Architectures’s Inevitable Evolution

Sanmita presented a series of ideas about architecture’s evolving role in relationship to technology. Starting with classic pencil illustrations of the Crystal Palace, a modular structure erected in 1851 from wood, iron and glass, we explored this monument to technology and expression its age. Sanmita talked about how architecture has evolved with technology and continues to do so.

Technology provides opportunity to future trends that will affect the business of architecture over the next 20 years; it addresses factors including globalization, climate change, the growing use of computers. Today, physical location is less relevant as a designer.

We had a heated discussion about the role of computers in design. The generation of architects graduating from school now is the first generation to have been using computers throughout their entire lives. The reliance on computers as design tools and the current use of parametric modeling tools as means to generate space are hotly debated topics. As computer generated form becomes the norm for a generation of young architects, how does that reconcile with the current building technology and construction industry?