Online Journal of Engineering Sciences and Technologies (OJEST) ISSN: 2588-6770; www.ojest.ir

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The Evolving Role of Digital Technology in Architectural Design

Ehsan GhasemiDepartment of Architecture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

Received 7 June 2018 Accepted 20 August 2018 Available Online 30 September 2018

ABSTRACTAs a result of technological development at the end of the 20th century, a new paradigm appeared in which digital tools and advanced media imaging and simulation sparked the new phenomena of innovative designs of architectural forms. Contemporary buildings are now covered with surfaces, images and compositions that evoke sensory stimulation, which is characteristic of the age of information technology, a consumer-oriented culture, and widespread use of digital media. As a result, innovative architectural forms created by various geometries and images have now become possible with the advancement of computer simulation tools and fabrication technology that allows the effective production of novel and variable materials. With the utilization of digital design technology to produce innovative and novel forms and compositions, younger architects have reconfigured the perceptions about architectural forms, thereby enhancing their performance in expression of new ideas. This article discusses the transformation process of architectural form by the influence of digital technology.

Keywords: building; construction; design; technology.

IntroductionThe emergence of new digital technologies, the

development of cities, and the creation of consumer spaces since the 19th century has greatly changed human visual and perceptive experiences. Express transportations, such as trains and personal vehicles, have considerably changed our sense of speed, space and time. The visual information experienced while traveling at high speeds has encouraged humans, who have a limited capacity for accepting new images, to concentrate on superficial images of expanded visual ranges. In particular, architectural forms and spaces are manipulated according to intention and purpose, and the importance of visuality is emphasized to capture the constant movements of architects. With the acceleration of digitalization, architectural forms and spaces have developed beyond their original purpose of traditional architecture.

Then, at the end of the 20th century, a new paradigm appeared in which advanced media images sparked the new phenomena of artificial and virtual designs on architectural surfaces. Contemporary architectural form are more innovative and surfaces are covered with images that evoke sensory stimulation, which is characteristic of the age of information technology, a consumer-oriented culture, and widespread use of digital media. French philosopher, Jean Baudrillard described the focus on consumerism in terms of the phenomenon of simulacra, in which images appear to supersede reality (Baudrillard, 1990). Thus, objects are transformed into symbols, and these symbols produce endless images, which are illusions of reality that seem more realistic than reality itself.

The relationship between objects, goods, and images manipulates and encourages the new design approach for architects while creating the images of the urban landscape. The images within a city are expressed in various forms and methods through the architectural forms. These forms accelerate the accumulation of excess information and the production of stimulating images. The development of the digital media has changed the way images are created and perceived, and therefore has created for humanity a new relationship between senses and experiences.

Current digital fabrication technology allows the effective analysis, simulation, fabrication, and assembly of virtually constructed architectural images. Notably, this technology reconstructs the unit information of materials and then removes the individual characteristics and identity of each material to simulate an image. Thus, the desired surface effect is achieved with the use of virtual images. It is obvious that the evolution of digital technology in design and construction industry has provided unprecedented opportunities for creation of more innovative forms and improvement of quality in spaces. Therefore, in this study, a discussion on the transformation of architectural design process due to utilization of digital design tools is presented.

Literature ReviewMost part of previous studies argue that successful

digital design systems must feature intelligent human-machine integration (Yin et al., 2015). The designer should be able to seamlessly cooperate with the computer and both should fill in for each other’s deficiencies. In that interactive context, the computer performs quantitative

Correspondig Author: eh.ghassemi66@gmail.com

Vol. 1, No. 3; Summer 2018; Pages 1-6; DOI: 10.21859/ojest-01031

Online Journal of Engineering Sciences and Technologies (OJEST) ISSN: 2588-6770; www.ojest.ir

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tasks of computation and the designer is involved in qualitative activities related to intuition and cognition. This can help to boost human creativity and alleviate designers from traditional burdens using computers (Lu & Chen, 1994). Researchers also suggest that successful intelligent human-machine integration should take place in at least three configurations: human-dominated, machine-dominated and a balanced human-machine interaction (Yong & Chen, 2000). Other studies indicate that this three-fold character of interactions can make the integration even more robust because the different interaction types can be interchanged over the course of the design process so that each is applied to handle the design tasks it is most suitable for. In sum, a successful digital design system must be able to allow for the designer to freely enter a variety of interactions with the digital media and use the power of human intuition and computation interchangeably and effectively to achieve new and unique results.

On the other hand, experimental psychologists argue that people use images, not descriptions, in their cognitive activities (Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 1986). Consequently, creative design can take place under a different condition termed by cognitive psychologists as image-based thinking (Kellogg, 2002). That is, a person must be able to generate, analyze and interact with visual representations to be creative in design process. The studies of cognition in design further claim that the visual and cognitive interactions between the designer and the visual representations propel creative idea development and trigger the emergence of innovative design solutions (Oxman, 2002). Moreover, it is argued by some researchers that representations must provide enough variability to stimulate creative thinking in design process. Therefore, they should involve both digital and physical design techniques that the designer can visually and tangibly interact with (Lee, 2016). Thus, a successful digital design system must be able to facilitate the production of multiple and variegated design representations in digital and physical forms, preferably including dynamic ones, and allow for multisensory interaction with them.

Transformation of PerceptionThe paradigm of perspective, which had been the

leading visual style of the design-related activities since the 15th century, has been modified since the 19th century by the multiplicity of perspective techniques, the emergence of the new media, changes in the relationship between subject and object, the invention of new optical equipment as well as the development of visual technologies. The emergence of optical tools such as panorama, diorama, and the technology of the continuous shooting of images and motion pictures provided the opportunity for a totally different perception of visual experiences. This character is particularly demonstrated

in commercial areas as urban consumer spaces, where arcades and department stores enable panoramic visual expressions to emanate from consumer spaces. The visually stimulating images covering the front surfaces of buildings and stores, displayed products, street advertisements, and store signs, provide fleeting, coincidental, and fragmented elements that create distracting and dispersed experiences for observers of buildings. The experience of compressed time and space in a building or the panoramic views of a city from upper stores of building often result in viewers losing their central, privileged positions. The development of new media and technologies accelerated the experience of 19th century consumerism in architectural spaces, while the aesthetics of current digitalized culture reinforce immediate sensibility of physical stimulations.

In the contemporary society, the new visual media along with liquefied stare, and the acceleration of speed have exceedingly increased the amount of information and the number of spectacles, causing an overload of perception and senses. Images regenerated by media allow observer to perceive the objects that are currently viewed according to the past experiences of the observer. Regenerated images are now perceived through other senses besides visual perception, and viewing these images can reinforce the experience of past events. This process leads to generation of a certain intensity of sensual and compulsive stimulation, concentrating on form and appearance rather than content, and focuses on isolated, arbitrated, or fantastic images rather than on direct experiences.

Transformation of Architectural FormThe movement of modern architecture was first

developed as part of an elite high class culture including fine arts, sculpture, literature, classic music, and other pure arts. The architecture more significantly influenced fashion, interior design, movies, graphics, advertising, etc. and expressed a consumerist culture geared towards the awareness and vision of public. Then, architecture acted as a signboard or a stage in a consumerist space and focused on its own visual effect.

By the application of digital tools, the perceptive creation of building form is used as a medium to promote the components of cityscape as a spectacles. Then, through the composition of its surface in a consumerist space, the role of architecture as a product becomes a means of producing images for brand and corporate identities. Over the past century, the approach to design and construction techniques has moved increasingly away from the use of indigenous materials and traditional forms of building as exemplified in the ‘Walkie-Talkie’ designed by architect Rafael Viñoly (Fig. 1).

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Fig. 1: Walkie-Talkie’ designed by Rafael Viñoly.

Based on the formal analysis of digitally defined forms respectively by looking at the acquisition of the constituent elements of the related computer aided techniques during the design process, three major levels of computer utilization can be distinguished that can be defined as the transformation of architectural form influenced by the digital design techniques: first, the representational utilization, second, the parametric form, and finally the algorithmic design (Kotnik, 2010). A representational utilization which was the first step in transformation of design process is characterized by the application of the computer mainly as an electronic drawing tool. An example of such an application is the design of the Kunsthaus Graz by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2: Kunsthaus Graz designed by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier.

In this museum, NURBS was used to digitally describe the shape of the outer skin of the building based on an existing physical model (Bogner, 2004). In a similar way, Coop Himmelblau utilized modelling software to represent and refine the oblique-angled crystalline form of building in the UFA cinema in Dresden (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3: UFA cinema designed by Coop Himmelblau.

A parametric form is characterized by the utilization of a given relationship between computational process as a spectra of possibilities between input and output by means of continuous variation along the form and space. A well-known example of this type of parametric variation is the design for the Waterloo train station in London by Nicholas Grimshaw (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4: Waterloo train station in London designed by Nicholas Grimshaw.

In this station, the basic structure was designed in form of a three-pin bowstring arch with an asymmetric

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placement of the center pin due to the geometry of the platforms and its parametric propagation as a series of 36 identically configured trusses along the length of the train shed (Szalapaj, 2001; Kolarevic, 2003). A more complex parametric interplay between all of the various elements of the architecture was used in the design of the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart (Fig. 5) by UN Studio (Un Studio and HG Merz, 2006).

Fig. 5: Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart desighned by UN Studio.

In this project, the definition of the geometry of every single element of the form was accurately considered to be dependent on the basic layout of the trefoil figure.

Finally, an algorithmic design opens up this relationship between input and output and is characterized by the utilization of the formal description of computational function itself and its application as a design strategy. One of the first and well-known built examples based on an algorithmic design approach was the pavilion for the Serpentine Gallery by Toyo Ito and Cecil Balmond (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6: Serpentine Gallery designed by Toyo Ito and Cecil Balmond.

The use of an iterative subdivision of adjacent sides resulted in a dense composition of lines that could define the location of structural elements as well as the distribution of openings for the enclosed cubic space (Ito & Balmond, 2002). The design of the National Swimming Center in Beijing by PTW Architects is another example of design development based on an algorithmic construction of the underlying geometric structure (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7: National Swimming Center in Beijing designed by PTW Architects.

In this innovative form, the formal description of the space filling behavior of foam bubbles and its abstraction as Wearie-Phelan geometry enabled the use of complex polyhedral cells as a construction system with the capabilities of a rational and efficient solution that appeared to be random (Pohl, 2008).

Digital Design Techniques in Contemporary Architecture of Iran

In a digital design process, attention shifts away from the form-generating geometry itself towards the logic of the underlying computational function. This implies that, from a designer’s perspective, every computational function and every algorithmic description can be viewed as a generalized geometric operation. This understanding offers the possibility to look at the history of architecture in a new way and detect parametric and algorithmic potentials in different architectural styles through history.

The investigation into the concept of computability and its importance for digital design in contemporary architecture in most countries including Iran, shows that the computer is not a neutral tool, but rather is actively shaping the way designers are approaching the design process. The defining elements of a computational function, that is a well-defined quantifiable and algorithmic relationship between two sets, have guided the definition of levels of representational, parametric, and algorithmic characters of architectural form in contemporary architecture of Iran. These types are sufficient to classify contemporary digital design methodologies due to the limitation of all digital endeavors to computational functions.

Digital techniques were first used by Iranian architects as a tool for representational innovations. But now, many young Iranian architects use digital design techniques to create parametric compositions in their projects. Most of them believe parametric design is a new trend in contemporary architecture and has been brought up in line with the scientific and technological developments of the time, but its intellectual foundations are recognizable in traditional architecture of Iran. He notes that in this design method, a set of effective

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parameters is given by the designer to an intelligent system and with the precise and rapid processing of that system, the final product is produced in the form of an output; the human mind has been invented with a similar processing method, that is, a process that a human being is able to understand and analyze with greater accuracy and speed, in a scientific way, but again the basic principles of inputs must be understood.

Another young Iranian architect who uses digital techniques as a tool for design innovation is Hooman Balazdeh. He believes parametric architecture can change based on external factors and conditions and forms a unified structure with respect to environmental factors. He also believes traditional Iranian architecture and parametric architecture have similarities in unified expression. Architecture has done its job properly if it can respond to its environmental needs under a unified system and adopt the right policy towards external factors. In any architectural style, there is a need for design tools that are very different from traditional architectural and parametric architectures, but in responding to factors one can find similarities that resemble total and component unity under one system and structure. The unified system created in parametric architecture and traditional architecture of Iran are both responsive to different environmental needs and try to solve the environmental needs which eventually present themselves under a unified model. He has elaborated this technique in design process of Espriss Cafe in Tehran (Figs. 8 and 9).

Fig. 8: Espriss Cafe designed by Hooman Balazdeh.

In design process of the spatial diagram, the materiallity concept was based on an integrated geometry continuing from outside to inside. The neighboring building, Iranian Handicrafts Organization with brick facade, was the inspiration to use the same material for the cafe. Concerning the small size of the project, a brick with 5*10*20 dimensions was sliced into eight smaller pieces of 5*5*5 centimeters which one side of the bricks glazed in turquoise blue color. The terracotta bricks were also hygienic as they covered with antibacterial layer (CAOI, 2019).

Fig. 9: Parametric role of brick segments.

Alireza Mashhadimirza is another young Iranian architect who uses parametic approach to create innovative forms. Mashhadimirza believes not only Iranian architecture, but all of the world's architectures are parameterized, with solid logic and reasoning behind them. He notes a study of the native architecture of different parts of the world reveals this fact. Construction techniques, climate, accessibility, economics, etc. have been the parameters that shape architecture for thousands of years. In architecture for people, the purpose of analyzing and deducing these parameters is to achieve a relaxed and lasting atmosphere and less form is considered. In overall, he conludes that what is effective in producing Muqarnas in Iranian architecture, for example, is the regional and geographical approach to parameter and form-creating

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patterns. Looking at the architecture of the rest of the world, he says, it is a pervasive method that instead of using sophisticated software tools, geometric and completely creative methods of such forms have been produced. One of his dominant projects designed by this approach is the House of 40 Knots in Tehran (Fig. 10). While Persian carpets are world renowned, bricks have a strong relationship with Iranian historical architecture. In this building, these two features were fused into a contemporary façade that appears as a collection of intricately interwoven modules (CAOI, 2019).

Fig. 10: House of 40 Knots designed by Habibeh Madjdabadi and Alireza Mashhadimirza.

ConclusionFor the past decade or two, architectural profession

has seen an increasing amount of tendency towards incorporation of digital tools in the idea-making and design of form and space. New geometric compositions enabled by computational techniques became more and more prevalent especially among younger generation of architects. Also, the possibilities of design and construction work flow became much transparent and smoother with the advent of integrated tools provided by software advances. Within the context of contemporary architecture of most countries like Iran, these digital tools started to gain attention in the architectural education institutes as key components of general curricula and design teaching in particular. While it is inevitable that these digital tools are used more and more in the professional design studios, especially by younger generation of architects, when, where, and how these tools can be implemented in the curricular system

make a recognizable difference in not only whether the full potentials of these tools are utilized or not, but also in the way the future architects will cultivate the necessary complex set of skills to deal with professional challenges in contemporary world.

AcknowledgementThis article is a review on findings of a report titled

"New Horizons of Iranian Contemporary Architecture Based on Capabilities of Digital Design Techniques" which was prepared under support of Contemporary Architects Association of Iran.

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To cite this article:Ghasemi, E. (2018). The evolving role of digital technology in architectural design. Online Journal of Engineering Sciences and Technologies, 1(3), 1-6.

Ghasemi, 2018