Week 1 – Analogue to Digital

Architecture and its processes has developed substantially through the integration of technology and its continual progressive nature over time. Expanding on this progression; Information Master Builders (Kolarevic, B), Design Worlds and Fabrication Machines (Mitchell, W) and Transgression from drawing to making (Sheil,B), delve into the nature of the progression from Analogue to Digital, revolutionizing the processes of designing to the physical making in a range of industries, including architecture.

New technologies have played a major input into the creation of a plethora of conceptual shapes in architecture; shapes that are only possible with the use of data and computers, shapes beyond the human capacity to calculate. Computers have furthered possibilities and increased the efficiency and accuracy of the design process. Prior to the renaissance, the architect is the “master builder” controlling both the design and construction processes of a building. Soon after the Renaissance, architects disassociated themselves with the “building” phase of the process and focused solely on the “design”. In the architects eyes, technological advances in CAD and data management increase efficiency, and allows the architect to envelope a range of work covered by other disciplines. For example, the introduction and the combination of CAD (Computer Aided Design) and CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) has allowed architects to not only “design” their product but also “produce” or “make” a physical model, thus, reconnecting an architects role to a “master builder” and bridging the ever so distant gap between designing and making.

The continual progression of technology over the past decades have also seen the introduction to the development of new materials and its limitations with its application into the architectural and construction industry. Materials are continually developed, improved or even simply replaced in a building depending on the nature of use, ultimately creating buildings enhanced according to their environment.

With the move from Analogue to digital, the introduction of technological advancements in the 20^th century and the bridging between designing and making, it is evident that architectural processes have since been improved and enhanced with efficiency.

Readings:

Kolarevic, B. (2003). Information Master Builders. Architecture in the digital age: design and manufacturing. B. Kolarevic. New York, NY, Spon Press: 55-62

Mitchell, W. (2003). Design Worlds and Fabrication Machines. Architecture in the digital age: design and manufacturing. B. Kolarevic. New York, NY, Spon Press: 73-80.

Sheil, B. (2005). "Transgression from drawing to making." Arq : Architectural Research Quarterly 9(1): 20-32.