1. INTRODUCTION
Since the eighties, the dissemination of the computer started to affect the practice of architecture in many ways. From the automated production of drawings and virtual simulation to the more recent computer-based design techniques, the fascination with the power of the digital media lead architects to the exploration of alternative conceptual and material strategies. In a more advanced level, architects began to consider digital design processes that embraced variation and adaptation (i.e. parametric, generative, evolutionary…) while recurring to digital fabrication processes (CNC machines) to materialize them.
Today, following the example of other areas, the integrated use of CAD/CAE/CAM processes are progressively employed in building industry, defying new production possibilities in architecture, at the conceptual, material and performative levels. Almost all buildings that are culturally relevant in contemporary architecture scene, involve in many stages of their development process, the use of advanced computational processes that are not exclusively committed to representation and communication tasks. Crossing different scales and programmatic requirements, buildings like the Walt Disney Concert Hall by Frank Ghery, the skyscraper Swiss Re by Norman Foster in London or the small Serpentine Pavillion by Alvaro Siza clearly illustrate this condition.
2. THE SEMINAR
In this context, the research Seminar in “Digital Technologies in Architecture: Principles and Applications.” (DTA) aims to produce a critical reflection about the current state of digital technologies applications in architecture. Presenting and discussing a specific theme, each class session illustrates and analyses a set of key-concepts and principles to evaluate the actual impact of computation in the theory and practice of architecture. The classes of the Seminar DTA are organized around the following topics:
• Introduction to Digital Technologies in Architecture;
• Convergence and Non-Linearity in the Digital Process;
• Digital Tectonics. (Re) Inventing Materiality;
• From Standardization to (Digital) Customization;
• Designing and Building the Virtual;
• Calculated Freedom: The Frank Gehry’s Process;
• Digital Technologies in Research and Education;
• New Processes; New Architecture?
Each class starts with the presentation of a theme in a lecture format, followed by the participation of the students in on-going discussion (the calendar of topics and readings are explained in a separate document, which also contains a series of readings recommendations). The final part of the class is dedicated to orientate and discuss the work-in-progress of each student’s written Research Paper.
3. OBJECTIVES
At the end of this course, students are expected to:
• frame the emergence of new architectural opportunities allowed by digital technologies within the history of representation processes, and the traditions of design and construction in architecture;
• be familiar with the main principles and taxonomies behind the new design, engineering and manufacturing technologies;
• formulate critical arguments when they evaluate or discuss computing applications in contemporary architecture, as well as future tendencies (technological, methodological, theoretical, productive…) in the field.
4. EVALUATION
Evaluation will be based on the student attendance and active participation in the class discussions, and the production of a Research Work, delivered and presented to the class by the end of the term.
5. CALENDAR
The classes will take place at IAAC on Mondays (16-20pm), every 2 weeks.
The scheduled days are the following:
• October, 8
• October, 22
• November, 5
• November, 19
• December, 3
6. REFERENCES (Selection)
Abel, C. (2004): Architecture, Technology and Process, Architectural Press, Burlington MA.
Addis, B. (2007): Building: 3000 Years of Design, Engineering and Construction, Phaidon, London.
Addington, M., and Schodek, D. (2005): Smart Materials and Technologies. Elsevier, Oxford.
Beim, A. (2004): Tectonic Visions in Architecture. Kunstakademiets, Copenhagen.
Braham, W.W., and Hale, J.A. (2007): Rethinking Technology. A Reader in Architectural Theory, Routledge, London.
Callicot, N. (2001): Computer-Aided Manufacture in Architecture, Architectural Press, Oxford.
Chazdar, A., ed. (2006): Blurring the Lines, Wiley, West Sussex.
Eisenman, Peter. (1992): “Visions Unfolding: Architecture in the Age of Electronic Media.”, in DOMUS 734 (pp. 17-21).
Forester, T., ed. (1988):The Materials Revolution., MIT Press, Cambridge MA.
Forester, Tom (1990): High-Tech Society, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Kalay, Y. E. (2004): Architecture’s New Media. MIT Press, Cambridge MA.
Kolarevic, B., ed. (2003): Architecture in the Digital Age. Design and Manufacturing. Spon Press, New York.
Kolarevic, B., and Malkawi, A.M., ed. (2005): Performative Architecture. Beyond Instrumentality. Spon Press, New York.
Lally, S. and Young, J. (2007): Softspace. From a Representation of Form to a Simulation of Space, Routledge, London.
Leach, N., Turnbull, D. and Williams, C., Eds. (2002): Designing for a Digital World, Wiley-Academy, West Sussex UK.
Leach, N., Turnbull, D. and Williams, C., Eds. (2004): Digital Tectonics, Wiley-Academy, West Sussex UK.
Mitchell, W. J. (2001): “Roll Over Euclid: How Frank Gehry Designs and Builds.”, in J. Fiona Ragheb, ed., Frank Gehry, Architect. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.
Mori, T., Ed. (2002): Immaterial / Ultramaterial, George Brazillier Inc., New York.
Levy, P. (2001): O que é o Virtual?, Quarteto Editora, Coimbra.
Pine, J. (1993): Mass Customization, Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge MA.
Schodek, D., Bechthold, M., Griggs, K., Kao, K. M. and Steinberg, M. (2005): Digital Design and Manufacturing. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken NJ.
Terzidis, K. (2006): Algorithmic Architecture, Elsevier, Burlington MA.
Vitruvius (1960): The Ten Books of Architecture, Dover Publications, Mineola NY.
