Hybrid intelligence

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Hybrid intelligence
Hua Chai 1 and Philip F. Yuan 1* Alongside shifts in the technological landscape, the origin of creativity in architectural design has been consistently evolving. According to French philosopher Bernard Stiegler, the architectural design process is never individualistic but rather shaped by the complex interaction between human creativity and what he terms the "pre-individual milieu", the synthesis of various factors such as cultural heritage, technological innovation (Stiegler, 2016). Over the last three decades, the emergence of digital technologies such as the Internet of Things, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence has significantly enhanced the dynamism and diversity of human-machine communication. With the advancement of digital technologies in the field of architecture, artificial intelligence, machine intelligence, and material intelligence are increasingly integrated into the creative process. In the form of hybrid intelligence, this shift expands the scope of architectural creativity and creative agency beyond the mere intelligent landscape of the human mind. As suggested by architectural theorist Antoine Picon, "another possibility is to consider the pairing of man and machine as a new composite subject……This proposition is suggested by various contemporary reflections on computer technologies and their anthropological dimension" (Picon, 2011).
The creativity of the hybrid intelligence arises from the fusion of human creativity and machine creativity. Machine intelligence possesses a new form of intelligence that is completely different from human thinking, demonstrating greater complexity and creativity in architectural creation than human intelligence (Frazer, 2002;Leach & Snooks, 2017). The recognition of the intelligence in material, which, influenced by New Materialism-"an active matter endowed with its own tendencies and capacities, engaged in its own divergent, open-ended evolution, animated from within by immanent patterns of being and becoming" (Delanda, 2015)-has also emerged as a critical driving force for architectural creation. By leveraging the "tendencies and capacities" of different forms of intelligences, hybrid intelligence enables more responsive and performative architectures with lower environmental impacts that transcend mere human imagination. In this process, a novel aesthetic is being gradually shaped that reflects the emergence of the new creative agency.
Throughout the various stages of architectural design and construction, the rapid emergence of digital tools has formed a distributed intelligence network, which offers an important leverage point for hybrid intelligence practices. In the design phases, customized design tools and libraries forms an evolving ecosystem with a continuous stream of tool support for geometric modelling, structural optimization, environmental simulation and digital fabrication. In the production fields, the intelligence of robots is laying the foundation for distributed mass-customization of architecture (Carpo, 2022). In this way, architectural creation is increasingly becoming a collective effort, where not only architectural knowledge is collectively generated, but also design and production can be achieved through a distributed digital tool network. In this process, the collaborative creation between architects and intelligent tools also breaks through the traditional concept of authorship belonging solely to the architect, promoting further contemplation and discussion.
Hybrid intelligence in architectural design also represents a shift towards more collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches to design and construction. The integration of virtual and physical information in hybrid intelligence leads to real-time interaction and information integration throughout the design process, breaking away from the traditional linear design workflow. The free flow of information also enables the capture and utilization of the intelligences of human, machines, materials across various stages from formation, simulation, optimization, iteration to construction. More effective and efficient communication and collaboration mode has been formed between architects, engineers, contractors, and other stakeholders, breaking down traditional barriers between different fields.
This special issue is a compilation of selected papers from the CDRF 2022 (the 4th Conference on Computational Design and Robotic Fabrication) under the theme of hybrid intelligence. The papers in this issue cover various topics related to hybrid intelligence in architecture, such as interspecies design agencies, AIenhanced design exploration, material computation, performative design, and intelligent construction technologies. By gathering these papers, this special issue endeavors to promote more attention and discussion on the numerous prospects that arise from the adoption of hybrid intelligence in architectural design and construction.