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The Architecture of Vesper: Living in a world of wet data.
It’s a dreary Sunday afternoon, the kind that begs for introspection or escape. I stand at the window, watching the drizzle, feeling a similar unrest churn inside me. The choice is simple yet strangely pivotal—accompany Harriet on a hopeful, damp walk or seek solace in another world through a film. I choose the latter, whispering…
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What Architects can learn from Musicians about Machine Learning.
Machine learning models are rapidly transforming creative disciplines, from music to architecture. After listening to a recent RA Exchange with musicians Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst (RA Exchange 789) about AI’s implications for artistic autonomy, ethics, and authorship, it made me wonder if there was as much potential in architectural practice. My conclusion was that…
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Mixed Feelings About Reality
The Luddites would have loved mixed reality. In the previous post, I wrote about the potential benefits of using mixed reality in architectural design and fabrication. The combination of Hololens, software communication protocols (such as Fololens) and design software (such as Rhino 3D) produce a cyber-human-material system that combines the tactile experience and physical feedback…
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Notes on a Planthroposcene
Although Natasha Myers wrote the article “How to grow liveable worlds: Ten (not-so-easy) steps for life in the Planthroposcene” before COVID 19, her writing contains interesting ideas for those interested in the Anthropocene and human impact in a post Coronavirus world. Anthropocene Architecture is complicit in the Anthropocene’s existence, at its core it produces objects…
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Applying Beaudrillard’s Hyperreal
I am writing the curriculum for a media communications course at UTS College and one of the theories taught to students is ‘Hyperreality’. Jean Baudrillard, the French philosopher and sociologist, is well known for this concept that explains how a representation replaces reality, such that the simulated version becomes more real than the actual experience…
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Reading Before Prompting
Step aside Virtual Reality and Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence is now the king of hype. As ever, Neil Leach provides a thought provoking lecture in which he summarises AI in Architecture; all through the Digital Learning Futures You Tube page. On the back of my PhD thesis about Architecture and data, I’m currently fighting the Instagram…
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Architecture, Data and Super Users
In “Super-users: design technology specialists and the future of design” Randy Deutsch argues that the Architecture Engineering Construction (AEC) industry needs a new type of professional skillset called, yes you guessed it, a “super-user”. On first reading, it is clear that the adverb “super” describes the ability to achieve things outside of the normal, but…
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Repair and Dystopia
It’s a dreary Sunday afternoon, the kind that begs for introspection or escape. I stand at the window, watching the drizzle, feeling a similar unrest churn inside me. The choice is simple yet strangely pivotal—accompany Harriet on a hopeful, damp walk or seek solace in another world through a film. I choose the latter, whispering…
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Architecture is a History of Data.
Data is often viewed as a contemporary architectural phenomenon, emerging with digital technology and the internet. However, data has always played a crucial role in architectural history. From the earliest civilisations to the present, architects have utilised data for design and construction coordination, decision justification, and creation of enduring structures. Ancient Data The earliest examples…
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Running out of STEAM
In 2016, I presented a paper “Running out of STE(A)M: A Critical Perspective on the Political Rhetoric of Innovation” at the Australian Architectural School Association (AASA) conference held at the University of Technology Sydney. The title for the event was “Project to practice: Innovating Architecture” and focused on two significant questions, where is architecture creating…