Upgrading Computational Design

Shajay Bhooshan heads up the computation and design ZHACODE group at Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) and is a course master at the Architectural Association Design Research Laboratory (AADRL). Here he argues that Parametricism 2.0 has a vital role to play in the progressing of computational design. Assimilating the exploratory developments of the last 15 years, he asserts how the next phase of Parametricism will enable a further consolidation and evolution of digital practices.     

Inhabiting Time

In recent architecture, design has prioritised an engagement with time through its creation of temporary and highly flexible structures. There has, however, been less focus on how the design of buildings might impact the experience of time of the people who inhabit them. Here the distinguished author and emeritus professor Juhani Pallasmaa , who is renowned for his writings on the phenomenology of architecture, provides a reminder of the importance of what it means to ‘dwell in time’.     

Figuring Mood: The Role of Stimmung in the Formal Approach of Heinrich Wölfflin and Alois Riegl

Roughly translatable as ‘mood’ or ‘atmosphere’, Stimmung plays a key part in the late-19th-century writings of German art historians Wölfflin and Riegl. Andrew Saunders , Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, studies the origins of the concept, which links rational perceptions of harmony with notions of emotional response. He examines the two writers' contrasting views of Stimmung in relation to the Baroque, and highlights its little acknowledged role in the inception of formalism.     

Computation or Revolution

The connection between technology and society today remains as compelling as in Le Corbusier's time, with views from social commentators, scientists and economists habitually polarising around the adverse or positive impact of technological change. Tracing the roots of computation and robotics back to the Second World War, Philippe Morel of EZCT Architecture & Design Research redefines the position of artificial intelligence, robots and computation in architecture, highlighting the potential of computers to perform precise calculations – and outperform human intelligence in almost every way.     

转型、平衡与演进——希格弗莱德·吉迪恩的学术思想及当代意义

20世纪上半叶的世界形势与科技剧变引发了建筑学与城市研究的深层反思和迅速转向。通过梳理著名建筑理论家、历史学家希格弗莱德·吉迪恩(Sigfried Giedion)的时代背景、人物关联与著作脉络,重点解读其著作《机械化统领》,阐述吉迪恩的建筑与城市思想内涵及演变过程,解析其动态平衡、广泛联系的技术哲学思想,探究技术统领时代下技术的转型、平衡与演进思想,以及给予当代城市和建筑发展以启示和警省。     

What Happened to Ecology? John McHale and the Bucky Fuller Revival

Since the early 20th century, the environmental impulse in architecture has waxed and waned. Anthony Vidler considers this cyclical phenomenon, particularly in relation to the Independent Group in Britain during the 1950s, which culminated in John McHale's discovery of Richard Buckminster Fuller in 1955 and the full-blown Bucky Fuller revival of the 1960s. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.