Digital architecture refers to aspects of architecture that feature

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

technologies or considers digital platforms as online spaces. The emerging field of digital architectures therefore applies to both classic architecture as well as the emerging study of social media technologies. Within classic architectural studies, the terminology is used to apply to digital skins that can be streamed images and have their appearance altered. A headquarters building design for Boston television and radio station WGBH by Polshek Partnership has been discussed as an example of digital architecture and includes a digital skin. Within social media research, digital architecture refers to the technical protocols that enable, constrain, and shape user behavior in a virtual space. Features of social media platforms such as how they facilitate user connections, enable functionality, and generate data are considered key properties that distinguish one digital architecture from another.

Overview

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

created digitally might not involve the use of actual materials (brick, stone, glass, steel, wood). It relies on "sets of numbers stored in

electromagnetic In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge via electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It is the dominant force in the interacti ...

format" used to create representations and simulations that correspond to material performance and to

map A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on ...

out built artifacts.Daniela Bertol, David Foel
Designing digital space
page 57 It thus can involve

digital twin A digital twin is a digital model of an intended or actual real-world physical product, system, or process (a ''physical twin'') that serves as a digital counterpart of it for purposes such as simulation, integration, testing, monitoring, and m ...

ning for planned construction or for maintenance management. Digital architecture does not just represent "ideated space"; it also creates places for human interaction that do not resemble physical architectural spaces. Examples of these places in the "Internet Universe" and

cyberspace Cyberspace is an interconnected digital environment. It is a type of virtual world popularized with the rise of the Internet. The term entered popular culture from science fiction and the arts but is now used by technology strategists, security ...

include

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

multi-user dungeon A multi-user dungeon (MUD, ), also known as a multi-user dimension or multi-user domain, is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-based or storybo ...

MOO A MOO ("Multi-user dungeon, MUD, object-oriented") is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users (players) are connected at the same time. The term MOO is used in two distinct, but related, senses. One is to refer to th ...

s, and web chatrooms. Digital architecture allows complex calculations that delimit architects and allow a diverse range of complex forms to be created with great ease using computer

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of Rigour#Mathematics, mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algo ...

s.A. Ali, C. A. Brebbi
Digital architecture and construction
Abstract by S. Hatzellis, University of Technology, Sydney Australia page 51, 54 The new genre of "scripted, iterative, and indexical architecture" produces a proliferation of formal outcomes, leaving the designer the role of selection and increasing the possibilities in architectural design. This has "re-initiated a debate regarding curvilinearity, expressionism and role of technology in society" leading to new forms of non-standard architecture by architects such as

Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-born British architect, artist, and designer. She is recognised as a key figure in the architecture of the late-20th and early-21st centuries. Born ...

Kas Oosterhuis Kas Oosterhuis (1951) is a Dutch people, Dutch architect, professor and co-founder of the innovation studio Oosterhuis Lénárd, ONL together with visual artist Ilona Lénárd. He was a professor at Delft University of Technology, Delft University ...

and UN Studio. A conference held in London in 2009 named "Digital Architecture London" introduced the latest development in digital design practice. The Far Eastern International Digital Design Award (The Feidad Award) has been in existence since 2000 and honours "innovative design created with the aid of digital media." In 2005 a jury with members including a representative from Quantum Film, Greg Lynn from Greg Lynn FORM, Jacob van Rijs of

MVRDV MVRDV is a Rotterdam, Netherlands-based architecture and urban design practice founded in 1993, with additional offices in Berlin, New York, Paris, and Shanghai. It is currently regarded as one of the world's finest architecture firms. MVRDV is ...

, Gerhard Schmitt, Birger Sevaldson (Ocean North), chose among submissions "exploring digital concepts such as computing, information, electronic media, hyper-, virtual-, and cyberspace in order to help define and discuss future space and architecture in the digital age."

Social media

The concept of digital architectures has a long history in Internet scholarship. Prior to

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

, scholars focused on how the structure of an online space – such as a forum, website, or blog – shaped the formation of publics and political discourses. With the rapid rise of social media, scholars have turned their attention to how the architectural design of social media platforms affects the behavior of influential users, such as

political campaigns A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referen ...

. This line of research differs from the affordances approach, which focuses on the relationships between users and technology, rather than the digital architecture of the platform.

References

External links

Knowledge repositories

Cumulative Index of Computer Aided Architectural Design (CUMINCAD)

Academic journals

Primary

Relevant

Digital Creativity

Nexus Network Journal

Associations and organizations

Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA)

Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA)

CAADFutures Foundation

Education and research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe (eCAADe)

The Iberoamerican Society of Digital Graphics (SIGraDi)
{{Digital art Architectural design

Overview

Social media

See also