KEEPERS OF THE GEOMETRY
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Throughout the history of architecture it is very interesting to see how the tools we use to express what we want to construct have changed. The aim is always to conceive some kind of rules to understand what we want to build before building it. Since the Renaissance with Leonardo Batista Alberti and the use of perspective as a geometric instrument, to nowadays with the computer-aided design, the objective is always to get closer to the most real representation of what the architect wants to realize.
However, at the present, computer-aided design is considered almost a taboo in architecture and some different positions can be found around the globe about this subject. I think that the biggest fear is the architect's freedom. Over time drawing ability has been considered an architect's archetype. It is just putting ideas on paper having only your mind as a limit (and maybe also your hand). So then was the moment when architects started to think about how to communicate all these ideas to others. The process was first thinking, then design and after that communication.Today many old school architects believe that design and communication have practically become one and the thinking has been subjugated by these two. Are architects limited by the tools that computer aided design gives them? A good example for this is Drew Thorndike who works at the Paul Morris Associates. He takes different programs to the limit and switches between them any time he needs to, in order to satisfy the ideas that are in his head. He doesn't restrict design to the capacity of tools and always preserves his creative role in the project.
I think that these days it is very common to see relationships like the one between Thorndike and Morris and maybe a good percentage of the new generation of architects have seen themselves in Thorndike’s position. I believe that in a future not so far away from now, "the keeper of the geometry" will be an indispensable figure in every studio. The need of interfacing with other collaborators, consultants and fabricators is growing everyday and computer aided design programs are becoming the best option to do it. One example of this is the studio of Ralph Jerome Architects. They have a "keeper of geometry" who is "responsible for coordinating the geometric modeling work in the office . . .stitching the bits together".
There are many ways to look at computer-aided design and it has many levels of understanding that makes doing architecture even more interesting . Everyone continues to look for control and for the best way to represent reality as buildings that can be built, exploring deeper the creativity and possibilities of design. I believe that right now the most important thing for me is to be conscious of being part of the process without being subjugated by it.
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by Shop (www.seeyouinshop.com)
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