a+u 2024:07 Feature: Post-Digitality in Architecture
Content
a+u’s July issue showcases post-digitality in architecture. Recent years have seen significant changes in architectural practice, driven by the evolving zeitgeist of the 2010s and beyond, where digital technology is widespread and commonplace – a condition referred to as “post-digital.” Technological and ecological disruptions are forcing architects to adapt and restrategize. This issue presents architectural research and education institutions where such explorations are being actively pursued: Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles, the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London, and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich. These institutions are at the forefront of incorporating cutting-edge technology into their curricula and research projects, creating environments that foster new ideas to apply in the real world. This issue examines the advanced research and educational programs offered by these institutions, introducing pioneering projects by architects and spin-off companies that push the boundaries in their respective fields. Through this lens, we explore the urgent challenges posed by technology and ecology, and feature the evolving practice and profession of architecture being redefined by the post-digital context. (a+u)
Essay: Computerization as “Routine”
Toshikatsu Kiuchi
SCI-Arc
Interview: Navigating the Edge
David Ruy
EDGE Program:
Synthetic Landscape
Architectural Technologies
Fiction and Entertainment
Ruy Klein
Apophenia
Studio MMR
NN_CITY
Interview: From GANs to Diffusion Models
M. Casey Rehm
Liam Young
Planet City / Where the City Can’t See /
The Great Endeavor / Seoul City Machine
Interview: Redefining Architectural Practice
Through Storytelling
Liam Young
Lifeforms.io
Discovery / Planet Garden
Interview: Games and Worldmaking
Damjan Jovanovic
Essay: The Far Side of Excess Disruption
Toshiki Hirano
The Bartlett
B-Pro Program:
Monumental Wastelands (RC1)
Videogame Urbanism (RC12)
Pareid
Decommissioned Gamified / Foll(i)cle
You+Pea
Playing the Picturesque /
London Developers Toolkit
Interview:
The Intersection of Architecture and Gaming
Déborah López, Hadin Charbel,
Sandra Youkhana, and Luke Pearson
B-Pro Program:
Living Architecture Lab (RC3)
Interview:
Autonomous Ecologies of Construction
Tyson Hosmer, Octavian Gheorghiu
AUAR
Robotic Micro-Factory
Interview:
From Discrete to Micro Factories
Mollie Claypool, Gilles Retsin, and
Manuel Jimenez Garcia
Essay: Generative AI, Imitation Learning, and the
Automation of Tacit Knowledge
Mario Carpo
ETH Zürich
Interview:
Institute of Technology in Architecture
Matthias Kohler
Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zürich
Impact Printing
Interview:
Gramazio Kohler Research
Fabio Gramazio, Matthias Kohler
Benjamin Dillenburger, Michael Hansmeyer
Tor Alva
Interview:
Form-Works / Form and Performance
Benjamin Dillenburger
ETH Spin-off: VAULTED
Rippmann Floor System
Interview: From Cathedral Vaults to Circular
Floors in Concrete
Philippe Block
Meteora – “I Play with the Plenty”
Interview: AI as a Climate
Ludger Hovestadt
ETH Spin-offs:
SAEKI
MESH
Gravis Robotics
Interview: Adapting to Inherent Complexity
Ryan Luke Johns