Week 6 Reading - The Digital Turn in Architecture 1992-2012 (Mario Carpo – “Morphogenesis and Emergence” by Michael Hensel, Achim Menges and Michael Weinstock (2004-2006) Pages 158-159

‘Michael Hensel, Achim Menges and Michael Weinstock are keen to point out the difference between ‘emergent’ properties in life and in computation, and the gap between nature and machinic production’. I think this sentence really sums up the Morphogenesis and Emergence article. I strongly agree with the point of view of these three men. The use of computers and computer aided design doesn’t just necessarily make designing a structure easy, but it also has a crucial impact on the types of materials that can be used and to what extend they can be used, not only in the form of a building but also the structure and performance of a building. Once upon a time the only way of knowing how a certain material was going to work was to build a scaled down model, whereas today we are able to test quite easily on computers irregular materials and patterns of materials to get a better understanding of the way they are going to perform. The computers are not only a positive impact on the design of the building itself, but they also have a major impact in the fabrication of the materials. Digitally controlled machines are being used as an alternative to manually modelling materials, to recreate the structures we design, so as to not have to spend as much time to put these materials together. Computers and computer aided design are definitely having a major impact on the world we live in, and I believe that the world will be a better place because of it.

Quote: The Digital Turn in Architecture 1992-2012 (Mario Carpo) “Morphogenesis and Emergence” by Michael Hensel, Achim Menges and Michael Weinstock (2004-2006)