Discrete: Reappraising the Digital in Architecture

by Gilles Retsin (Editor)

After two decades of experimentation with the digital, the prevalent paradigm of formal continuity is being revised and questioned by an emerging generation of architects and theorists. While the world struggles with a global housing crisis and the impact of accelerated automation on labour, digital designers’ narrow focus on mere style and continuous differentiation seems increasingly out of touch. This issue charts an emerging body of work that is based on a computational understanding of the discrete part or building block – elements that are as scalable, accessible and versatile as digital data. The discrete proposes that a new, digital understanding of assembly, based on parts, contains the greatest promise for a complex, open-ended, adaptable architecture. This approach capitalises on the digital economy and automation, with the potential of the digital to democratise production and increase access. The digital not only has deep implications for how we design and produce architecture; it is first and foremost a new system of production with economic, social and political consequences that need to be taken into account. This issue presents a diverse body of work focused on the notion of the from design experiments and aesthetics, to urban models, tectonics, distributed robots, new material organisations and post-capitalist scenarios engaging with automation. Viola Ago, Mario Carpo, Emmanuelle Chiappone-Piriou, Mollie Claypool, Manuel Jimenez García, Daniel Koehler and Rasa Navasaityte, Immanuel Koh, Neil Leach, Ryan Manning, Philippe Morel, M Casey Rehm, Jose Sanchez, Marrikka Trotter, Manja van de Worp, Maria Yablonina and Lei Zheng. Featured Kengo Kuma, Lab-eds, Plethora Project, MadM, EZCT, Eragatory and Studio Kinch.

Genres: Architecture

136 pages, Paperback

Published April 29, 2019

Reviews

[Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good architects, have an amazing aesthetic sense- and this shines through in this volume. It is not an area I have much knowledge of, however I gained a better understanding of the promise of a combination of computational design, where the actual construction is done by 3D printing and automated methods using other kinds of robots. I am not sure this is entirely correct at this point, but perhaps if I have a bit more time, I will look deeper. It is interesting, where the decentralization, and lower costs of production in this area with take us. Affordable housing, is something mentioned here, but I do wonder about the infrastructure support: electricity, water, water waste disposal, and other forms of such disposal. If these methods can go into these important areas, we could perhaps build new communities in this manner.