 |
MODELING THE SWISS RE TOWER
The design for the Swiss Re Tower by Foster and Partners draws on advances in digital technologies to develop ideas that we first explored in the Climatroffice design with Buckminster Fuller in the early 1970s. — Published 2005.0504
 |
 |
COMPUTER-AIDED GREEN DESIGN
Like Renaissance master-builders who analyzed and visualized their designs by working with physical models and full-scale construction, modern architects have opportunities to master a holistic, integrated design process. But today's models are digital, and the "full-scale" construction is virtual, using the newest computer-aided design technologies. — Published 2005.0330
|
 |
MASS CUSTOMIZATION
In the world of manufacturing products, whether architectural, consumer, or industrial, there are two very different approaches. Individually crafting a one-off artifact allows the most attention to specific needs of the consumer, but sometimes at great expense. Mass-producing a commodity product can realize economies of scale, but with little regard to variation in individual preferences. New technologies may promise the best of both worlds. — Editor — Published 2005.0223
|
 |
LIBRARY BUILDING BEYOND THE BOOKS
With the advent of the information age and the radical change in library materials, media, and means of access to information, the nature of certain types of building systems have changed accordingly. These systems affect the layout and design of modern libraries. The most dramatic of the changes has been the evolution of communication systems and their associated equipment. — Published 2005.0126
|
 |
ARCHITECTURAL FABRICATIONS
Digital technology is helping to breed a new generations of architectural forms, some of which appear to be born of science fiction. But unlike fantasy images from "Star Trek," or from fringe visionaries, some of these forms are being developed and used by no-nonsense practitioners. Could this be the beginning of a new era for architecture? — Published 2004.1215
|
 |
GOING WIRELESS
Does it feel like the air is extra "charged" these days? The air waves are buzzing with communications from cellular telephones, remote control devices, and global positioning devices. Our digital world is being transformed by these technologies and, most recently, by wireless networks. — Published 2004.1110
|
 |
DIGITAL DESIGN DIVERGENCE
The evolution of computer-aided design in architecture can be viewed as the search for technology that can fulfill certain preconceived roles, such as drafting and modeling. However, a second view may be of greater interest to the profession and discipline of architecture, possibly even to society at large. — Published 2004.1013
|
 |
TEXTURING GRANITE
In July 2004, Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II officially opened a uniquely landscaped memorial in Hyde Park, West London. The Diana Memorial, a collaboration of Seattle-based landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson and London architect, Neil Porter, is unusual because its design and construction combined groundbreaking CAD/CAM production techniques with the traditional art of stonemasonry. — Published 2004.0915
|
 |
MORPHOSIS PRINTS MODELS
In many architecture firms, the introduction of computer-aided design has resulted in less reliance on hand-crafted scale models. However in some firms, CAD has enabled a happy marriage of new techniques with the old-fashioned craft. — Published 2004.0818
|
 |
VIRTUAL RESURRECTIONS
A camera moves slowly and smoothly through the portal of the synagogue in Berlin's Fasanenstrasse. It points up into the vaulted ceiling, revealing three domes. But there is no film crew here and, indeed, no actual synagogue. — Published 2004.0721
|
Digital Design Tools page: [
