The practice of architecture has undergone a deep mutation since the 80s. The introduction of the computer and the logic of information treatment that it entails in the architect’s work have deeply influenced a discipline that was trying to renew its codes and language.
By using Conception and Computer Aided Manufacturing software, the architect no longer only draws but brings into play calculations and sums that modify the computer model. Conceiving architecture equals establishing relationships that constantly recompose the project according to the thought patterns and information that emerges while the project is being elaborated. A project is above all defined as an active system, which integrates and interweaves the different aspects of the architectural programme, the physical qualities and behaviours of both the materials used and the environment (whether it is social, cultural, physical…): a hybrid and interactive architecture that answers a new “digital ecology.”
Therefore, many architects question the very principles of morphogenesis and even transcend them to attain a new interdisciplinary approach, which includes both informational and natural sciences. Architects also collaborate with engineers, mathematicians, biologists, geneticists, or dynamics experts.
The elaboration of a project, from its conception to its realisation, is now part of a perfect horizontal continuum that regroups interconnected computer modules. Architecture thus opens up to “non-standard” procedures and offers a set of various unique constructions designed using the same system.
