Issues of Control and Command in Digital Design and Architectural Computation

Abstract

Issues of control and command in architecture are considered here via reflections on recent and current research projects concerning digital technologies. The projects’ topics cover a range of scales and approaches, from the planning and design of urban ensembles to the detailing of panels for constructing freeform building envelopes. Additional topics on this spectrum include methods to support open-ended design explorations, goal-driven optimisations, participatory design and the internet-of-things. In each of these the possibilities and methods for controlling the design process and the resulting artifacts and systems are addressed in different ways, which consequently influence the roles of architects in different ways. Overall we see that while digital technologies do indeed enhance architects’ control in some cases, some applications require sharing of control with others, while still others may result in loss of control either to other parties due to transferability of skills, for example or altogether due to complexity and feedbacks. Awareness of these different possibilities may aid better use of the technologies.