ARCHI TE C TU RE A ND

S ECO ND D IGITA L T U RN
THE E VOLU T I O N O F D I G I TA L TOOLS
WITH IN T H E D E SI G N P R O CE S S

PhD Candidate: Giuseppe Gallo

September 13 2021

Tutor: Prof. Giovanni Francesco Tuzzolino

University of Palermo

Co-Tutor: Fulvio Wirz
University of East London
INDEX

1. R E SE ARC H Q UES T IONS

2. R E SE ARC H AI MS
3. M E T H O D O LO GY
4. ST RU C TU R E OF T HE D IS S ER TAT ION
5. R E SU LTS
6. R E SE ARC H R EL EVANC E
7. T U TOR S
1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Thirty years after the advent of digital, it is

mandatory a reflection that looks at the
mutations produced by digital technology in
society and therefore within the architectural
design process.

To face the complexity, I chose a holistic

approach, capable of acquiring a philosophical
perspective, and descending towards the
technical, operational, methodological,
instrumental and relational detail.
2. RESEARCH AIMS

• Identify what effects the implementation of digital technology has on society • Reconstruct the evolution of digital tools and paradigms from a historical
and our different perception of space; perspective, evaluating how much they are a result of processes internal or
external to our discipline, and how they are influenced by contributing figures
• Define the contribution made by those precursors of themes, methods, and
far from the architectural project;
processes that laid the foundation so that approaches developed today may
flourish through the aid of computers, by comparing their thinking to that of • Measure the actual spread of the various digital tools adopted today within
contemporary theorists and designers; the architectural design process, attempting to reconstruct a landscape as
neutral as possible, far from commercial hype;
• Identify new demands affecting architecture in terms of requirements,
metrics, and project materials, by investigating to what extent these • Evaluate the actual competence and awareness of architects in the adoption
changes are the result of progressive digitization in architecture, and what of strategies based on the implementation of digital tools capable of
responsibilities they pose to us regarding our role; addressing the complexity of the project, weighing the results;

• Define processes, skills, roles and organizational structures that have spread • Investigate the relationship between architectural design and open-source
among architectural firms in the last decade through new digital paradigms tools, measuring their effective implementation and the breadth of their
that animate architectural design; contributions, observing potential and constraints that limit their spread.

• Understand the role that algorithmic logic plays in the how architectural • Consider the first applications of machine learning to architectural design,
design is shaped and the generation of the architectural form after the building a comparisons between research results and the actual applications
introduction of the most state of the art digital tools for design; developed within the practices, measuring their weight throughout the
architectural design process and identifying any possible drift.
• Observing how the communication dynamics of the web, together with the
new technical possibilities of representation, produce an imbalance in the
values that enliven the contemporary architectural debate;
3. METHODOLOGY

LITERARY
The literary refecences range from the
REFERENCES
writings of those philosophers who INTERVIEWS
recognized the earlier impact of technology TO DESIGNERS
on society, to theory of architecture, up to the
detail of how new technics affect the design
process.

• Bauman, Galimberti, Ciastellardi,

Sennett, Augè, Taylor, Floridi, Foucault,
Negroponte, Castells;
CASE

RESEARCH
• Gregotti, Munari, Alexander, Luigi Moretti, STUDIES
Otto, Fuller, Venturi, Eisenman, Lynn,
Carpo, Menges;

• Architectural Design, Domus, Caadria,

Ecaade, Acadia;

• Farin, Eastman, Oxman, Domingos.

SOFTWARE
4. STRUCTURE OF
THE DISSERTATION
INTRODUCTION

The thesis consists of an Introduction, 5 CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY AND

1 ARCHITECTURE
chapters and a Conclusion.

Introduction, Chapter 3 and Conclusions were

presented in two languages, Italian and English
THE ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT,
2 NEW COMPLEXITIES

• 10 Interviews to digital champions of

architectural design

• 30 case studies of architectures build THE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

within the last 15 years 3 PROCESS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

• 45 software sheets about tools used

DIGITAL CHAMPIONS

CASE STUDIES AND

10 INTERVIEWS TO

SOFTWARE SHEETS
within the architectural design process
THE EVOLUTION OF DIGITAL
• bibliography sorted by topics 4 TOOLS IN ARCHITECTURE

• index of names

MACHINE LEARNING METHODS

5 AND ARCHITECTURE

CONCLUSIONS
DESIGNERS INTERVIEWED

1. Steven Chilton director of the SCA studio, a highly experienced 5. Al Fisher PhD in architectural engineering,
designer who founded his studio a few years ago and has already head of computational design of Buro Happold;
built several architectures in Asia; 6. Harry Ibbs Technology director of Gensler Europe,
2. Daniel Davis PhD in computational design, former director of former head of BIM and IT of Zaha Hadid Architects;
WeWork research where he developed methods and research on the 7. Arthur Mamou-Mani director of Mamou Mani and
application of machine learning methods to the project; lecturer at the University of Westminster;
3. Aurelie de Boissieu PhD in parametric design and Londo 8. Andreas Klok Pedersen London director of BIG -
head of the London BIM at Grimshaw, author of researchs on Bjarke Ingels Group, responsible for several international projects;
interoperability; 9. Edoardo Tibuzzi Engineer and architect in charge
4. Xavier de Kestelier Director of Hassell, former head of the of computational design of AKTII;
Specialist Modeling Group of Foster and Partners, responsible for 10. Pablo Zamorano head of the computational design
international projects and research carried out in recent years; group at Studio Heatherwick.
CASE STUDIES

1. Oslo Opera House, Snohetta, 2000-2008; 16. Arter Museum, Grimshaw Architects, 2012-2019;
2. Nordpark railway station Zaha Hadid Architects, 2004-2007; 17. Morpheus Hotel, Zaha Hadid Architects, 2013-2018;
3. Metropol Parasol, Jurgen Mayer H. Studio, 2004-2011; 18. Cube Berlin, 3XN, 2013-2020;
4. National Museum of US Army, SOM, 2004-2020; 19. Coal drop yards, Heatherwick studio, 2014-2018;
5. Copertura National Maritime Museum, Dok arch. 2005-2011; 20. Daxing airport, Zaha Hadid Architects, 2014-2019;
6. Cooled conservatories, WilkinsonEyre, 2007, 2012; 21. The twist, Bjarke Ingels Group, 2014-2020;
7. National Kaohsiung Center for Arts, Mecanoo, 2007-2018; 22. Musee Audemars Piguet, Bjarke Ingels Group, 2014-2020;
8. Messe Basel new hall, Herzog & de Meuron, 2008-2015; 23. Oceanwide centre, Foster and P. e Heller Manus, 2014-2021;
9. Scuola Sydhavn, JJWW Architects, 2008-2015; 24. Leeza Soho, Zaha Hadid Architects, 2015-2019;
10. The Shed, DS+R e Rockwell Group, 2008-2019; 25. MX3D Bridge, MX3D, 2015-2019;
11. Galaxy Soho, Zaha Hadid Architects, 2009-2012; 26. Google Headquarters, BIG, Heatherwick, 2015-2021;
12. Apple Headquarters, Foster and Partners, 2009-2018; 27. Wuxi Taihu Theathre, SCA Architecture, 2016-2019;
13. Bund arts Center, Foster and P. e Heatherwick s., 2010-2017; 28. Galaxia Temple, Mamou Mani, 2017-2018;
14. Copenhill energy plant, Bjarke Ingels Group, 2010-2019; 29. Expansion Porto Matadouro, OODA, Kengo Kuma, 2018-2021;
15. Padiglione ICD/ITKE 2012, ICD e ITKE, 2011-2012; 30. Nasa 3D printed habitat, Hassell, 2018
SOFTWARE SHEETS

1. Allplan, Nemetschek; 16. Dynamo, Autodesk; 31. Radiance, Greg Ward;

2. Archicad, Graphisoft; 17. Energy Plus, U.S. Energy Dept.; 32. Rhino Vault, ETH Zurich;
3. Autodesk Autocad, Autodesk; 18. Freecad, Freecad team; 33. Rhinoceros 3D, Mc Neel;
4. Autodesk Maya, Autodesk; 19. Fusion 360, Autodesk; 34. Sketchup, Trimble;
5. Autodesk Revit, Autodesk; 20. Galapagos, McNeel; 35. Solidworks, Dassault Systems;
6. Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk; 21. Generative Components, Bentley S.; 36. Speckle, Speckle;
7. Beam, Mks Dtech; 22. Grasshopper3D, Mc Neel; 37. The Bhom, Buro Happold
8. Bentley Building, Bentley Systems; 23. Honeybee, Ladybug tools; 38. Unity 3D Editor, Unity Technologies;
9. Blender, Blender foundation; 24. Kangaroo Physics, Daniel Piker; 39. Unreal Engine, Epic Games;
10. BRL-Cad, U.S. Army; 25. Karamba 3D, Karamba 3D; 40. Vectorworks, Nemetschek;
11. Catia, Dassault Systemes; 26. Ladybugs, Ladybug tools; 41. VisualArq, Asuni;
12. Cinema 4D, Maxon; 27. Lunchbox, Proving Ground; 42. Vray, Chaos Group;
13. Conveyor, Proving Ground; 28. Maxwell Renderer, Next Limit; 43. Wallacei, Wallacei;
14. Corona Renderer; 29. Microstation, Bentley Systems; 44. Zbrush, Pixologic;
15. Digital Project, Trimble; 30. OpenFoam, OpenCFD; 45. 3Dexperience, Dassault Systemes.
PAPERS PUBLISHED
DURING PHD

1. Gallo, G., Pellitteri, G., 2018, Luigi Moretti, from History to Parametric 4. Gallo, G., Wirz, F. 2021. The evolution of the digital curve: from shipbuilding
Architecture, in Huang, W., Williams, M., Luo, D., Yi-Sin, W., Yuming, L., Learning, spline to the diffusion of nurbs, subdivision surface and t-splines as tools for
Prototyping, and Adapting, Short Paper Proceedings of the 23rd International architectural design, Infolio, n.36, pp. 126-133.
Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia, CAADRIA,
Beijing, pp. 209-214. 5. Gallo, G., 2021. Digital and quarantine, in Milocco Borlini, M., Califano, A.,
Urban Corporis Unexpected, Anteferma edizioni, Conegliano, pp. 284-290.
2. Gallo, G., Wirz, F., Tuzzolino, G. F., 2019. Architects as tool consumers:
discovering trends in software and programming languages for architecture 6. Accepted - Gallo, G., Wirz, F., Tuzzolino, G. F. 2021. Trends in software and
with google trends, in Öztürk, O., Archtheo 19, Proceedings of Dakam Archtheo programming for architectural design, International Journal of Architecture and
conference, Archtheo, Istanbul, pp. 197-206. Urban Studies, vol, 6, n. 1.

3. Gallo, G., Tuzzolino, G. F., Wirz, F. 2020. The role of Artificial Intelligence in for more papers visit
architectural design: conversation with designers and researchers, in Soellner, https://www.giuseppegallo.design/publications-talks/
M., Proceedings of S.Arch 2020, the 7th international conference on architecture
and built environment, S.Arch, Tokyo, pp.198-206.
5. RESULTS
1. CONTEMPORARY
SOCIETY AND
ARCHITECTURE

1.1 RESEARCH STUDY ON

CONTEMPORANEITY

1.2 FROM THE GRID TO THE NET

1.2.1. ARCHITECTURE AND

INFORMATION NRTWORKS

1.3 TECHNICS AND SOCIETY

1.4 SPACE AND
CONTEMPORANEITY
1.1. RESEARCH
STUDY ON
CONTEMPORANEITY

The research path chosen stems from

the observation of contemporary society
from which the project develops as a
response to human needs. A society that
is confronted today with a condition of
liquid modernity, which I reconstruct
starting from the post-World War II period,
highlighting the changes in scale, the new
speed of connection, the disintegration of
social structures, the different role of work,
and the race towards individualism. Factors
recognized among others by Baumann,
Castells and Augè, and which find fertile
ground on the digital dimensions that
have caught up with our lives, stealing
value from space and time, and fostering
social distances and the emergence of
myxophobia.

1. TAV Medio Padana, Calatrava, 2010.

2. The City of London at Brexit.

3. A gated community in Asia.

1.2. FROM THE GRID
TO THE NET

Comparing examples of architecture

and the thinking of protagonists of the
second half of the twentieth century helps
demonstrate the metamorphosis that led
up to the dissolving of the grid society into
networks. An example of this first goes
back to the grids of Mies Van der Rohe,
which then gradually untied themselves
in works by Venturi, only to reach new
heights in freedom in Gehry’s Guggenheim
project. With Novak’s liquid architecture
in cyberspace, there is an additional fourth
stop on this path coinciding with liquid
contemporaneity.

1. The Illinois Insitute of Technology, Mies

van der Rohe, 1939-41.

2. Las Vegas, Venturi, 1972.

3. Bilbao Guggenheim, Gehry, 1997.

4. Markos Novak Liquid Architecture.

1.2.1 ARCHITECTURE
AND INFORMATION
NETWORKS

In this chapter, I follow the evolution of

relationships between architecture and
information, a link that is perceptible from
the birth of libraries to the spread of data-
centres. I observe how the ubiquity of
information determines the emergence
of a diverse organization of knowledge,
which breathes life into a new hybridization
of disciplines. A lively feature in Camillo
Delminio’s idea for his Theatro, which
was ahead of the logics of the database
and Google’s mission by five hundred
years. I, therefore, focus on the influence
produced by the exponential increase
in data on society, from which Floridi
deduces the advent of the info-sphere,
a hybrid condition that has become an
environment, producing a dissociation
of spaces and identities, according to
apparently invisible lines animated by
digital agents.

1. Google Data Center.

2. The physicality of the web, Fabbri 2018.

3. Camillo Delminio.

4. Barabasi 2006.
1.3. TECHNICS
AND SOCIETY

Here I reconstruct, through architecture

and with particular attention to the
formation of settlements, the constant
evolution of values that have inspired the
history of the Western world, in Galimberti’s
view of man’s imposition on nature and
therefore technical methods imposed
on man. The first Greek villages of the
Hellenic Middle Ages show a mutation that
gradually occurred, followed by the newly
founded Renaissance cities and then by
the ideal cities, up to the contemporary
smart-cities, of which Sennett recognizes
the prescriptive limits. Circumstances as
such inevitably force me to go back to the
thinking of Hegel, Marx, Heidegger, and
other important philosophers, including
Weber and Jonas, promoters of new ethics
based on responsibility.

1. Epidaurus theater.

2. Palmanova.

3. New Atlantis, Bacone.

4. Songdo, South Korea.

1.4. SPACE AND
CONTEMPORANEITY

The chapter opens with considerations

on the different meanings of space and
places; I, therefore, describe the spread
of non-places already recognized
by Augè: the digital world’s favourite
environment, which translates functions
from the physical to the virtual world,
devaluing their meanings, thus generating
a new typology of places. Heterotopies, as
theorized by Foucault, which by imposing
their digital structures on reality, produce
a dissociation of our cities and transform
themselves into a filter that we place
between reality and ourselves as in the
case of digital platforms and augmented
reality devices.

1. Veduta di Piazza della Signoria,

Giuseppe Zocchi, 700.

2. The Central line.

3. Click Farm in Asia.

4. Pokemon Go.
2. THE ARCHITECTURAL
PROJECT, NEW
COMPLEXITIES

2.1 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE

ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT

2.2 ARCHITECTURE AND DIGITAL:
SOME PRECURSORS

2.2.1. LUIGI MORETTI

2.2.2. BUCKMINSTER FULLER
2.2.3. FREI OTTO

2.3 VENTURI, EISENMANN,
GEHRY AND HADID

2.4 THE FIRST DIGITAL TURN

2.5 THE SECOND DIGITAL TURN

2.1. CONSIDERATIONS
ON THE
ARCHITECTURAL
PROJECT

In embarking on a path that will lead us to

touch first-hand the gradual increase in
complexity in architecture, it is necessary
to reconnect with the intrinsic meaning
of architectural design, starting with the
characteristics that define our function
in society. Gregotti identifies these
conditions in the differences between
architectural design and other design areas,
but they are also in the interdisciplinary
nature of the project, which the architect
safeguards as a mediator and manipulator
of heterotopic symbols. It is a training
process that never breaks away from
technical methods and graphical tools,
but which despite its approximation to
science, can never be comparable to a
program or an algorithmic model which
Alexander postulated in his beginnings, on
the contrary, its characteristic remains one
tied to a heuristic process, as advocated by
Munari or by De Carlo.

1. Munari, 1977.

2. Louis Kahn sketchs.

2.2. ARCHITECTURE
AND DIGITAL: SOME
PRECURSORS

Looking at the contemporaneity of

architecture it is possible to go forth
by going backward, by recognizing an
undoubtedly vast array of precursors
who in different ways and moments pre-
empted themes of great importance that
rang in the second digital turn. A list that
includes designers such as Gaudì, Candela,
Nervi, and Musmeci, but also and above
all three protagonists of the twentieth
century, far from movements and trends:
Luigi Moretti, Buckminster Fuller, and
Frei Otto.

1. One of the stadia presented by Moretti

at Triennale di Milano.

2. Study model of Guarino Guarini’s San

Filippo Neri Monferrato church.

3. Dymaxion House, Fuller, 1927.

4. Minimal surface model, Otto.

2.2.1 LUIGI MORETTI

Within this chapter, I propose a re-reading

of the thinking of this great Italian architect
and a comparison of it to several influential
contemporary theorists’ thinking. A
reconstruction that departs from his
studies on works of art and architecture,
which testifies to Moretti’s interest in the
perception of space and the relationship
between form and structure. I, therefore,
describe his architectural research
activity, which ambitiously also took on
mathematics, culminating in the genesis
of his parametric architecture, which is
both scientific and tied to the expressive
will of the architect.

Accademia della scherma al Foro Italico,

Luigi Moretti, 1936.
2.2.2 BUCKMINSTER
FULLER

I have dealt with the second of the

forerunners to contemporary digital based
on his biography: from his first experiences
in the navy to his coming into contact with
architecture, a discipline that Fuller tackles
as an inventor, questioning traditional
approaches, and advancing, with projects
such as the Dymaxion House, solutions
aimed at global living. His different focus
on geometry and energy would lead
him to propose synergetic systems and
geodesic domes, pre-empting not only a
contemporary interdisciplinary approach
but also and above all the cultural
challenges that the world of architectural
design must face today.

Fuller with a model of his Dymaxion

house.
2.2.3 FREI OTTO

What most distinguishes Frei Otto, one of

the most recognized precursors of digital
architectural thinking, is undoubtedly his
approach to architectural design. We will
follow his diverse architectural design
philosophy starting from his interest in
lightweight structures, which would lead
him to study the relationship between
architectural forms and the processes of
generation of natural forms. Forms that he
would design thanks to physical models:
computers ante litteram, precursors of
digital form-finding methods. His thought
on the relationship between technical
methods and nature, incredibly similar to
the Greek one, corresponds to a declared
necessity for a new type of architectural
truthfulness.

Technical drawing for Montreal Pavilion,

Otto.
2.3. VENTURI,
EISENMANN, GEHRY
AND HADID

With the rediscovery of complexity

and contradiction, evident both in the
thinking and in the works of Venturi, a
cultural change took place, which for
years involved important architects all
over the world. The diverse approach
to the relationship with communication
created by the movement heightened
with Deconstructivism. Starting from
Derridian deconstruction, it evolved
along a path which was even considered
controversial, approaching digital both
from a methodological and instrumental
point of view: a phenomenon that can be
pieced together in the thinking and the
works of Eisenmann, and the projects of
Gehry and Hadid.

1. Duck e Decorated Shed, Venturi, 1972.

2. Guardiola house, Eisenmann, 1988.

3. Painting, Zaha Hadid, 1994.

2.4. THE FIRST
DIGITAL TURN

The first digital turn, recognized by Carpo,

is described here not as a current or a
movement, but rather as a moment of
change due to the implementation of
new tools, and in a different approach
to architectural design characterized by
the themes of continuity and variation.
This new orientation can be seen clearly
in both in Lynn’s smoothness, as in Stan
Allen’s field conditions, in the participatory
experiments of Frazer and Cache, in the
Yokohama port terminal project by Foreign
Office Architects, and in the advent of
Parametricism.

1. Embriological House, Greg Lynn, 1996.

2. Table not Standard, Objectile, 2007.

3. Field conditions di Stan Allen, 1996.

4. Paper strip experiment, Menges, 2006.

2.5. THE SECOND
DIGITAL TURN

With the second digital turn, caused as

declared by Carpo by a new scientific
paradigm possible thanks to the
exponential increase in data, it becomes
evident that architectural design would be
opening up to new heuristic possibilities.
This circumstance is evident in the project
for the ICD / ITKE pavilion in 2012, which,
however, is not the only characteristic of
digital maturity: this is a moment marked
by a diverse relationship with digital tools,
set–up in varying levels as formation tools,
for describing the architectural design, and
for its construction. These are possibilities
that we can detect clearly in the results
and the applications of research by groups
such as Gramazio and Kohler, Pottmann,
and by other important contemporary
researchers, architects and theorists.

1. ICD/ITKE Pavilion, 2012.

2. MX3D bridge, Amsterdam, 2018.

3. THE ARCHITECTURAL
DESIGN PROCESS IN THE
DIGITAL AGE

3.1 NEW SOLICITATIONS FOR

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

3.2 DESIGN PROCESS AND ROLES IN
CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

3.3 SIMULATION

3.4 RELATIONS WITH OTHER
DESIGN FIELDS

3.5 ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

AND COMMUNICATION

3.1. NEW
SOLICITATIONS FOR
ARCHITECTURAL
DESIGN

Here architectural design is analysed

regarding the new possibilities of
description and precursors that are now
an integral part of the contemporary
architectural design practice and
reconstructed thanks to the testimonials
of the ten professionals interviewed
and the analysis of recently designed
works. Among subjects addressed: new
algorithmic logic that projects’ have been
able to incorporate, the wide spread of
BIM, and the advent of new 3D scanning
techniques, numerical simulation, virtual
reality and augmented reality, and the
highlighting of changes that the digital
world has instilled in our role as custodians
and creators of architectural design.

Foster and Partners in 2000 and Dok

Architecten in 2011.
3.2. DESIGN PROCESS
AND ROLES IN
CONTEMPORARY
PRACTICES

The focus here shifts to the structure and

organization of contemporary architectural
firms, to the emergence and spread of
new skills and roles that are an integral
part of an ever-increasingly concerted
and interdisciplinary architectural design
practice. These characteristics are also
described through the testimonials of the
architects interviewed, thanks to which it is
possible to reconstruct processes, identify
a diverse relationship to responsibility, a
new orientation towards research, but also
the decentralization that contemporary
architectural design experiences in the
relationship with other increasingly present
and influential contributing figures.

1. London undergroung, 2016.

2. Burning Man pavilion, Mamou Mani.

3. The Tulip, Foster and Partners.

3.3. SIMULATION

The chapter starts with some observations

gleaned from the thinking of authors such
as Alexander, De Carlo, and Otto on the
relationship between architectural design
and simulation. It then unfolds in a way
that leans towards contemporaneity,
with observations on the anticipative
possibilities of the different types of physical
simulations, evident in the testimonials of
the interviewees, and in the comparison
between examples of architecture created
at different times. These possibilities
grow exponentially within contemporary
architectural design thanks to all the new,
inclusive competence achieved thus
far that oblige architects to take on new
responsibilities in accepting models and
data that can enhance a project, but which
are not a means to an end entirely for the
completion of a project.

1. Solar simulation for Kistefos Museum

(Peters e Peters, 2018).

2. Il Crowdsourcing Design Feedback,

Arup, 2016.
3.4. RELATIONS WITH
OTHER DESIGN FIELDS

Here I observe how architects are

increasingly interested in, and paying extra
attention to, areas outside our discipline,
starting from the design areas closest to us,
up to aerospace design, a type of progress
Ceccato describes as being part of those
paths that architectural design seems
to have gone down as well. Attraction
to the world of information technology
is particularly strong among architects,
who look to software developers as an
organizational model for managing the
complexity of the process. The fact that
software engineers are interested about
the figure of Alexander and the thinking
of Fred Brooks, helps us to grasp the
similarities, no matter how distant they
may be, that connect the two disciplines;

Reims Cathedral, cited by Brooks as

example of Unity (Brooks, 1975).
3.5. ARCHITECTURAL
DESIGN AND
COMMUNICATION

In re-evaluating the relationship between

architecture and communication in the
words of philosophers and theorists
such as Brandi, Eco, Gregotti, and
Luhmann, we get closer to the concept
the contemporaneity of communication
in architecture. There is a description of
various possibilities of communication
as well as of new needs that the area of
architectural design present both within
it and outside of it. Here I describe the
diverse panorama that enlivens the
architectural debate, enhanced today by a
multiplicity of voices of a varying degree
of importance. This openness influences
the public’s perception of architecture
and risks a smoothing over of it until it
conforms to an image and a trend, as made
evident in the media revival of Brutalism,
and with the advent of ‘Very Important
Designers’: figures who are also filtering
into our discipline.

1 Casa brutale, OPA, 2015.

2. Untitled, Toronto, 2019.

4. THE EVOLUTION
OF DIGITAL TOOLS IN
ARCHITECTURE

4.1 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

AND ARCHITECTURE: FROM
CAD TO VIRTUAL REALITY

4.2 THE HISTORY OF THE
COMPUTATIONAL CURVE

4.3 THE BUILDING
INFORMATION MODEL

4.4 THE DIFFUSION OF SOFTWARE
AND PROGRAMMING
LANGUAGES IN ARCHITECTURE

4.5 ARCHITECTURAL WORKFLOW

AND INTEROPERABILITY

4.6 ARCHITECTURE AND

OPEN-SOURCE TOOLS
4.1. INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY AND
ARCHITECTURE: FROM
CAD TO VIRTUAL REALITY

Here I deal with the bond between

architecture and digital in the most
instrumental sense according to a path
that identifies the meanings and logical
structures underlying digital models. I
then describe how the main CAD tools
have been improved and structured, with
the analysis of certain specific technical
features such as BIM, visual programming
languages, and advanced tools for
interactive visualization such as AR and VR.
I close by reconstructing new possibilities
found within the classification of models
for architecture proposed by Rivka Oxman;

I-Ching diagram owned by Leibniz.

4.2. THE HISTORY OF
THE COMPUTATIONAL
CURVE

This chapter is entirely dedicated to

splines, the branch of representational
methods that left its mark on architectural
production related to the first digital
turn. Here I reconstruct their history
starting from the inception within the
naval industry, describing the various
contributions companies have made in
automotive and aerospace industries, and
the methodological evolution that has
brought NURBS and subdivision surfaces
into architectural firms. A pathway that
can be extended to t-splines, a more
recent method for representing surfaces
that have already been used by several
architectural studies, of which, however,
use is now limited due to legal issues
related to the market of software for
architects and designers;

1. Bezier-de Casteljau.

2. NURBS.

3. Subdivision Surfaces.

4. T-splines.
4.3. THE BUILDING
INFORMATION MODEL

8D
7D Risk

6D Ecological

5D Sustainability
Facility
This chapter discusses the most management
widespread design paradigm in 4D Costs

contemporary architectural design 3D Integration of

time
three
practice by identifying its progress starting
dimensional
from the first building design systems of visualization
the 1970s, up to what the latest definitions
are that large construction companies,
designers, researchers, and IT companies
have put forward. It also discusses the
various logical structures that limit the
production of models, as well as new
predictive possibilities represented by new
proportions that BIM has taken on. These
possibilities do not always correspond to
Collected
actual awareness on the part of architects, Sensors Data Protocols Laws

and in any case, still appear far from

E X T E R N A L S O L I C I TAT I O N S
achieving the completeness and uniformity
that commercial communication IOT on
Digital
buildings Innovation
otherwise praises. Digital model
Twin

New
Metrics

Decisions Previsions
Produced
Data

1. BIM dimensions.

2. Digital twins in Architecture

4.4. THE DIFFUSION
OF SOFTWARE AND
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
IN ARCHITECTURE

Steven Daniel Aurelie de Xavier de Al Harry Arthur Andreas Klok Edoardo Pablo
To obtain a prospectus, as broad and neutral Programmi Totale Chilton Davis Boissieu Kestelier Fisher Ibbs Mamou-Mani Pedersen Tibuzzi Zamorano
as possible, on the actual use of software
and programming languages within the Autodesk
Autocad 3
architectural design process, I propose
Rhinoceros 3D 10
a comparison between overall data
regarding interest in various architectural Sketchup 2
tools collected through the Google Trends
Autodesk
platform, and interviews with architects Maya 1

who have expertise in digital practices. Autodesk

3ds Max 1
This comparison demonstrates clearly
Autodesk
across the board the speed at which Revit 8

different contributing figures were able Bentley

Microstation 1
to adopt advanced tools, now necessary
for the development of new anticipatory Archicad 1
capabilities for projects.
VisualARQ 1

CATIA 1

Grasshopper
3D 10

Dynamo 5

Results of the question “Which are

the most used software within the
architectural design process in your
experience?”.
4.5. ARCHITECTURAL
WORKFLOW AND
INTEROPERABILITY

This subject developed out of and is in

line with the testimonials of the architects
interviewed, which describes the different
approaches that BIM has to usage as well
as the need to use an ever-increasing
collection of tools, which must be able
to establish concrete interoperability
between them. This need is not so
recent, and despite attempts, there are no
solutions fully found in IFC models, which
are, furthermore, not even close to being
capable of understanding the algorithmic
language of the most advanced models. A
condition that has fostered the emergence
of specific software packages created both
by computer giants, as well as by small
groups and even architectural practices,
which propose and develop new open-
source platforms useful for solving the
problem.

1. Speckle.

2. Rhino Inside.
4.6. ARCHITECTURE AND
OPEN-SOURCE TOOLS

The chapter describes the relationship that

our profession has established with open-
source, a definition that unites shared
knowledge software products like Linux.
Perfect examples of what Eric Raymond
calls the bazaar approach, already alive
in the landscape of architectural tools. A
key feature in the success of Grasshopper,
which in the space of a few years has
formed an ecosystem of open-source
tools such as Kangaroo, but also for many
other applications that today represent a
valid alternative to commercial software.
Tools also mentioned by the interviewees,
and which could conquer more and more
space over the years, guaranteeing greater
freedom to the project.

Instanbul’s Bazaar.
5. MACHINE
LEARNING METHODS
AND ARCHITECTURE

5.1 MACHINE LEARNING

5.2 THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN MACHINE
LEARNING AND
ARCHITECTURE

5.3 THE RESEARCH ON

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
AND OPEN ISSUES
5.1. MACHINE
LEARNING

ANALOGIZERS SYMBOLISTS

Here I introduce the topic of machine

learning, a different approach to software
development based on the abundance
of data and new computing power.
Its evolution and differentiation are
reconstructed from its birth in the 1950s
up to today. A contemporaneity that
Domingos distinguishes in five main
approaches, developed over the years
starting from statistics, biology, neurology,
and used today for different purposes.
The topic is then treated in the ethical
implications that it induces on man and
society starting from Floridi’s thought.

BAYESIANS CONNECTIONISTS

EVOLUTIONARIES

The city of Machine Learning, Domingos,

2015.
5.2. THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN MACHINE
LEARNING AND
ARCHITECTURE

In reconstructing the approach of

architects towards the adoption of these
methods within the architectural project,
the first contacts are described already at
the end of the nineties, therefore in the
advent of the first generic solvers adopted
today by a growing number of studies,
and in the most recent applications of
innovative techniques experimented
by researchers. Researches aimed at
the development of an understandable
architectural model for the machine, the
verification of energy reliability, and the
configuration of interior spaces are treated
and discussed. The application of these
techniques is then treated as the soul of
the architectural artefact, a path travelled
by Sidewalk Labs in Toronto, and which
clearly shows the extent of the themes
with which architecture today has to deal
with.

1. Huang e Zheng, 2018.

2. Toronto Quayside project by Sidewalk

Labs.
5.3. THE RESEARCH ON
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
AND OPEN ISSUES

Within this last chapter, I look at professional BIM Other comp. IOT AR VR Machine Digital
methods learning manufacturing
practice, testifying the confidence of
the interviewees in the contribution that Steven Chilton 3 6 2 5 1 7 4

machine learning will bring to architecture

Daniel Davis 7 7 5 4 3 2 1
over the next ten years. A contribution that
is still limited, and achievable according Aurelie de Boissieu 1 2 5 4 3 7 6

to strategies which, in the case of more

Xavier de Kestelier 3 4 6 1 2 7 4
advanced techniques, can be pursued by
a limited number of actors who possess IT Al Fisher 6 7 2 4 1 3 5
skills and familiarity with the data necessary
Harry Ibbs 1 3 2 5 4 7 6
to apply them. Here I emphasize the
different approaches tested within several Arthur
5 6 2 3 1 4 7
Mamou-Mani
practices, reflecting in conclusion on the
possible erosions that these techniques Andreas Klok Pedersen 7 1 2 4 3 6 5

will cause within our profession, and on

Edoardo Tibuzzi 2 7 5 3 3 4 6
the expansion of responsibility that with
them invests our role within society. Pablo Zamorano 3 7 4 5 6 6 5

Total 38 50 35 38 27 53 49

Results of the question “Order the

following techniques based on the
usefulness they will have in architecture
over the next ten years”.
6. RESEARCH
RELEVANCE

The research is aimed at reconstructing a

panorama that is as neutral and concrete as
possible on contemporary architectural design,
who over the next few years, and already
now, has to confront himself, not only with
an increase in design complexity proportional
to the skills supported by new tools, but also,
and above all, with the different structures that
these means and methods impose both on the
project and architecture as a discipline.

Conditions that increase the possibilities of

technocratic drifts already evident in the rise
of new machine learning methods, which
promise an erosion of our work according to
the directions indicated by the technics. This
imposes new awareness and responsibilities
for architects, who can steer the project
towards an increasingly inclusive results, but
at the same time risk falling into prescriptive
approaches, which risk fossilizing the project. A
particularly strong risk in the massive diffusion
of BIM, a design paradigm of great advantages,
which favours the assimilation of architectural
design to the technical apparatus and an
orientation increasingly directed towards
delivery and economic efficiency. To this, must
be added the presence of new players who
6. RESEARCH
RELEVANCE

contribute with increasing importance to the

definition of projects and the global panorama
of architecture, such as software development
companies: producers of the tools we use as
consumers. No less important is the different
structuring of firms as digitally distributed
companies, and the heavy and dangerous
influence that digital communication imposes
on architecture, flattening it to fashion.

Factors little or no dealt within the scientific

literature, wherein talking about digital
possibilities one often chases enthusiastic
opinions on the effectiveness of methods, and
do not critically address the state of health
of architectural design, without developing
an effective comparison between processes,
metrics, and projects, that greedily absorb
models from other disciplines, causing drifts
that risk marking younger designers with
greater heaviness.
7. TUTORS

Giovanni Francesco Tuzzolino

Full Professor, Department of Architecture,
University of Palermo, Italy

Architect, Full Professor of Architecture and

Urban Composition at the University of Palermo,
he taught at several foreign universities as al-Al
Bayth University Jordan, Drexel University USA,
ENSA Paris France. Author of numerous essays Giovanni Francesco Tuzzolino Cammarata reservoirs, Tuzzolino+Margagliotta,
and books, founder of Tuzzolino-Margagliotta
Associates, architectural which carried out
international projects and won prizes and
awards.

Fulvio Wirz
Senior Lecturer, University of East London,
London, United Kingdom

Architect and senior lecturer at the University

of East London where he is also Head of dFUEL
(digital fabrication UEL). He holds a PhD in
digital design and long experience in the field
as an associate at Zaha Hadid Architects where
he led multiple international projects. Since
the 2020 he is the director of Wirz Architects,
Fulvio Wirz at University of East London Liquid Glacial table, Zaha Hadid architects.
based in London and Naples.
GIUSEPPE GALLO

Designer and researcher, MArch-

Eng at University of Palermo , Phd In
Architecture, Former visiting academic
at the University of East London. Most
of my Professional experiences are
linked to Mirabilia, communication
agency founded in 2007 in Palermo,
where as creative director I deal with
communication design clients of
different scale. Together with Mirabilia
I have won several awards as Firefox
Flicks, International design Award .
My works have been published by
Taschen, DesignBoom, Archdaily,
World Architecture Community,
Archilovers, and others. I am the
main editor of Archinerds, a curated
social media gallery that deals with
the relationship between image and
architecture.

www. gi u se p p e g a l l o . d e s i g n

O rc i d Fa c e b ook
Res e a r ch G at e In sta g ra m
Academia Twitte r
Photo Marita Madio
Li nke d i n Un sp l a sh
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