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devices, and for the process of design itself. Theorists in the 1960 s and
1970 s discussed cybernetics,^8 digital approaches to systems of work and
habitation, and explored through programming Negroponte’s concept
of “the architecture machine,”^9 a theory about the ability of machines
to learn about architecture as opposed to being programmed to com-
plete architectural tasks.
More recent investigations of the merger of digital and architectural
realms have been undertaken since the 1990 s, with research consid-
ering the concept of adaptive feedback loops,^10 of environments such
as Rodney Brooks’ Intelligent Room Project,^11 or environments such
as the Adaptive House.^12 These experiments explored the principles
of combining digital with architectural environments and processes.
Malcolm McCullough observed an impending future of opportunity
when computing pervades architecture and activities are mediated
in new ways. He commented that, “The rise of pervasive computing
restores an emphasis on geometry.... In locally intensified islands of
smarter space, interactivity becomes a richer experience.”^13
Theories and manifestos proliferated with a focus on the cultural
and societal imperatives that should guide practitioners in navigat-
ing the choppy waters between meaningful and merely practical
arrangements of space. As Michael Speaks described in his introduc-
tion to Kojin Karatani’s Architecture as Metaphor, a tug of war ensues
between two metaphors, “Architecture as Art” versus “Architecture as
Construction.”^14 If we are to believe Vitruvius, the aspiration of archi-
tecture has always gone beyond function and effectiveness to incorpo-
rate the difficult-to-define idea of “delight,” a notion beyond aesthetics.
In today’s post-modern age, we expect a work of architecture to mean
something to inhabitants and observers. Architecture has always con-
8 Frazer (1993)
9 Negroponte (1970 )
10 Eastman, in Cross (1972)
11 R. A. Brooks. 1997. The Intelligent Room project. In Proceedings of the 2nd International
Conference on Cognitive Technology (CT ’97). IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC,
USA, 271-. http://people.csail.mit.edu/brooks/papers/aizu.pdf.
12 http://bit.ly/1nTB2BH
13 McCullough (2004)
14 Karatani and Speaks (1995)
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