A.3. COMPOSITION / GENERATION
Architects and designers seem to be in the middle of an ‘identity crisis’ now. They strive to design the most sustainable environments for the people, but the methods of doing so are dispersed infinitely and indefinitely between the spectrum of Computation and Computerization. Practices are actively looking for ways to integrate Computational Design into their works, such as large firms like Fosters + Partners having a team of Computational Consultants[1], or smaller firms hiring specialised Computational agencies to optimize their designs. Many people commented on how this is no different from hiring a model making or image rendering company to beautify a building, but I am convinced that this is simply a small step to the final goal of a truly sustainable future. Many of the readings discussed how parametric and algorithmic designs are able to adjust and provide the optimal environments for users when the parameters are input accurately for the computer to work its magic, and I feel that the limiting factor now is the method in which the parameters are abstracted, hence I agree with what many of the firms are doing now. They have to push the
of what parametricism has to offer, and integrate different types of technologies in order to realize its true potential. Of course, the ideal environment cannot exist with just the building. As Fry stated in Design Futuring about redirective practice for a sustainable future, it is not concensual, it is particupatory[2], it can take the energy from the existing momentum of a particular force and bring it to a means of change. The users have to actively contribute and provide performance feedback in order for the computer to generate the change to the environment. In a way, getting this ‘feedback’ is one of the parameters that is difficult to obtain and input for the computer to adapt. In this sense, the architect may have yet more roles to play in the future. When architects truly have mastery over parametricism, where the building itself relates to the users and the surroundings, and in return the users provides the building with feedbacks for it to adapt to changes, I believe we will truly have moved on from being ‘disc jockeys’, who simply choose what they feel is the best combination of ideas, to actual ‘composers’, who narrates and directs an entire orchestra.
1. Peters, Brady (2013) ‘Computation Works: The Building of Algorithmic Thought’, Architectural Design, 83, 2, p10 2. Fry, Tony (2009) , Design Futuring, Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice (Oxford: Berg.2009), p14
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