Digital Processes

The potential of digital media for architecture

New planning software and fabrication technologies offer new design options

Today a computer is nearly as much a part of a household as a refrigerator. With its rapid development in recent decades, computer technology has changed the daily life of every individual far more than even utopian thinkers would ever have dared dream. It is thus not surprising that architecture – starting with the drafting stage and continuing through to fabrication – is also subject to ever more digital influences. The spectrum ranges from classic computer programs for drafting and presentation using media-supported drafting processes to computer-controlled fabrication processes, not to mention industrialised bricklaying “robots”. From surveying to planning to fabrication, architecture is created today using a tightly coordinated digital process chain.

What influence do digital drafting and fabrication methods have on current architecture?
To what extent do the new tools change architecture and its development process?
What is the potential of digital media for architecture?
What options for use and application are available to every office?
What advantages do electronic work procedures offer?

DETAIL Practice Digital Processes provides answers to these and many other questions relating to the digital drafting and construction process.

• Media-supported drafting processes
• Computer-aided fabrication processes
• New options in model building
• Exemplary digital process chains