- arCHitECturE as intErfaCE (^) | 291
Over time, architectural problems have become increasingly complex,
driven by economics, technological innovation, and changing societal
needs for buildings to support new functions and offer innovative fea-
tures to improve efficiency and safety. Practitioners rely on a body of
design theory that influences the products of architectural design, and
highlights the duality of a profession whose aspirations are to create
artifacts that serve practical needs at the same time that they encode
meaning for individuals and communities.
The pervasion of Internet-enabled elements into the physical space of
everyday life and work forces us to rethink both the requirements of
our world and the way we design it. Today’s consumers can connect
a smartphone-enabled door to a system of security; comfort-focused
devices that transmit video sense and adjust temperature and lighting.
As interactive environments proliferate and these choices expand in
the future, designers must expand theory to apply these new modes of
interaction and meaning to our most pressing objectives.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN THEORY: MODELS
OF INTERACTION AND MEANING
Architectural theory analyzes and describes architectural design in
terms of appropriate elements, their relationships to cultural under-
standing, and the process of devising them. In this context, theory is an
explanation that does not proscribe a specific end result. It is a structure
of concepts, categories, and relationships intended to explain things or
to advocate, not a defined roadmap or a step-by-step methodology.
No single comprehensive structure of ideas can be applied in the same
rigorous way to resolve all design problems in architecture. It is unlikely
that a formal set of rules lie behind all of the many complex decisions
that produce an existing building. However, practitioners have long val-
ued theory in making decisions on complex projects or to retrospec-
tively clarify a body of work.
Architectural theory can be traced back to the first century BC. The
Roman writer and architect Vitruvius^4 wrote a treatise that laid out
the salient aspects of Roman architecture in a series of volumes. The
Ten Books of Vitruvius illustrated the principles of design and construc-
4 Vitruvius (1999)
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