Architecture representation in the age of cyberspace

landscape representations show where architecture may go if it was freed from the constraints of

"reality” and form the foundations for current research in virtual architecture.

Architecture representation in the age of cyberspace

Marcos Novak (1991) in his key essay "Liquid architectures in cyberspace” went beyond the traditional concept of architecture related to perspective, gravity, and physical form and considered and defined a

dematerialized architecture in the realm of virtual and cyberspace. Novak considered cyberspace as “an

information space” (Novak,1991), or a data space, a space which form is driven by data not matter.

“…Placing the human within the information space, it is an architectural problem; but beyond this, cyberspace has an architecture of its own, and furthermore can contain architecture…” (Novak, 1991, pg.226)

Herein, he introduced the concept of "liquid architecture”, a fluid, imaginative, multimedia landscape characterized by the synthesis of information, art, and technology that exists only in the Digital domain.

In this realm, architecture and space becomes mutable depending on the interaction with the user/multiple users. Space become programmable, algorithmic, based on principles and rules and with a

variety of manifestations and responsive to viewer’s inputs. In Novak, it’s evident the idea that multimedia manipulation, based on human-computer interaction is a potential for personal expression

and new individual experiences in cyberspace. This approach liberates architecture from physical,

functional, and aesthetic constraints, allowing the design of innovative settings and evolving forms of art

and communication in cyberspace. In fact, Novak equated architecture with poetry and considered

cyberspace as a habitat for imagination.

Figure 20 Examples of Liquid Architectures, by Marcos Novak: Algorithmic compositions (Novak, in Cyberspace: First Steps;

MathCaveBlockHR ( Novak, websiteL CENTRIFUGE);

This habitat has a structure of relationships and connections of data and information involving also the

viewer. In this sense architecture is not an object appreciate for its appearance, for the visual qualities

and aesthetics, but an interface of information.

In the same period, an innovative designer, Gregg Lynn, offered a new perspective of virtual

architecture. Lynn challenged conventional concepts of design practise and focused on the creative

processes of architecture with design and animation software. Lynn proposed three models to approach

the development of architecture in his key text "Animated Form," (Lynn, 1999) based on the utilisation

of modern technology and computational processes: 1. via geometrical reproduction of shape; 2. by the construction of an open form that changes due to gradient impacts; 3. by the formlessness /

amorphousness of architectural structures. The computer, via its visualisation and transformation processes, brings building formation/deformation through a range of shaping forces than model form,

or what Lynn refers to as animated form. According to Lynn, computational technology enables the execution of a sequence of architectural creation processes in the realm of virtual that is not materially/

physically achievable.

“It is always more interesting to bring with an inventory of what machines want to do to us before we start asking what we desire from machines”. (Lynn, 1999)

In this sense, he achieved dynamic and mutable architecture form in 3D virtual space, similar to the

effect that cubist or futurist painters such as Boccioni, Duchamp, etc. express in their 2D representations.

Figure 21 The virtual diagramtic relationships between forms in Lynn become actualised as technical possibilities.

With the introduction of virtual reality in the late 1990s, Asymptote architect explored new possibilities

in their design practise and produced interactive virtual 3d worlds for numerous projects such as the

New York Stock Exchange trading area and the Virtual Guggenheim exhibition space.

“Objects, spaces, buildings, and institutions can now be constructed, navigated, comprehended,

experienced, and manipulated across a global network. This is the new architecture of liquidity,

flux, and mutability predicated on technological advances and fuelled by a basic human desire to

probe the unknown.” Rashi, form Asymptote in (Jodijo 2001)

They developed a completely interactive computer-generated space in VR that demonstrates new

methods of communicating and accessing data-rich and complex environments. Even though the

experience of virtual reality at the time was obtained presenting moving pictures on displays, these

virtually inhabitable spaces comprise unparalleled "architectural environments."

The Virtual New York Stock Exchange (1999) was a multidimensional interactive virtual environment

designed for the operations department being used as a monitoring tool for stock exchange data and

information (such as news, market indicators, etc.). It is conceived as a three-dimensional, manipulable

digital interface that help handle large volumes of information in the virtual world. The 3D trading floor is

a data driven representation, in which real time market information and statistics are displayed and the

can interact with it in real time. In this sense, the virtual architecture is completely different from the

virtual building. In virtual architecture, space, time, and information are components that create

experience. On a contrary, Virtual buildings are replicas of actual building space.

Figure 22 Virtual Trading Floor. Asymptote, Virtual New York Stock Exchange ( 1999) by Asymptote

The project of Guggenheim Virtual Museum (GVM,1999) was an Internet-based museum committed to

the exhibition and promotion of digital art as well as the creation of a digital archive for emerging

contemporary media. This virtual museum anticipated new forms of expression that ultimately

necessitate new means of exhibition, collection, and appreciation of art. The conventional methods of

appreciating museums by moving and seeing, as well as the physical constraints of actual space, do not

apply to virtual museums. The GVM embraces new architectural and experiential possibilities like as

fluidity, immersion, and replay and interactivity. While the GVM is a multidimensional digital interface 45