Digital Tectonics: The intersection of the physical and the virtual

Abstract

The advent of automated manufacturing processes and the possibility of directly translating virtual creations into physical artifacts brought forth the possibility of exploring a digital tectonic: the poetics of digitally conceived, structurally clarified and directly manufactured architecture. CAD/CAM equipment is being rapidly installed in schools of architecture without much thought given to its effect on the tradition of tectonics. To investigate these effects, this paper includes discussions of the tradition of architectural tectonics and of more recent works that illustrate the possibilities of digital tectonics. This discussion is followed by a brief survey of some of the research in the area of analog/digital pedagogy. Additionally, two experiments were conducted in an academic course setting that explored analog, digital, and hybrid approaches to the creation of architectural artifacts. The physical and virtual artifacts from the two experiments were analyzed and commonalities and differences were discerned. The research project reported in this paper further clarifies the notion of digital tectonics as the poetics of digitally constructed assemblages, and points to possible pitfalls of using CAD/ CAM equipment that disregard the materiality of components and their interconnectedness. ACADIA: Education