that society can restrict themselves from the revolution in the hope of avoiding “being tied like slaves to anachronistic things”[2].

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r e f e r e n c e s 

• [1] [2] Le Corbusier, "Architecture or Revolution?" Toward an Architecture (1924/1928/2007), pp.295, 297, 
• [3] [4] Carpo, Mario, "Introduction," The Digital Turn in Architecture 1992-2012 (2013), pp. 9,11