Can we integrate architecture and the digital realm?

originally appeared
on Quora: the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are
answered by people with unique insights.

Answer by Leah Alissa Bayer, architect-in-testing in Silicon Valley,

on Quora:

We have integrated architecture with the digital ream and we should continue
to do so.

At its simplest integration, architecture married with the digital world with the
advent of CAD (Computer Aided Design). We've gone further now with BIM
(Building Information Modeling). But what's more promising is how the
architectural industry is beginning to keep up with the advancement of digital
technologies. The integration of architecture and digital realms has
endless opportunities. A few current examples include:

Renderings and walk-throughs of projects are insanely realistic

and get better every day thanks to cross-discipline partnerships
like those of architecture software and powerful graphics
developers, Autodesk and NVIDIA. Clients can now experience
both interior and exterior environments in photo-real pictures
and videos, helping them understand space without the barriers
of clunky geometry or confusing line drawings. Municipal design
reviews have a much better understanding of proposed
developments and can provide more constructive feedback.
Consultants' designs are integrated in 3D models to better
facilitate resolving coordination conflicts before construction,
saving time and money. The benefits go on and on.

Integrated tech, like moisture, temperature, and sound sensors

embedded in building components, create an artificial building
intelligence which helps users of a building to live and work
comfortably. Building automation ensures optimal performance,
efficiency, and ease of interaction between user, structure, and
environment by tracking data points and manipulating energy
usage, air quality, water requirements, etc. The intelligence in this
big data is intricate and informative, leading to ever more
sustainable design and healthy environments as we continue to
learn and synthesize.

Powerful algorithms and computational development created the

latest movement, parametric design, allow for innovative
structural forms weve never built before. Architecture firms are
running more like software engineering firms in that we are now
leveraging the tools available to us to create that which we could
only dream of before. We no longer have to rely on working with
 the basic programs given to us and only design from a kit of parts
based on traditional materials and construction methods. 3D
printing, for example, has been a huge player in freeing us from
typical construction of prescriptive forms and moving us towards
low-waste, on-site robotic manufacturing of extraordinarily
advanced, adaptive, and precise structures informed by real-life
contextual conditions and user needs. Neri Oxman, Director
of Mediated Matter at the MIT Media is working at the edge of
this field and prototyping the types of things dreams are made of -
- thrilling work.

What I find particularly interesting right now is the potential marriage of the
gaming industry and architecture. Video games have come a long way in the
past couple decades, (new DOOM, anyone?) and the rich dream worlds you
find yourself playing through are often developed in part by real architects.
Some beautiful examples are noted here: The Architects Guide to Life in Video
Games. But what if we turned the tables? Instead of gaming companies hiring
architects to develop digital, ethereal, speculative worlds, what if architects
hired gaming developers, software engineers, and digital fabricators to design
and present architecture to clients in real-time, digital environments?

Picture the following scenarios:

As an architect, I stand in virtual space (VR) on the proposed site and use
gestures to push and pull forms, apply materials, textures, and components. I
plant landscaping and watch it grow over time, change with seasons. With a
simple command I experience light patterns while I walk through a home in a
quick daylighting test, punching in windows and dropping on sunshades as
needed. I point to an eave and request a detail, chop through a wall for a
section view, or grab a face and request manufacturers of different stone
samples meet with me in VR to discuss their product and how it might work in
this design. I watch the building breathe, heat up, weather and age in a
digitally simulated environment to ensure Ive designed a complete system, an
organism, that performs not only on paper but throughout its lifecycle.

As a client, you put on a headset and meet me at your new home, or a few
different versions of your new home. We walk through rooms together, touring
the spaces, and you point to, circling with your fingers, areas you want to
change or understand better. Sensors pick up your movements and our
conversation and send a spatial markup to my team with notes, voice memos,
and intelligent suggestions based on your input. You listen to the acoustics,
feel the lighting, and drop in furniture and appliances to different rooms to
better analyze how youll live in each space. Your family members visit and
comment when its convenient for them and the design grows over time from
experiential collaboration. Your new home is everything you want and need.
As a contractor, you walk through exploded versions of the project
assessing each phase of development. A transparent HUD (heads up display)
overlays with the real world site, showing accuracy of foundation pours,
framing locations, and placement of mechanical, plumbing, and electrical.
BIM + Augmented Reality allows you to tap into the materials of each phase
model and request workload breakdowns, manufacturers, costs, and delivery
to make quicker, smarter decisions (saving big). Staffing notifications and
safety warnings are tracked in real-time. Specs exist in 3D to ensure accuracy
while smart deliveries and construction completion assessments check off
automatically against your burndowns - construction management is fast and
fluid.

A city imports models and environments from all architects, environmental

engineers, landscape architects, and the like to better understand the effects of
new developments. How does the air move between buildings? How is light
affected? What does water flow look like during a flood? How many cars will
be on that road in 2050? What is the average age of the pedestrian in this
neighborhood? Simulated environments with the flexibility to make slight
changes by individual variables means more informed city planning decisions.
Visualizing 10 year, 20 year, 30 year, 100 year changes based on existing,
generated, and iterative data allows for smarter transitions and allocation of
resources. Cities are more efficient in every way.

Realtors let prospective buyers game their way through a space, drag and
dropping specific staging styles, configurations, and finish upgrades. Comps
are walked through side-by-side to confirm value, with all relevant
information displayed instantly when requested - how far is the closest school?
What are the crime statistics of the neighborhood? When was this home last
renovated? Transparent data leads to informed decisions and happy clients.

I could go on and on, its so exciting! The point is, realizing architecture within
a comprehensive, digital world where we can run endless simulations, collect
theoretical data, experience space with the entire team, manipulate forms and
materials, communicate with other architects, engineers, cities, and users, and
transition through all project phases from birth to death to reuse and beyond
within a seamlessly integrated platform will change the world. Were at the
beginning of a new era, where architecture in the digital realm will change and
enhance our real world environment forever. What an extraordinary time to be
alive

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/06/03/exploring-the-mind-blowing-realm-of-digital-
architecture/#2a82caf470fe
Digital architecture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Digital architecture uses computer modeling, programming, simulation and imaging to create
both virtual forms and physical structures. The terminology has also been used to refer to other
aspects of architecture that feature digital technologies. The emergent field is not clearly
delineated to this point, and the terminology is also used to apply to digital skins that can be
streamed images and have their appearance altered. A headquarters building design for Boston
television and radio station WGBH by Polshek Partnership has been discussed as an example of
digital architecture and includes a digital skin.[1]
Architecture created digitally might not involve the use of actual materials (brick, stone, glass,
steel, wood).[2] It relies on "sets of numbers stored in electromagnetic format" used to create
representations and simulations that correspond to material performance and to map out built
artifacts.[2] Digital architecture does not just represent "ideated space"; it also creates places for
human interaction that do not resemble physical architectural spaces.[2] Examples of these places
in the "Internet Universe" and cyberspace include websites, multi-user dungeons, MOOs,
and web chatrooms.[2]
Digital architecture allows complex calculations that delimit architects and allow a diverse range
of complex forms to be created with great ease using computer algorithms.[3] The new genre of
"scripted, iterative, and indexical architecture" produces a proliferation of formal outcomes,
leaving the designer the role of selection and increasing the possibilities in architectural
design.[3] This has "re-initiated a debate regarding curvilinearity, expressionism and role of
technology in society" leading to new forms of non-standard architecture by architects such
as Zaha Hadid, Kas Oosterhuis and UN Studio.[3] A conference held in London in 2009 named
"Digital Architecture London" introduced the latest development in digital design practice.[4]
The Far Eastern International Digital Design Award (The Feidad Award) has been in existence
since 2000 and honours "innovative design created with the aid of digital media." In 2005 a jury
with members including a representative from Quantum Film, Greg Lynn from Greg Lynn FORM,
Jacob van Rijs of MVRDV, Gerhard Schmitt, Birger Sevaldson (Ocean North), chose among
submissions "exploring digital concepts such as computing, information, electronic media, hyper-
, virtual-, and cyberspace in order to help define and discuss future space and architecture in the
digital age."[5]

Contents
[hide]

1See also
2References
3Further reading
o 3.1General
o 3.2Education
4External links
o 4.1Knowledge repositories
o 4.2Academic journals
4.2.1Primary
4.2.2Relevant
o 4.3Associations and organizations
o 4.4Blogs and forums

See also[edit]
Architectural theory
 Blobitecture
Digital age
Digital architect
Digital art
Digital mapping
Digital morphogenesis
Interactive architecture
Virtual reality

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ WGBH to wrap new headquarters in digital skin
2. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Daniela Bertol, David Foell Designing digital
space page 57
3. ^ Jump up to:a b c A. Ali, C. A. Brebbia Digital architecture and
construction Abstract by S. Hatzellis, University of Technology,
Sydney Australia page 51, 54
4. Jump up^ [1]
5. Jump up^ Yu-Tung Liu The Philosophy of Digital Architecture:
The FEIDAD Award Architettura

Further reading[edit]
General[edit]

Oxman, Rivka and Oxman Robert 'Architectural Design - The

New Structuralism: Design, Engineering and Architectural
Technologies' Wiley, 2010. ISBN 978-0-470-74227-3.
Lynn, Greg. Animate Form. Princeton Architectural Press,
1998. ISBN 1568980833.
Education[edit]

Roudavski, Stanislav (2011). 'Selective Jamming: Digital

Architectural Design in Foundation Courses', International
Journal of Architectural Computing, 9, 4, pp. 437461
Andia, Alfredo (2002). 'Reconstructing the Effects of Computers
on Practice and Education during the Past Three Decades',
Journal of Architectural Education, 56, 2, pp. 713

External links[edit]
Knowledge repositories[edit]

Cumulative Index of Computer Aided Architectural Design

(CUMINCAD)
Academic journals[edit]
Primary[edit]

International Journal of Architectural Computing

Relevant[edit]

Digital Creativity
Nexus Network Journal
 Associations and organizations[edit]

Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research

in Asia (CAADRIA)
Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture
(ACADIA)
CAADFutures Foundation
Education and research in Computer Aided Architectural Design
in Europe (eCAADe)
The Iberoamerican Society of Digital Graphics (SIGraDi)
Blogs and forums[edit]

Architectural design and CAD Drafting News

Archinect Discussion Forum
Categories:
Architectural design
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Digital architecture
1. 1. -The term digital architecture has been coined by William Gibson in 1984. -
CYBERSPACE- The world of digital architecture is largely a visual statement. -Cyber
here means computer processed, conjoins the suffix space. -Digital architecture uses
computer modeling, programming, simulation and imaging to create both virtual forms
and physical structures -The terminology has also been used to refer to other aspects of
architecture that feature digital technologies. -Architecture created digitally might not
involve the use of actual materials. -Digital architecture allows complex calculations that
delimit architects and allow a diverse range of complex forms to be created.
2. 2. -Digital architecture has reinitiated a debate regarding curvilinearity, expressionism
and role of technology in society leading to new forms of non- standard architecture. -
The far eastern international digital design award (the FEIDAD award) has been in
existence since 2000 and honours innovative design created with the aid of digital
media. TREE BRIDGE| Charles Norbury, Will Kendall and Andrew Novak (RENDERED
DIGITALLY!)
3. 3. SOFTWARES THAT ARE USED IN DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE: -Rhino -Google
Sketch up -Computer programming software like C, C++ -Plug-in like grasshopper,
artisns
4. 4. MACHINE USED FOR DIGITAL DRAFTING: AXYZ 3-Axis Router: The AXYZ 4008
Series 3 Axis CNC Router is one of the most popular sizes for CNC Routers. Located in
the Fabrication Lab, is capable of handling a range of tooling and application options in
the industry and has a process width of 48, a length of 96 and a 15 gantry height. The
height limitations may vary depending upon project dimension, tool choice, and tool path
design. Controller: The computers in the fabrication lab communicate to the CNC Router
via the AXYZ A2MC Advanced Control system. The A2MC software, which is installed on
the computers in the Fabrication Lab, is the heart of the AXYZ control network, providing
high speed data processing capability, and motion control.
5. 5. Software: RhinoCAM 2012 is a CAM plugin that runs inside of Rhinoceros 5 64 bit.
This fully integrated RhinoCAM plugin seamlessly integrates Rhinos CAD functionality
with tool path generation and cutting simulation or verification. Submittal Process:
Knowledge of rhinocam is essential to use CNC machine. It is verified that the proper bit
has been selected and that the feeds and speeds associated with the job are correct.
Verification of tool paths id done and the file must be cleared by a CNC TA before miling
time can be booked.
6. 6. -ZAHA HADID is an Iraq-British architect born on 31 October 1950 -Zaha Hadids style
is boldly contemporary, organic and innovative -She creates design through new
technology and materials -Her creations are more to do with topography and landscape,
emulating a natural form. -Her concepts are gravity defining, fragmentary and
revolutionary. -During postmodernism, Zaha Hadid declared that modernity was an
incomplete project that deserves to be completed. She rekindled the flame of modernity
with new desires of cocktails! New national stadium, Tokyo Chayoyangmen soho Jockey
club tower, Hong Kong
7. 7. HEYDER ALIYEV CULTURAL CENTRE, BAKU
8. 8. -The cultural centre is situated in Baku, completed in 2012 -The centre is named after
Hayder Aliyev, leader of Soviet era -The cultural centre represents a fluid form which
emerges by folding of landscapes natural topography -All the functions, along with
entrances, are represented by folds in a single continuous surface -The centre houses a
conference hall, a gallery hall, food and beverage area and a museum -As it folds inside,
the skin erodes away to become an element of the interior landscape of the centre -The
fluid form also connects the various cultural spaces providing each element its own
identity and privacy. -It has three auditorium that are connected by a plaza -The series of
ramps provided in interior connects the mezzanine levels above
9. 9. Interior Views
10. 10. BMW CENTRAL BUILDING,GERMANY
11. 11. -The BMW central building located in Germany , completed in 2005 is the winning
design for Pritzker award by Zaha Hadid -The central building is the nerve centre for
 BMWs new manufacture of BMW 3 series vehicle -The three production building were
connected by this central building -Designed as series of overlapping and interconnecting
levels and spaces it blurs the separation between parts of complex -Each day, 650 BMW
3 Series, pass through the Central Building on an elevated conveyor as they move from
one of the three production sheds to the next. -Dim blue LED lights highlight the vehicles
after each stage. - These conveyors not only take the vehicles from one production shed
to another, but do so directly through all of the functional spaces of the Central Building. -
The offices, meeting rooms, and public relations facilities are all built around these
elevated conveyors belts
12. 12. -All of the load-bearing walls, floors, and office levels are made of cast-in-place
concrete, while the roof structure is composed of structural steel beams and space frame
construction. - The facade is clad in simple materials of like corrugated metal, channel
glass, and glass curtain walls

Exploring the development of digital architecture, American architect Greg Lynn

and the Canadian Center for Architecture bring a new perspective to the medium's
history.

SHARE

TWEET
Frank O. Gehry & Associates, Inc. Lewis Residence, Lyndhurst, Ohio: Elevation
rendering from Catia 3D model,1989-1995. Image provided by Gehry Partners, LLP.

Theres something novel about the Canadian Center for Architecture's latest
exhibition, Archaeology of the Digital, on view in Montreal through
October. Rather than focus solely on the use of digital media in architecture, the show,
curated by American architect Greg Lynn in collaboration with the CCA, calls for the
development of a history of digital art and design, and an archive of the technology
employed in its creation.

ADVERTISEMENT
Among the challenges that present themselves when cataloguing and preserving
digital art is the rate at which technologies and media are rendered redundant and are
obsolete, a challenge that makes preserving the tools used to create digital art forms as
important as preserving the art itself.

Another challenge to establishing a history of digital art is rethinking the relationship

between digital art and our own time. Greg Lynn, one of the first architects to use
vector animation technology, explains that in architecture, the expression in the
future has too often been held synonymous with the term digital, and vice-versa.
But what happens after we've been living in a digital age for the past 20 years? In
other words, its worth considering that digital technology has been around long
enough in the world of architecture to benefit from analysis and documentation.
Through its focus on architecture, Archaeology of the Digital documents one facet
of digital art history and pays tribute to the use of digital tools in building
development--from conceptualizing a design to making it a reality. As they explore
the most avant-garde projects from the 80s and 90s, viewers discover the evolution of
architectural experimentation, from the development of new software to the adoption
of new techniques, all in the aim of finding out how digital technology negotiated the
architectural obstacles and challenges present in a given time period.

Peter Eisenman, Eisenman/Robertson Architects. Biozentrum, Biology Center for

the J.W. Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Study
Perspective,1987. Peter Eisenman fonds, Canadian Centre for Architecture.
To get an idea what kind of challenges digital technology has helped architects
overcome, viewers can examine the Biozentrum (1987) project by Peter Eisenman and
his team. This JW Goethe University building in Frankfurt incorporates geometric
shapes inspired by the structural complexity of the ADN. The projects blueprints
were tailor-designed and perfected thanks to CRAY, a supercomputer comprising
modeling software like Archimodos and FormeZ.

ADVERTISEMENT
Frank Gehry worked on the Lewis Residence, a laboratory for experimenting with
new 3D modeling technologies, from 1989 to 1995. Acting as a bridge between
concept sketches and digital simulations, the technical drafts produced by the project
allowed for new technology, materials, and techniques to emerge. The project also led
to the development of a new, complex language of design developed mostly thanks to
the Computer Aided three-dimensional interactive Application program known
as CATIA.
Frank O. Gehry & Associates, Inc. Lewis Residence, Lyndhurst, Ohio: Fish,
Geometrical frame of the conservatory from Catia 3D model, 1989-1995. Image
provided by Gehry Partners, LLP.
Frank O. Gehry & Associates, Inc. Lewis Residence, Lyndhurst, Ohio: Elevation
rendering from Catia 3D model,1989-1995. Image provided by Gehry Partners, LLP.

A side-by-side analysis of architectural projects from the period shows that a wide
array of tools already existed for the production of digital art in the 80s and 90s.
Although digital technology was commonly used at some point in the development of
architectural projects in this period, it didnt always appear at the same stage of
development.

That was the case for Chuck Hoberman (1988-1992), the creator of the expanding
sphere, a polyhedron that can expand and contract, and the Iris Dome, a ceiling that
opens and closes like an eyelid, which only employed digital technology in the final
stages of his production. Through his work on geometry, movement, and robotics,
Hoberman created an origami-like architecture with the capacity to react and adapt.
Before making his projects a physical reality, Hoberman turned to technical tests to
simulate the mechanisms in his structures, developing his own AutoLISP scripts.

Chuck Hoberman, Hoberman Associates. Expanding geodesic dome,

1991. Hoberman fonds, Canadian Centre for Architecture Hoberman Associates.
Chuck Hoberman, Hoberman Associates. Views of an Iris Dome model,
1993. Chuck Hoberman fonds, Canadian Centre for Architecture Hoberman
Associates.

Finally, Shoei Yohs interest in phenomenology led him to develop designs for roofs
that would react to fluctuations in outdoor conditions, a project lasting from 1990 to
1992. The infrastructures of the Galaxy Toyama gymnasium roof and of the Odawara
sporting complex roof, which was never constructed, were designed to respond and
adapt to the weight of snow, to the pressure of wind, and to light, creating hybrid
buildings in-tune with nature.
 ADVERTISEMENT
By inputting the diverse possibilities of his structures to manifest new shapes and
forms into tools permitting digital analysis, Yoh obtained codes which, once translated
and tested digitally, produced a new, minimalist structural language.

Shoei Yoh + Architects. Odawara Municipal Sports Complex, Odawara, Kanagawa,

Japan: Computer-generated images of deformation of roof, 1990-1991. Shoei Yoh
+ Architects.
Besides its mandate to educate the public at large, the Canadian Center for
Architectures Archaeology of the Digital exhibit is the first page in an expansive
history of digital design that lies ready to be discovered by a new generation of
emerging theoreticians and historians of the digital age. It is also a part of the
Canadian Center for Architectures long-term project to create an archive that will
facilitate the research and critical consideration of the development and use of digital
tools in architecture.

https://creators.vice.com/en_us/article/kbne89/the-fathers-of-digital-architecture-are-reunited-in-
a-new-exhibition