This book is organized into three sections. The first covers the wide spectrum of digital technologies now available. It will demonstrate the range of tools accessible to the architect/ student when developing and communicating their designs from initial concept to final presentation, and how these underpin new approaches in making. This section will explore these tools’ implications upon the design process and describe their performative properties in terms of translating digital information into manufactured elements across a range of scales, whether as fully integrated building systems or specific components. Furthermore, it will analyze the active role of the computer within the design process and examine a number of research strands pursuing novel methods of design generation and development. The second section will build upon this information and describe the variety of methods whereby digital data generated during the design process may be integrated with fabrication techniques to provide exciting and innovative processes with which designers may further refine and communicate their ideas. This area is one of significant transformation across a number of design disciplines, including architecture, and this section will therefore discuss the various attributes of different approaches and techniques to consolidate understanding for the designer prior to implementation. The third section will concentrate on those strategies through which the generation and integration of design ideas with fabrication processes may be employed in a coherent and explorative manner. This section will place significant emphasis on design by computational manipulation rather than determinism, to afford more experimental and speculative approaches to problems. It will describe and evaluate a range of advanced tooling procedures in terms of their application in architecture. It will then describe the various implications for the materiality of ideas as they become transformed from bundles of data to real objects. Therefore, this section extends the knowledge of the previous two into a more specialist field, permitting designers to be more discerning in their selection and use of particular techniques. Throughout the book, case studies demonstrate how a range of aspects and techniques from each section may be combined to produce innovative architectural design. By describing and explaining these different approaches and their skillful handling in an integrated digital design process and fabrication method, the case studies enhance readers’ understanding of those sections of the book while unveiling just some of the many possibilities through which such techniques may be applied.
Many of the projects featured illustrate highly innovative and experimental designs generated or fabricated through digital processes, sometimes as a fluid workflow between conception and production. In order to provide the reader with an appropriate balance of techniques and subject matter, this book includes work from established practices alongside emerging designers and architects. The relative affordability of digital design and fabrication technologies has brought them within the grasp of professionals and students alike, and a number of student projects are featured here to emphasize the pioneering work and “doit-yourself” ethos that they represent. Ultimately, with these technologies continuing to evolve and inform the future of architectural design, this book aims to inspire the next generation of designers and help them develop their creative ideas with the potential of digital fabrication.
Amanda Levete Architects designed the Corian® Lounge, which used advanced digital technology in its design process as well as for fabrication—specifically, development of an adjustable mold that enabled efficiency and variability in component production.