Journal Entries - Part 2

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Contemporary Architectural Discourse

Notes on the Society of the Brand The idea of architecture as a spectacle is not a new one. Since ancient times to the Roman era, architecture has been deployed to produce grand and impressive spaces, to show a state’s power, to commemorate an important event or person, the list goes on. How has architecture evolved in the 21st century? Have we moved away from architecture as a spectacle or are we still infatuated by this concept?

The contemporary architectural office nowadays is very similar to the ‘bottega’. Most offices have one or two main architects with a series of employees working in accordance to the master architect’s architectural vision. Although the idea of such an office makes sense, there is another side to it that we don’t initially think about. The architects working for such an office are somehow in a sort of production line, almost another cog in the wheel. It has been discussed that architects working in such large firms are not allowed or given the opportunity to develop their own architectural style but rather to conform to the ideas of the master architect and produce his or her vision through architecture. Why would someone work for a firm such as Zaha Hadid Architects? Is it all in the name?

Moving along to issue of the starchitect, has branding taken over the architecture world? In a firm such as that of Zaha Hadid, every building produced has a certain distinguishable design concept particular to the firm. Consequently, you get cities employing starchitects such as Frank Gehry or Renzo Piano (without issuing a competition) to design large scale buildings in order to brand their city. This can be seen in places such as Dubai, China, Bilbao and a number of other countries and cities, last but not least, Malta. Is the entrance to our capital city of Valletta and the first two buildings on arrival into the capital designed by Renzo Piano not a form of branding? The fact that the architect was approached without even a competition being issued to include Maltese architectural firms is a statement in itself.

“From a developer’s point of view, employing a famous architect is not only about adding design value, it’s also about adding name recognition. In that sense, starchitects are transforming themselves from individual luminaries to companies bent on extending brand recognition throughout the world.” (Rybczynski, 2014) Each one of these offices has a particular characteristic. Take Foster and Partners - “an international brand with a definite personality: Technical Solutions to Difficult Problems” (Rybczynski, 2014) or Renzo Piano Building Workshop - the “Stylish Solutions to Any Problem.”

Interestingly, however, in both these firms, no one particular style emerges, such as that by Zaha Hadid Architects or Gehry Partners. “This goes against the traditional notion that the work of celebrated architects should be individual and identifiable.” (Rybczynski, 2014) In fact, I think that having one particular and distinguishable style can be a trap and branding can have a negative effect on a firm, and more importantly, on architecture.

Contemporary Architectural Discourse

Guggenheim Museum Sketch | Gehry

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Bilbao

Guggenheim Museum | Gehry

Parliament Building | Renzo Piano

Valletta

Bilbao

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Contemporary Architectural Discourse

The danger with branding in architecture also shows itself in the evolution of new and upcoming architects. Constantly being exposed to the work of famous and exceptional architects, some young architects tend to forget the fact that most architectural careers are an evolution rather than fast and instant. “The drive to establish their own unique brands pushes young architects to distinguish themselves early—too early. Moreover, public recognition of an architect’s particular approach—Meier’s minimalism, Stern’s traditionalism, Santiago Calatrava’s bravura—can serve to stymie the natural artistic evolution of a designer’s style.” (Rybczynski, 2014) The general public might be captivated by the architecture produced by starchitects but in order to be a successful architect, you must be willing to explore rather than produce.

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Contemporary Architectural Discourse

Architectural Phenomenology and the Rise of the Postmodern The term ‘Postmodern Architecture’ is very difficult to define. “If there’s one word that confuses, upsets, angers, beleaguers, exhausts and contaminates us all, then it is postmodernism.

And yet, properly understood, postmodernism is playful, intelligent, funny and fascinating.”

(Prospectmagazine.co.uk, 2014) Through my research I have concluded that after the decline of the Modern movement or International Style of architecture, Postmodernism gave rise to a different way of looking at architecture. This new era gave architects and artists the freedom to express themselves through architecture and other forms of art. “Thus, if modernists like Picasso and Cézanne focused on design, hierarchy, mastery, the one-off, then postmodernists, such as Andy Warhol and Willem de Kooning, were concerned with collage, chance, anarchy, repetition.” (Prospectmagazine.co.uk, 2014) Gone were the days of restricting oneself to institutionalised aesthetics and rules as Le Corbusier did, or by abiding by the phrase coined

by Mies Van der Rohe, “Less is More”. To Postmodern architects, “Less was a Bore” (Venturi).

Postmodern architecture reached back to history and adopted aesthetic features from antiquity within their buildings, however, I do not want to make it sound so simple and pure. Modern architecture was all about the machine - a more technological approach to architecture.

Postmodernism aimed to look back at pre-modern architecture and fuse it with technological modern buildings. Through their analysis of architecture, postmodern architects wanted to develop architecture to a new level.

One of the things which were pointed out during the discussion in class which resonated with me was this: is postmodern architecture, architecture for architects or for the people? Architects certainly look deeper into the concepts that exist behind the walls of architecture - they add another layer to the face-value which the layman might see or experience. Postmodernism aims to add the element of sensorial experience within the building, as opposed to ,according to postmodernist architects, modernist buildings. A person’s life determines the experiences that he or she knows and consequently, an architect’s uniqueness depends on the latter’s experience.

Are postmodernist buildings seen as icons and can be clearly understood by those who study them? Do postmodernist buildings create interiors that welcome people to live within them?

I am in a constant battle between these two arguments. As an architecture student, I value the thought process that brought about both modernism and postmodernism. I wouldn’t say that modernism lacks the sensorial experience within its interiors. Upon visiting Le Corbusier’s Unite d’Habitation in France, the experience of going through the building and one of the apartments is imprinted in my memory. Even though I am not accustomed to such a residential building, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it lacked experience. However, if I try to distance myself from my architectural background, I’m faced with the dilemma of whether I would have had that same experience or not. Has architecture, then, been turned into something of an icon?

Contemporary Architectural Discourse

Aquasun Lido | Richard England

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Malta

Unite d’Habitation | Le Corbusier

University Entrance | Richard England

Msida

France

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Contemporary Architectural Discourse

Church of St Francis | Richard England Qawra

Portland Municipal Services Building | Graves

USA

Contemporary Architectural Discourse

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The same goes for postmodernist buildings. I have had the opportunity to visit Richard England’s work and yet again, I am aware of the experience that the architect wanted to evoke. Yet, would the layman appreciate it, or does it translate into fancy ornaments and random monumental architecture? I am still on the fence on whether the postmodern movement really translates its concepts into architecture.

This brings me to a new point which I came across in my research. One particular comment on ArchDaily’s post entitled “AD Classics: The Portland Building / Michael Graves” keeps cropping up in my thoughts: Notice how there are never interior shots? It’s horrible to be stuck inside this thing. Never having experienced the building first-hand, the many comments commenting on the interiors of postmodern buildings has led me to believe that there is such an importance given to the exterior of such buildings that the interior is totally neglected. “...the building was criticized for “superficially” incorporating a traditional aesthetic without allowing said traditional elements to be functional. For example, although the design incorporates arcades, which conventionally provide a sheltered, interstitial space between the pedestrian and the city, the arcades that line the three facades of the Portland Building have only two entries set above street level, making them difficult to access. Similar difficulties of accessibility plague the fourth, park-facing facade, which has only two small doors that lead to a windowless restaurant and a back lobby. Users of the building also complain that the lobby is narrow and unpleasant, the office spaces dark and claustrophobic. To make things worse, cracks meant that the lobby and food court needed renovations in 1990, only 8 years after its opening.” (Merin, 2014) This journal entry has, perhaps, posed more questions than it has answered. However, I aim to develop a more in-depth analysis of the concepts that make up postmodern architecture throughout the course of this subject.

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Contemporary Architectural Discourse

Consumption “The reason people want to acquire, posses, claim and display goods is because they expect the goods will make them happy, satisfy needs, or give them some other pleasure. Whether you approve or disapprove of this hedonistic search for pleasure, the strength of desire is the engine that drives the marketplace.” (Wilk, 1997) Victor Gruen is commonly known as the father of the shopping mall. In the twentieth century Gruen wanted to create a more urban and human-friendly space where consumer exchanges as well as social encounters can take place. Through his design of “large-scale “shopping towns” in the suburban sprawl of the United States” (Dergrueneffekt.at, 2014) he wanted to create a space which “not only [facilitated] shopping but also [strengthened] social ties in the isolated suburbia with a mix of commercial and social spaces.“(Dergrueneffekt.at, 2014) It broke his heart when the shopping mall as we know it today took over America and continued to take over the rest of the world. This whole experience gave rise to ‘the Gruen Effect.’ “In architecture, the Gruen Effect describes the maelstrom introduced by seductively designed sales spaces that makes us give up purposeful shopping and get lost in the shopping experience.” (Dergrueneffekt.at, 2014) Through the discussion of the Gruen Effect, it can be easily seen that architectural design acts as a means towards consumerism, whether you agree with it or not. It may be seen as a necessary evil in today’s society, but it is definitely a strong one.

One very distinct instance when architecture can have on consumerism is easily seen when considering the Apple stores found globally. The issue of branding also enters the equation.

Buying an Apple product from a reseller can be found to be cheaper than buying that same product from the impeccably designed apple stores with their pristine glass walls and white and wood interiors. So are consumers paying more to be seen shopping in these beautiful buildings? Does architecture help increase the price of products in this consumer-driven society?

Flow of people through a shopping mall is also pre-defined by architectural design in a way that forces consumers to view all the shops when going up escalators. This is done by placing the direction of escalators in such a way so as to push consumers to go around the entire shopping mall floor when ascending through the space and then easily descending through the mall towards the exit upon reaching the top floor.

On the other hand, “designers can help slow the pace of consumerism by devising goods and spaces that offer alternative societal narratives about ownership and sharing.” (Blogs. worldwatch.org, 2014) This can be seen in the Neptune Foundation’s barge-mounted floating swimming pool and the nomadic prayer space. Both these spaces allow, or rather suggest that communities use parts of the consumer city to gather and create urban encounters within the space. “Designers are exploring underutilized spaces with pop-up projects that add social dimensions to otherwise “vacant” spaces.” (Blogs.worldwatch.org, 2014) Spaces are therefore

Contemporary Architectural Discourse

Southdale Mall

USA

Victor Gruen (right)

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Contemporary Architectural Discourse

created for a more enhanced urban and human dimension within the city by giving public space back to the public with alternative to consumerism.

“Designers can explore avenues for producing goods that strengthen the commons and lessen our reliance on commercial consumption to gain status or meaning.” Going back to the idea that consumerism is slowly but surely taking over our lives in such a way that we believe it brings happiness, social status and social identity, designers are starting to create spaces such as MIT’s fablabs, pioneered by Neil Gershenfeld, to allow citizens to create their own products through “co-design, hacking, and personal fabrication or self-assembly ... The focus on developing and applying “maker” skills potentially offers a social language around making and doing, rather than owning and displaying.” (Blogs.worldwatch.org, 2014)

The Apple Store

NYC

The Shopping Mall

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Contemporary Architectural Discourse

Manners of Working: Fabricating Representation in Digital Based Design Parametric design, as well as BIM based design, is becoming more popular in both education and the architectural profession. “However, it is critical that we do not naturalize what have already emerged as tropes within parametric design and proliferate them and new conventions.”

(Hight, 2012) The v , architecture’s first medium, made use of geometry to bring a project to life. With the evolution of animation software and parametric modelling, “geometry becomes the site for the integration of diverse forms of collective knowledge and agencies. In turn, the hand of the architect is redistributed into multiple actors, factors, trades and disciplines.” (Hight, 2012) It must be pointed out, however, that it is not the software that should determine the design of a building in its totality. It should be used as a means to open the possibilities of “translating the space of architectural representation into material constructions that are no longer determined by a normative and finite world of construction types.” (Hight, 2012) Parametric programs can produce undisciplined results, even in the most experienced hands.

One of the pitfalls of using such a program is that since parametric design offers the architect an infinite amount of possibilities, it is sometimes the case that the architect does not worry about the structural implications as much. This can lead to elevated construction costs and caulking issues. However, the main drawback is that “the morphological forms produced are oblivious to the past. This gives parametrically designed buildings an up-to-the-minute quality.

Although they look sci-fi futuristic, they are also curiously one-dimensional, for nothing ages faster than yesterday’s vision of the future. Just ask Jules Verne.” (Rybczynski, 2013) On the other hand, computational tools can be used in the design of mainstream Modernism, such as the Waterloo International Terminal in London by Grimshaw and Foster’s undulating courtyard roof at the American Art Museum and National Portrait Galler in Washington DC. Computational tools can be used, not only to simply create more complex forms, but to unravel the complexity of design problems, as Christopher Alexander pointed out. Since then, building simulation has emerged. In this area of architecture, these tools can be used to enhance building performance in areas such as structure, energy, artificial illumination, daylighting and acoustics. “In the building-energy-related area, parametric design is currently being used to search for energy-efficient solutions in façade design, optimal window sizing relative to lighting, and other similar applications.” (Malkawi, 2013) This too, has its limitations.

“Yet these same ‘manners of working’ could also be the means to enfold new sites and objects of practice, innovating the categories through which we reconstruct the agency of architectural knowledge for the spatial, cultural and economic territories of the twenty-first century.” (Hight, 2012)

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Plural Profession, Discrepant Practices The architectural profession is nowadays moving away from its traditional meaning, into a more fragmented and varied profession. Architects are taking on different roles, be it designers, researchers, engineers, activists etc. Companies like OMA have research offshoots such as AMO. This chapter illustrates the ability to “expand beyond the false choice between elite designers and socially engaged activists.”

For whom are we, as architects, designing? In a recent interview, Richard Rogers talked about a “duty to society”. “The idea is that we have a responsibility to society. That gives us a role as architects not just to the client but also to the passer-by and society as a whole.” (Rogers, 2013) There is a moral responsibility embedded within the profession of architecture. When we speak about a community, we refer not only to the present but also to future generations, a society made up of all classes of people, all ages, all creeds, the rich and the poor. The architect must strive to be more cosmopolitan. “Cosmopolitanism is the ideology that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality.” (Wikipedia, 2014) Architects should promote and serve the public interests over and above their own personal gain as well as the individual gains of those who hire them.

As time goes by, we have seen a shift to a more socially conscious profession. This is especially seen at the macro level, where the discipline is now taking on progressive social, technical and aesthetic agendas. However, these attempts are often isolated from each other.

“As a result, firms can fall into the trap of conventional professionalism, namely, of limiting themselves to a specialized product or service, relevant only for a specific clientele, building type, or location. Such a position risks becoming unresponsive to forms of intelligence and responsibilities other than the ones it focuses on.” (Salomon, 2012) It is important to note here, that technological advances need not, and should not, be limited to projects which are highly capitalised. The presence of this more socially conscious moral value should not hinder technical or aesthetic innovations in any way. “One does not have to choose between engagement or expertise: between social or technical rather one must be able to use one to achieve the other.” (Robbins, 1993) Architecture should aspire towards a moral discipline which addresses its responsibilities and not retreat to the limited domain of expertise. It should expand “into a culture of discrepant cosmopolitanism.” As the Hellenic oath states, ‘I will leave this city more beautiful than I entered it’.

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The Contemporary European Urban Project: Archipelago City, Diffuse City and Reverse City What is the purpose of the city? Cities are people. People are the central factor for which we build cities. Throughout the years, cities, have developed into spaces which, rather than respond to the needs of the citizens, kept technology and industry as their main defining principles.

Cities should not adhere to some grand vision - no matter how beautiful the renderings are without keeping the interests of their people as their main goal.

The idea of a human city is not a new concept. Many of the greatest planners and architects have focused on the quality of life that their designs provided the citizens. The humanist approach has been diluted throughout the years. Up to the 20th century, cities turned into unpleasant places to live in. Requirements of industry took precedence over the joy of life of the people.

The Public Park therefore surfaced in the 1860s, followed by the Garden City, some 30 years later.

One of the main points of discussion presented in class concerned the growth and changes happening in London - one of the main, if not the main, European hub. Decentralisation occurred in London with time. More and more people left their countryside homes and flocked to the city. The city offered new and exciting experiences, the possibility of work. Transportation and sustainability came to the forefront of such cities, with less distance travelled by its citizens who, had they not lived within the city, had to commute. These advantages are still valid today.

The city offers its citizens and centralised hub with all your needs being catered for.

However, the megacity is now facing some important questions regarding its citizens. Arguments are arising over the quality of life for the people living in London and other major cities. An overwhelming amount of investment and people are flowing into the city. Is it sustainable to have so many people living in the same space?

New people bring with them new homes - new towers. The industry is growing further. These all exist somewhere between necessity and inevitability. However, they should not be viewed as negative things. Cities will expand and build, but ‘cities are people.’ Cities must remain good places to live in - even those with impossibly deep pockets.

“What the city needs is a chance to galvanise professional city-makers and those for whom the city is made, uniting experts and everyday city residents: remember the city is its people. And to do so that brings a reason for an optimistic response to seeing the hoardings and cranes, where today there is the steady creep of scepticism.”

(Architectural-review.com, 2014)

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Contemporary Architectural Discourse

Common Lines of Flight Towards the Open City With terrorist attacks like 9/11, the ‘Open City’ is no longer a term that holds its former meaning - “a city declared to be unfortified and undefended and so, by international law, exempt from enemy attack.” (Oxford’s, 2014) Due to these attacks, surveillance in most contemporary countries has soared. New York City has more than 4,000 cameras in Manhattan alone, while cities like London have one camera for every 8 people.

Surveillance has always had a place in architecture. Walls, gates and other barriers were and are still used as methods of power, authority and control. With time, surveillance shifted to a definition of safety in urban environments. Several theories surrounding the concept of surveillance have come up, however one of the most relevant to the situation nowadays is that of invisible surveillance. In today’s world, with technology being everywhere around us, the idea that you are being watched is constant. This compels people to conform to the dominant social norms.

“Visibility is a trap. It is through this visibility that modern society exercises its controlling system of power and knowledge.” - Michel Foucault.

Today’s world is often called a ‘panopticon’ or rather a ‘superpanopticon’ as Mark Poster suggests.

He sees our technological world as “a system of surveillance without walls, windows, towers, or guards.” With time, it developed into a ‘participatory panopticon’ with surveillance being imposed by the public itself through the use of technology. This was seen very clearly in the recent attacks in Paris on the Charlie Hebdo offices. Numerous videos were uploaded of the attackers within minutes.

However, the camera solves crimes rather than prevents them. Nowadays, we are addressing security on a transnational scale. Risk management, indicating suspects before the crime has been committed is becoming more popular. This negative logic might lead us to create environments which are more rigid in terms of freedom of movement. However, does this create a space that people want to live in?

Drones are the new phenomena that are entering the scene. “Unmanned [and] app-enabled, [these] levitating devices, should provoke architectural practitioners to anticipate that surveillance, cargo logistics, terrorism, personal privacy and the diagram of the city will become spatialised in exponentially more complex ways.” (Architectural-review.com, 2014)

“Former understandings of thresholds, barriers, overlookings, windows and enclosure become anachronistic in the path of such airborne agents. And so, urban design will be bent to both accommodate and resist a new breed of aerial urbanite, as previously the car sculpted an unfamiliar urban grain, so drones will in three dimensions.” (Architectural-review.com, 2014)

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Contemporary Architectural Discourse

Utopianism

Reformism

Quasi-Religio

Pattern Language (1977)

Broadacre City (1932)

Goetheanum

Pattern Language (1977)

Arcosanti (1970)

Bateson Building (1977)

Unite d’Habitation (1947)

Architecture for the Poor (1973) Findhorn Commune Scotland (1980s)

Contemporary Architectural Discourse

ous Approaches

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Technocratic Imperative

m (1908)

US Pavilion (1967)

Greater London Authority (2002)

“Green Walls� (1990s)

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Contemporary Architectural Discourse

Beyond Sustainability: Architecture in the Renewable City One of the main points that came out of the presentation and discussion over the subject of sustainability in the world nowadays was the fact that the meaning behind the term “sustainable” has lost its true meaning. “By now its original meaning has faded away and been forgotten. It simply means “good,” a synonym for everything that is positive.” (Kiss, 2011) Over the years, sustainable design has been “the latest development catchphrase.” (Lele, 1991) Unfortunately, it has turned into a packaging wrapped around projects to make them more socially acceptable.

Architecture is one of the main arenas for sustainable development and innovations. “Buildings represent about half the annual energy and emissions in the U.S. and three-quarters of its electricity.” (Hosey, 2013) Architects have the opportunity and the duty to transform architecture’s impact on the world for the better.

It should be said that sustainable design has become more widespread, however in the past few years, some of the world’s leading architects have publicly dismissed sustainability. Frank Gehry (AIA gold medalist) called it “bogus” whereas Peter Eisenman (National Design Award winner) said that it “has nothing to do with architecture.” Architects must alter their opinions on sustainable design.

Sustainability should start first and foremost at the education level. A minimum level of competency around sustainable design should be maintained, with students being fully trained in the principles and practice of sustainable design. Organisations which give out awards to architects should aim at only structures which meet at least the minimum standard of sustainable performance. The same can be said about design magazines which showcase architectural works.

Biomimicry in architecture was also discussed. The Eden Project, which looked towards nature as inspiration, “is a fairly good example of how ideas from biology can lead to radical increases in resource efficiency.” (Pawlyn, 2010) Permaculture, coined by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in 1978, is another sustainability concept that can be applied to architecture.

“Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system.”

(Mollison, 1991) We should aim to talk about sustainable design in a positive way and aim to make progress with what could be the most exciting period of innovation of the 21st century.

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Contemporary Architectural Discourse

Virtual Architecture, Actual Media Firstly, it is important to address the two central clusters of meanings for the term ‘virtual.’

The meaning of virtuality comes from virtual reality technologies and from the influential Deleuzian concept of virtual - the dynamic tension with the actual. This is better explained through the example of a computer screen. “The monitor displays an image that depends on physical interactions happening at the level of hardware. This example leads to the second aspect of the virtual that Deleuze insists upon: its generative nature. This virtuality is a kind of potentiality that becomes fulfilled in the actual. It is still not material, but it is real.” (Wikipedia, 2015) Therefore, the first “hypothesis [is] that all architecture, built or unbuilt, is virtual in the Deleuzian sense.” (Hayles and Gannon, 2012) Archigram, an avant-garde architectural group formed in the 1960s, expressed themselves and their ideas through purely hypothetical projects. Although never having built a project, they inspired architects around the globe such as Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano in their Pompidou centre, Norman Foster, Gianfranco Franchini and Future Systems, among others.

There were many other architects whose works remained solely conceptual. The visionary architects Boullee, Ledoux and Lequeu were all very influential architects.

The second hypothesis is that “architecture is a function of embodied discourse, that is, discourse instantiated in speech or, more typically, written or graphical documents. ‘Document’, as the term is used in textual studies, is distinct from ‘text’ or ‘work’ because it implies the existence of a physical (or digital) object.” (Hayles and Gannon, 2012) The notion of virtuality, as I understand it, relates to the visual aspects of space, presuming that the basic qualities of physical space can be graphically simulated. This representation of space not only creates a visual illusion of the third dimension, but it psychologically involves the spectator and transfers him or her into the space. The image gives a sense of the spatial location. This creation of virtual space can be perceptually sensed. It can be modified and shaped, explored and experienced. This is not just the result of computer technology, but it can be traced through the history of spatial representations.

Therefore, virtual architecture is simply architecture unburdened by physicality. “Rather architecture, by virtue of its dynamic interaction with actual media, infuses the physicality of the written and the built with the infinite potential of the virtual. Inhering at the very heart of the discipline, architecture’s ineffability, unspeakable as such, is the reservoir that renews the discipline and makes innovation possible.” (Hayles and Gannon, 2012) The only worry that I have with virtuality is the fact that many architects are focusing their resources on beautiful renders of projects, that do not reflect the building in reality. Perhaps more effort must be put into the design of the building in real life - the way it interacts with society, context and other factors that influence a building.

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Technology, Virtuality, Materiality The relations between architecture and technology have changed throughout the years. In the past decades, technology has been affected by not only innovations like “the massive diffusion of digital tools, the development of genetic engineering or the new perspectives opened by the exploration of nanoscale structures” (Picon, 2012) but by its very definition. Technology as we know it today, differs radically from the technology present in early nineteenth century.

In the mid-1980s, the computer became ever so popular in the architectural world. Initially, it was thought that it would “reinforce the predominance of structure and tectonics through the new possibilities it offered.” However, with time, we have come to realise that we are becoming so dependent on computer technology that we are increasingly becoming interested in playing with forms without worrying too much about their structural implications. However, such practice is limited to expensive projects like those commissioned to architects such as Gehry, Ito and Foreign Office Architects. For economical reasons, “traditional structural principles still rule the building industry at large.” But projects like Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum still indicate this shift in the architectural practice.

Sustainability is another important element in architecture which contributes to this shift.

Technology is instrumental in allowing designers and architects to identify the main controlling factors of the environment and context.

“Thus the weakening of structural considerations is linked to a more general shift in the understanding of what matters in the physical world, of what represents challenges not yet addressed by human ingenuity. It does not mean, however, that mechanics has lost its relevance, but rather that its status is changing.” (Picon, 2012) “There is a strong link between the development of digital culture and the widespread interest in materiality.” (Picon, 2012) Technological advancements have led to an increasing understanding of the mechanics and physics of materials. Glass had never been thought of as being a load bearing structure, however, in a recent project by Ohlhausen DuBois Architects, in collaboration with Dewhurst MacFarlane - The Klein Residence - this has now become a reality.

Will architecture remain what it is now, and what will the future hold? Will it remain “a discipline that tries to remain from other forms of design?” (Picon, 2012) Technology has given us the opportunity to explore new domains of architecture - to go beyond traditional boundaries.

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