AIA NY TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE 11.05.10

TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN CONTINGENCY: Opportunities and Constraints in the Digital Turn Phillip G. Bernstein FAIA LEED (c) AP Vice President, Autodesk AEC Solutions Lecturer in Professional Practice Yale University School of Architecture AIA NY Technology Committee New York 05.10.11 DESCRIPTION: Design process in the digital turn is increasingly dependent on software and the algorithms that comprise it. Elaborate strategies for form-making are a normative part of the architect's process today enabled in part by the empowered geometry (and resulting fabrication chassis) of today's tools. Yet other platforms—particularly BIM and related visualization, simulation and collaboration components—may well have an even greater effect on the design process. This talk will explore whether digital tools and their impacts on design process, roles and responsibilities of the architect, engineer and builder, are helping or hindering the potential for good design. Does the relentless proceduralism of technology empower or constrain today's designer? Does the burgeoning entanglement of software and design process help, or hinder, the agenda for design itself?