Seminar on:
Hi Tech/Digital _ Revolution/Trend in Architecture Prepared By : Mohammad Rafidul Islam Reg : 02204014
Hi Tech/Digital _ Revolution/Trend in Architecture now a days Digital media is prominent in the practice of Architecture uses of these tools [such as AutoCAD, 3d max, Corel Draw, Photoshop, Sketchup, Google Earth etc.] makes significant in the process of design and presentation. there are both good and bad impact. digital drawing can be precise but may not have the output same as the manual media with more human touch. there are some new type of Architecture, which is generated only because of the digital media. It is now used widely. 3d perspective, walkthrough/animation can make virtual reality effects [although it takes lots of time and energy]. “Digital media/Manual media/hybrid media in which direction is Architecture going??? “ -It is a fact which we should be aware of.
THE DEFINITION OF DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE: NEW TOOL? NEW THEORY? NEW AGE? NEW REVOLUTION? Digital architecture might be just a new tool. If the digital technology does not influence the design thinking, design method and spatial theory, then it can be treated as merely a new tool. Even though, the digital technology will be another breakthrough as a tool, much more powerful than the drafting invented in the Greek time or the modeling in the Renaissance. Anthony Ames * Tadao Ando * David Baker Associates * R.L. Binder * Neil Denari * Steven Holl * Helmut Jahn * Kajima Corporation * Kohn Pederson Fox * Morphosis * Eric Owen Moss * Scogin Elam and Bray Architects * Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects * Shin Takamatsu * Bernard Tschumi * Kenneth Yeang * _Architects who uses the digital technology.
ARCHITECTURE IN THE DIGITAL AGE Information technologies and the construction industry are coming together in ways once unimaginable, and their union is changing what people do inside buildings, as well as how buildings are designed and built.
For the last 200 years, the basic construction paradigm has been the factory, created for masses of people to work together to make complicated products. Now that paradigm is changing. With the rise of the virtual workplace, physical proximity is becoming ever less essential. The big research question today is what kind of building will we be building in the next century? Perhaps lots of meeting places. After all, the web is an electronic meeting place, but we will need physical meeting places as well. The Philosophy of Digital Architecture THE EMERGENCE OF DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE. In the year of 2000, the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, the applications of computer had already changed the design method, especially the technology like the virtual reality, CAD/CAM technology, and Internet. Through the computer, many famous architects, for instance Frank Gehry and Peter Eisenman, had designed various amazing spaces. Many of the architectural elements had been redefined, such as function, form, volume and space. This new type of architecture produced by the combination of new architectural efforts and digital technology is generally called digital architecture. After several years of development, the debate of the computerization has been shifted from the more technical issues into the issues related to the digitality of architecture, such as "Is this a temporary phenomenon or a permanent revolution?" "Will this tool hurt the architecture since we're not familiar with it?" "Are we ready for the new revolution?" "What's digital architecture?" digital technology now has reached the stage where the convergence of computer, telephone and television could reduce costs of design and construction by as much as 30 percent. In the early stages of its employment, architects approached computer technology as an assistance technique that would enhance architectural practice. The scope of this engagement was captured in the phrase ‘computer-aided architectural design’. In the four decades since that time, the role of computer technology in architecture has gained a marked significance and led to a different approach to physical production/construction. The scope has now been extended for architects to contemplate ‘totally digital architecture design/construction’.
Digital Architecture is a particularly dynamic field that is developing through the work of architectural schools, architects, software developers, researchers, technology, users, and society alike. Digital architecture might be also a new theory. If it can be used to assist the design thinking process by internet-aided design and web-based design, the design method based on the Bauhaus pedagogy will be redefined. In the same time, the design theory from the Renaissance will be also greatly changed by the computeraided design and design with computer. In addition, if our cyberspace and networked space experience can ultimately influence our spatial concepts in the physical world, following the massy Egyptian space, geometric Greek space, mystic Gothic space, dynamic Baroque space, modernism space, there will be a brand new spatial theory, so called digitalism. On the other hand, if the design method, thinking pattern and spatial theory are all changed by the digital architecture, digital architecture will be more than a theory. The digital architecture might thus form a new age if it is considered to have an overall impact on architecture. We should pay attention because if the digital architecture really forms an age, it will influence not only on architecture, but also the value system (Why it is good) and new aesthetics (what is beauty). Finally, digital architecture can be defined as a revolution. Every revolution changes human history and life style: fishing and hunting revolution, agricultural revolution and industrial revolution. Since architecture is only a small part of the social evolution. We can only wait to see what drastic socio-cultural changes will emerge in the digital age. In addition to these possibilities, we can also define the digital architecture by its duration. The duration generally lasts for a few months for a new tool, 10 to 30 years for a new theory, hundreds to thousands of years for a revolution. Therefore, if the digitality of architecture can last a few years, it might be regarded as a new tool; if more than 10 years, it might be considered as a new theory; if more than 30 years, it might be seen as a new age; if more than even hundred years, it might be defined as revolution. THE GAPS IN DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE. It is not easy to predict the future of the digital architecture, although, it is still progressing with the full speed. There are still gaps between the
architectural education, society culture, and digital architecture. The first is the gap between the professional and non-professional. the revolution generally causes controversy. Even though many people only use computer to type and e-mail, they don't hesitate to criticize and question the digital architecture. The second is the gap between two exiting generation and digital generation. We define the generation every 10 years. It's not easy for the different generations to communicate with each other. The generation gap between the existing generation and the digital generation can be easily seen in the debate of architectural design process, presentation, space, volume, concept and aesthetics (a Taiwanese architectural student almost got flunk for using the computation presentation instead of tradition drawings and models). The gaps exist everywhere in the world. For instance, the digital generation uses computer to white, thinking the traditional writing time-consuming, while the other generation criticizes the writing in the e-mail as "the writing without quality". This kind of criticism sounds familiar, we can trace it back to seventy years ago, while the Chinese modern literature replaces the classical literature. The Renaissance people who write in quill and brown ink may have the same criticism towards the stationery today. The third is the gap between the architectural and non-architectural field. Focusing more on the arts, history and culture, architecture always reacts slowly for the technology revolution. For instance, the communication has been totally digitalized, the architects still merely use metal and glass to express the avant-guard architecture, without digitalizing the design process. Meanwhile, the architectural education hardly puts any effort to keep up with the rapid change of the digital technology. It's possible that the traditional architectural education is still based on the philosophical, social, historical and psychological theory.
Last of all, we should use the tool whenever it is necessary and should use both methods simultaneously [as hybrid method] as we have the opportunity to choose.