Abstract
This chapter shows how technical and conceptual innovations brought about by Computer-Aided Design (CAD) research during the 1960s and 1970s foreshadow current practices of building design and construction, and are foundational to a modern epistemology of the image in the age of simulation. No longer construed as pictorial representations of a design but rather as mathematically enlivened and operative artifacts performing it, computationally produced images elicited new aesthetic and managerial aspirations—crucially, to re-structure design labor and to destabilize the boundaries between design and construction. Interrogating the material and discursive tenets of this transformation through both historical evidence and ethnographic insight, the chapter proposes the analytical category of “structured image” to engage with its significance to architectural and visual cultures. It further proposes that the scale at which this reconfiguration is realized requires both historically informed perspectives and performative, localized accounts of socio-technical practice.
Keywords
- Computer-Aided Design (CAD)
- Building Information Modeling (BIM)
- Architecture
- Science, Technology and Society (STS)
- Design, Technology and Society
Never underestimate the power of a widely distributed tool.—John Walker
John Walker the chairman of Autodesk, the software company that developed AutoCAD, between 1982 and 1986 (Walker (Ed.) 1989: 300).
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Architect and BIM advocate Randy Deutsch provides a concise definition of BIM: “the software tool and process for generating and managing building data during its complete lifecycle, from conceptual design through fabrication, construction, maintenance, and operation of the building” (Deutsch 2011; see also Bergin 2015).
- 2.
For example, Computer-Aided Design (CAD) pioneer Ivan Sutherland articulated the separation between structure and image with remarkable clarity (Sutherland 1975: 73–77). Computer Art pioneer Frieder Nake (2013) has also discussed it, retrospectively. For an extended discussion about early discourses of image-making during the early days of CAD, see Daniel Cardoso Llach (2013, 2015b). My use of simulations here aligns with Loukissas’ notion of these systems as “composed of theories, material processes, mathematical artifacts, and interpretations” the meanings of which are contingent upon the actors and practices they link (Loukissas 2012).
- 3.
See Loukissas (2012).
- 4.
This is illustrated by Douglas Ross’s work on language development for numerical control dating back to the early 1950s. For an extended discussion about the early days of numerical control see Daniel Cardoso Llach (2015b).
- 5.
An early formulation of computer vision can be found in Lawrence G. Roberts, and Peter Elias (1963).
- 6.
While independently funded, Sutherland worked under the advice of CAD Project co-director Steven A. Coons.
- 7.
- 8.
During the late 1960s until the late 1970s, this line of work was further developed and enriched at the University of Cambridge, UK, by a group of researchers including CAD Project alum Charles Lang, Ian Braid and others. The academic researcher Charles Eastman spearheaded these efforts in the US (Cardoso Llach 2015b: 87).
- 9.
The vision of design by the CAD Project engineers is linked to then contemporary cybernetic discourses. A particularly articulate vision of architectural work with computers is outlined by computer pioneer Douglas Engelbart in 1962, which starts with a suggestive “Let us consider an augmented architect at work (…)” (Engelbart 1962); see also Licklider (1960).
- 10.
The terms of this redefinition and colonization were the subject of important debates among CAD researchers (Cardoso Llach 2015b: 149).
- 11.
I have called this particular notion of design based on structured representations an “algorithmic tectonics” (Cardoso Llach 2013).
- 12.
Commercial CAD systems such as AutoCAD and MicroStation dominated the market for decades. For detailed industry accounts, see Kristine K. Fallon (1997), David E. Weisberg (2008), and John Walker (1989). For historical perspectives on architect’s adoption of CAD see Robert Bruegmann (1989), and Alfredo Andia (2002). For a key source of ethnographic and historical insight regarding the CAD industry during the 1980s and 1990s see Allen B. Downey (2012).
- 13.
The software Archicad, by Graphisoft, is often credited with spearheading this transition.
- 14.
Yanni Loukissas (2008) has shown how professionals use simulations to create distinct professional identities.
- 15.
However, by the 1990s other market vendors had reverse-engineered the format and made it available to other software systems outside the Autodesk family—this is the origin of the DXF (Digital Exchange File) format.
- 16.
Architects with knowledge of layer standards and data management were valuable for companies. In a sort of manual of technology for industry Kristine Fallon recommends companies examining new hires for their knowledge of layer color-coding conventions (1997: 78).
- 17.
A standard for layer coloring was formalized by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization 1998).
- 18.
The IAI was renamed to International Alliance for Interoperability in 1997 and to BuildingSMART in 2015 (Eastman et al. 2011: 72).
- 19.
According to the press release “the alliance intends to enable new approaches to design through technology, to create more effective industry processes and a higher quality built environment. By applying and innovating new technology solutions to old problems such as waste, delay, and miscommunication, this new alliance will lead the process change that the AEC industry needs to confront future challenges. The group represents a new type of professional organization for the twenty-first century, one which embraces the possibility of technology to empower design” (Gehry Technologies 2011; Minner 2011).
- 20.
- 21.
- 22.
- 23.
See, for instance Randy Deutsch (2011). For useful case studies, see Carlos Andres Cardenas (2008), Shiro Matsushima (2003). Recent work by Carrie Struts Dossick and Gina Neff (2011) offers a new perspective by collecting and analyzing a wide sample of qualitative data from BIM users in the US and Europe. These researchers usefully illustrate that while the claim of enhancing interoperability costs is true to some extent, messier forms of communication crucial to design coordination (for instance, informal speech) are not enhanced by BIM practices.
- 24.
The actors and events I describe exist within the larger contexts of the desert city and Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, and the Middle East. Far from the relative technological comfort zones of Angloamerica and Western Europe—where BIM processes and technologies are closer to what Paul Edwards terms a “naturalized background.”
- 25.
In the mall project, this was particularly true of the organization in charge of the Mechanical, Engineering and Plumbing (MEP) systems.
- 26.
Or representing through performance.
- 27.
In 2007 I was working for a large corporate firm in the role of “a computational design specialist” and experienced this crisp organizational separation, between the designers and us. A specialist –like me and the small team of people in this role- would engage several projects at the same time, providing parametric models and scripts to design teams, who would then “use” them.
- 28.
Peter Eisenman used the expression in a Spring 2007 lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In his keynote speech in SIGRADI in November 2006, John Frazer also described parametric modeling packages (specifically CATIA) as “the single most advanced piece of design software in the market today.” More recently, Patrik Schumacher has advanced the notion of “parametricism” as the key to a “new paradigm” for architecture (2012).
- 29.
Some details about the project have been changed, and the names have been omitted, to protect the anonymity of the subjects.
- 30.
As an embedded participant observer during this research, the author was directly involved in the activities described here.
- 31.
“Loft” is a common command in 3-D modeling software, which produces a surface object from a series of lines.
- 32.
References
Andia, A. (2002). Reconstructing the effects of computers on practice and education during the past three decades. Journal of Architectural Education, 56(2), 7–13.
Appelbaum, A. (2009, February 11). Frank Gehry’s Software Keeps Buildings on Budget. The New York Times, sec. Business. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/business/11gehry.html. Accessed 5 July 2015.
Arieff, A. (2013, July 31). Advanced Architecture Software Could Make Buildings More Energy-Efficient and Interesting. MIT Technology Review. http://www.technologyreview.com/review/517596/new-forms-that-function-better. Accessed 5 July 2015.
Autodesk. (2013, February 1). BIM Adoption Expands from 17% in 2007 to over 70% in 2012, According to New McGraw-Hill Construction Report – In The Fold. http://inthefold.typepad.com/in_the_fold/2013/02/bim-adoption-expands-from-17-in-2007-to-over-70-in-2012-according-to-new-mcgraw-hill-construction-re.html?q5237349=1&buffer_share=47b55&utm_source=buffer. Accessed 5 July 2015.
Barlish, K., & Sullivan, K. (2012). How to measure the benefits of BIM – A case study approach. Automation in Construction, 24, 149–159.
Baxter, P. (2013, April). BIM adoption and developments. http://www.nti.dk/media/1289410/nti-april2013-final.pdf. Accessed 5 July 2015.
Bergin, M. S. (2015). History of BIM. Architecture Research Lab. http://www.architectureresearchlab.com/arl/2011/08/21/bim-history/. Accessed 5 Aug 2015.
Bernstein, H. M. (2010). Autodesk, Building Smart Alliance, and National Institute of Building Sciences, BIM Adoption in Europe – McGraw Hill SmartMarket Report: The Business Value of BIM in Europe, 2010. http://ideabuilderhomes.com/1034. Accessed 5 July 2015.
Björk, B., & Laakso, M. (2010). CAD standardisation in the construction industry – A process view. Automation in Construction, 19(4), 398–406.
Bruegmann, R. (1989). The pencil and the electronic sketchpad: Architectural representation and the computer. In E. Blau & N. Kaufman (Eds.), Architecture and its image. Centre Canadien d’Architecture/ Canadian Centre for Architecture: Montreal.
BuildingSMART. (2015). International Home of openBIM. http://www.buildingsmart.org. Accessed 2 July 2015.
Cardenas, C. A. (2008). Modeling strategies: Parametric design for fabrication in architectural practice, Design dissertation. Harvard University.
Cardoso Llach, D. (2013). Algorithmic tectonics: How cold war era research shaped our imagination of design. AD Architectural Design, Computation Works, 83(2), 16–21.
Cardoso Llach, D. (2015a). Builders of the vision: Software and the imagination of design. New York/London: Routledge.
Cardoso Llach, D. (2015b). Software comes to matter: Towards a material history of computational design. DesignIssues, 31(3), 41–55.
Carfrae, T. (2011, October 29). Visualising the future before it is built. The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/building-information-modeling-built-environment-innovation. Accessed 5 July 2015.
Castells, M. (2009). The rise of the network society. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Deutsch, R. (2011). BIM and integrated design: Strategies for architectural practice. Hoboken: Wiley.
Dossick, C. S., & Neff, G. (2011). Messy talk and clean technology: Communication, problem-solving and collaboration using building information modelling. The Engineering Project Organization Journal, 1, 83–93.
Downey, A. B. (2012). Python for software design: How to think like a computer scientist. http://greenteapress.com/thinkpython. Accessed 19 Jan 2015.
Eastman, C. M. (2008, April 28). Was Alberti Wrong? The Separation Between Architectural Design and Construction. Lecture at the Computation Group Lecture Series. Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Eastman, C., Teicholz, P., Sacks, R., & Liston, K. (2011). BIM handbook: A guide to building information modeling for owners, managers, designers, engineers and contractors (2nd ed.). Hoboken: Wiley.
Edwards, P. N. (2004). Infrastructure and modernity: Force, time, and social organization in the history of sociotechnical systems. In T. J. Misa, P. Brey, & A. Feenberg (Eds.), Technology and modernity (pp. 186–225). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Eisenhower, D. (1961). Military-Industrial Complex Speech. http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html. Accessed 5 Aug 2015.
Engelbart, D. (1962). Augmenting human intellect: A conceptual framework. http://www.dougengelbart.org/pubs/augment-3906.html. Accessed 5 Aug 2015.
Fallon, K. K. (1997). The AEC technology survival guide: Managing today’s information practice. New York: Wiley.
Galison, P. L. (1997). Image and logic: A material culture of microphysics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Gallaher, M., O’Connor, A., Dettbarn Jr., J., & Gilday, L. (2004). Cost analysis of Inadequate Interoperability in the U.S. Capital Facilities Industr. In U.S. Department of Commerce Technology Administration NIST GCR 04–867. Advanced Technology Program. Maryland.
Gehry Technologies. (2011, October 18). Architectural Leaders Join Frank Gehry to Form Strategic Alliance Dedicated to Transforming the Building Industry Through Technology. http://www.gehrytechnologies.com/news/content/architectural-leaders-join-frank-gehry-form-strategic-alliance-dedicated-transforming. Accessed 5 July 2015.
Gehry, F. (2011). Interview by David Sheff. http://www.davidsheff.com/Interview__Frank_Gehry.html. Accessed 5 July 2015.
Gutman, R. (1997). Architectural practice: A critical view (5th ed.). Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press.
Howard, R., & Björk, B. (2007). Use of standards for CAD layers in building. Automation in Construction, 16(3), 290–297.
Howard, R., & Björk, B. (2008). Building information modelling – Experts’ views on standardisation and industry deployment. Advanced Engineering Informatics, 22(2), 271–280.
International Organization for Standardization. (1998). ISO 13567–2:1998. http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=26766. Accessed 5 Aug 2015.
Khemlani, L. (2012, May 9). Around the world with BIM: AECbytes feature article. Industry News, AECbytes. http://www.aecbytes.com/feature/2012/Global-BIM.html. Accessed 5 July 2015.
Kilian, A. (2006). Design exploration through bidirectional modeling of constraints, Ph.D. dissertation. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Laakso, M., & Kiviniemi, A. (2012). The IFC standard: A review of history, development and standardization. ITcon, 17, 134–161.
Lee, C. P., Dourish, P., & Mark, G. (2006). The Human Infrastructure of Cyberinfrastructure. Proceedings of the 2006 20th Anniversary Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (pp. 483–92).
Licklider, J. C. R. (1960). Man-computer symbiosis. http://groups.csail.mit.edu/medg/people/psz/Licklider.html. Accessed 5 Aug 2015.
Loukissas, Y. (2008). Conceptions of design in a culture of simulation, Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Loukissas, Y. (2012). Co-designers: Cultures of computer simulation in architecture. London: Routledge.
Matsushima, S. (2003). Collaboration in architectural design: An IT perspective, Design dissertation. Harvard University.
Minner, K. (2011, October 19). Gehry Technologies to Transform the Building Industry through Technology. http://www.archdaily.com/177424. Accessed 5 July 2015.
Nake, F. (2013, March 26). On algorithmics & aesthetics regarding the beginning of computer art. Musée D’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux. http://freeartbureau.org/fab_activity/la-machine-imaginaire. Accessed 5 Aug 2015.
National Bureau of Standards. (1988). NBSIR-88-3813 – Inital Graphics Exchange Specification (Iges) Version 4.0.
Pollack, S. (2006). Sketches of Frank Gehry, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Roberts, L. G., & Elias, P. (1963). Machine perception of three-dimensional solids. Ph.D. dissertation. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Schumacher, P. (2012). The autopoiesis of architecture, volume II: A new agenda for architecture. Chichester: Wiley.
Shelden, D. (2010). Interview by author, Digital recording.
Star, S. L. (1999). The ethnography of infrastructure. American Behavioral Scientist, 43(3), 377–391.
Suchman, L. (2006). Human-machine reconfigurations: Plans and situated actions (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sutherland, I. (1963). Sketchpad, a Man-Machine Graphical Communication System. Ph.D. dissertation. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Sutherland, I. (1975). Structure in drawing and the hidden-surface problem. In N. Negroponte (Ed.), Reflections on computer aids to design and architecture (pp. 73–77). New York: Petrocelli/Charter.
Walker, J. (Ed.). (1989). The autodesk file: Bits of history, words of experience (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: New Riders Publisher.
Wallbank, B. (2011). BIM: The threat to current architectural practice! Graphisoft.
Weisberg, D. E. (2008). The engineering design revolution: The people, companies and computer systems that changed forever the practice of engineering. http://www.cadhistory.net. Accessed 5 Aug 2015.
Wiener, N. (1965). Cybernetics, or the control and communication in the animal and the machine (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Witt, A. (2011, November 7). Concurrent design. Lecture at the Forward Talks, Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Witt, A., Nolte, T., Shelden, D. (2011). Large-scale concurrent design: The case of Fondation Louis Vuitton. In Proceedings of the Design Modeling Symposium.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cardoso Llach, D. (2017). Architecture and the Structured Image: Software Simulations as Infrastructures for Building Production. In: Ammon, S., Capdevila-Werning, R. (eds) The Active Image. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 28. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56466-1_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56466-1_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56465-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56466-1
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)