Ankit Surti

The rise of Digital Architecture is often framed as a paradigm shift and a style that is
evolving around the modern world of today through the use of various computational
techniques and processes. This particular essay argues that digital architecture is a new
movement towards a paradigm shift and a new style has emerged through the techniques
of digital architecture. The essay also, focuses on how the new digital architecture paradigm
began from its relevance to the past and the present and explores the work of Zaha Hadid
Architects, in implementing the new style of digital architecture and how it has helped the
firm in its architectural discourse and the philosophical ideas it implements on the
production of its projects.

Digital Architecture?

Digital architecture refers to the computationally based processes of form origination and
transformations.1 The use of computational techniques such as algorithms allows for form
generation and the development of a design. The process involving digital architecture is
mainly explored to generate forms and surfaces and includes the process of form finding
through generative design. Algorithms are developed through various concepts and one
particular concept that architects are exploring is through the realm of biological sciences
and is defined as 'morphogenesis'. The term refers to the logic of form generation and
pattern-making in an organism through processes of growth and differentiation.2 Digital
morphogenesis has become an element of exploration and using its concepts and
fundamentals into architectural form finding through developing generative algorithms.
Other scientific references include cellular automata, L-systems and parametrics. They all
define the generative processes of digital architecture that has now emerged into a new
style.

Computers are regarded as vital a tools in communicating drawings and presentations

through the implementation of computer aided design (CAD). Every architect and
architectural firms now use CAD to present their ideas. These are known as passive design
tools that assist in developing architectural drawings and collaboration. Passive tools do not
impose a threat onto the architectural processes and can be easily relegated to a technician.

1
Kolarevic, Branko. "Digital Architectures".
2
Leach, Neil. "Digital Morphogenesis." p. 34

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 Ankit Surti

On the other hand, active tools such as generative systems have the potential to add great
value to the design process itself.3 Active tools include the use of algorithms, codes and
scripts for form-making processes. This particular essay focuses on the use of active tools
that frame digital architecture as a paradigm shift and a new emerging style.

The Information Age, like the Industrial Age before it, is not only challenging what we are
designing but also how we design.4 The process of how an architect generates a design is
being replaced by computational processes that is becoming an experimental investigation
as Peter Zellner argues, "Architecture is recasting itself, becoming in part an experimental
investigation of topological geometries, partly a computational orchestration of robotic
material production and partly a generative, kinematic sculpting of space.”5 The emergence
of generative tools has created new methods of forms and spatial organisation of various
topological geometries and curvilinearity. The rapid change in technology has shifted the
way architects think and has produced a new basis of exploration through computational
devices which have generated a new style and a paradigm.

The architectural realm constantly changes as technology shifts. Technology plays an

important role in architecture as it provides various means of communication, basis of
experimentation and the testing of ideas that eventually is buildable. The relationship
between the immaterial and the material becomes essential in the process of architecture
and the use of computational generative design, has developed a new realm in architecture
that has emerged as a new paradigm. Neil Leach states, "The seemingly paradoxical use of
the immaterial domain of the computer to understand the material properties of
architecture has spawned a new term in architecture: ‘digital tectonics’."6 The old
relationship between the tectonics of the material world and the immaterial world of the
digital has dissipated and instead we have the new tectonics of the digital. No longer is the
architect the demiurgic form-maker of the past. The architect has been recast as the
controller of processes, who oversees the ‘formation’ of architecture.7 With the emergence
of the new paradigm, the architecture is emphasised on material performance over

3
Frazer, John. "Towards the Post Digital Era".
4
Kolarevic, Branko. "Digital Architectures".
5
Ibid
6
Leach, Neil. "Digital Morphogenesis." p. 35
7
Leach, Neil, et al. Digital Tectonics p.75

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 Ankit Surti

appearance, and on process over representation.8 The architecture can be seen as the
controllers of process that generate form or a surface.

Patrick Schumacher, an architect and theorist argues parametricism is the great new style
after modernism.9 Parametricism is one of the underlying computational concept of digital
architecture. Schumacher states, "It has become evident that the next wave of innovations
and refinements can only be achieved via scripted parametric systems. That is, by
specifically programming design tools to deal with a number of design parameters to create
a design that is sensitive to formal, functional and environmental parameters."10 The new
paradigm of parametricism evolves in a generative process that is influenced by
environmental factors to develop a design that is functional and inhabitable. Digital
architecture implies a fundamental ontological shift within the basic elements of
architecture. Instead of the classical and modern geometrical figures such as; straight lines,
rectangles and cubes, the new primitives of digital architecture are animate (dynamic,
adaptive, interactive) geometrical entities such as splines and nurbs.11 The new attracting
geometrical figures of digital architecture has developed the basis of experimentation
amongst architects which has lead to the emergence of a paradigm shift towards the digital
era.

The new shift in architecture towards the digital is also, being called as the 'new
materialism' particularly by Manuel de Landa.12 The theoretical methodologies of digital
architecture is the new material that has emerged from other philosophical methodologies
and architectural discourse. New processes are created through historical references and a
shift from transitions such as post-modernism and deconstructivism but at the same time
using similar elements to create a new style in architecture. Digital architecture is able to
"recuperate and enhance the deconstructivist moves within a new capacity to create
diversity within a complex order."13

8
Leach, Neil. "Digital Morphogenesis." p. 34
9
Schumacher, Patrik. "The Parametricist Epoch: Let the Style Wars Begin"
10
Xu, Feng. "Interview: Patrik Schumacher"
11
Schumacher, Patrik. "The Parametricist Epoch: Let the Style Wars Begin"
12
Leach, Neil. "Digital Morphogenesis." p. 37
13
Schumacher, Patrik. "The Parametricist Epoch: Let the Style Wars Begin"

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The Evolution of Digital Architecture

The concepts of digital architecture were explored a long time ago however, the technology
was not available to implement the ideas that were formed. Jeffrey Kipnis states, "that the
supposed New Architecture is actually not new at all and that it was explored in more depth
and authenticity in Europe sometime ago."14 However, the use of generative software
packages to propagate and design a building is a new artefact. The philosophical ideas of
digital architecture have emerged from the philosophy of Giles Deleuze. His ideas and
concepts have helped shape the new paradigm and frame 'new materialism'.

The emergence of digital architecture evolved when architects such as Peter Eisenman and
Gregg Lynn started to explore folding in architecture which drew philosophical substance
from the work of Deleuze. The attention was shifted from post-structural semiotics to a
consideration of developments in geometry, science and the transformations of political
space. A shift that is often marked as a move from Derridian towards a Deluezian
discourse.15 In Leibniz in Le Pli, Deleuze stages his mediation on the fold and interpretation
of the space of Baroque architecture, thus it might be assumed that Baroque architecture
stands as a paradigm of the architectural effects of the fold.16

Folding in architecture became a reaction against deconstruction that arose in the early
1990s. Lynn started to explore curvilinearity, pliancy, gentle blending and of course folding
that became an experimentation of geometric forms. The folding trend soon followed using
the computer and was announcing the formal investigation of digital architecture.17 From
the mid 1990s on, the computer became an essential tool in the exploration of folding and
curvilinearity. The spread of the computer has now, allowed architects to dramatically
expand the range of their formal vocabulary. What is new is not only the variety of
geometrical shapes available, but also the possibility to define them rigorously using
generative rules.18

14
Meeuwen, Rene. "Blobitecture, Lost in the Labrynth"
15
Kipnis, Jeffrey. "Towards a New Architecture."
16
Ibid pp. 106
17
Picon, Antoine p. 64
18
Ibid pp. 70

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Today's architects can design their own software, implementing advanced computational
methods, and create data visualisations that make complex information more accessible.19
The enormous calculating power of computers make it easier to develop a design through
computational techniques that respond to its environment and the external forces affecting
the parameters of a design. New and innovative designs can be produced that achieve
structural and environmental performances that were once considered to be post-design
optimisation processes.20 Digital architecture is the new evolution of an architectural style
that uses various parameters in controlling the generation of forms and is not a process that
randomly generates forms. Certain protocols and ways of thinking are applied to create
variations of forms.

The Process

Digital architecture is all about process rather than representation. The emphasise on
performance through the controllers of processes that generate structural formations. The
design seeks to challenge the control of top-down process of form making, and replace it
with a bottom-up logic of form finding.21 The normative process becomes the form making
and digital computational techniques become the generative tool of form finding. Digital
architecture have three states of action: input of a data set, the manipulation and analysis
of the data set and the output of the dataset.22 Digital architecture as a style requires the
three phase process for it to be truly about digital process.

The basic structure of design tasks within the computational process includes:

 Definition of the problem field

 Determination of criteria of selection
 Definition and modification of rules for form generation
 Development of n models
 Evaluation by designer/user evaluation (back to task 2).

These tasks create an iterative, recursive process beginning with the establishment of
parameters or rules, which are then used to generate models, followed by an evaluation

19
Tierney, Therese p. 99
20
Bessa, Maria p. 123
21
Leach, Neil. "Digital Morphogenesis." p. 34
22
Meeuwen, Rene. "Blobitecture, Lost in the Labrynth"

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 Ankit Surti

stage providing feedback, which is then further used to refine the parameters.23 Through
feedback, the design evolves. The computational process affords a dynamic, interactive, and
responsive process between the designer and the program. The designer's intention in
digital architecture is to increase the occurrences of n models in order to develop many
more possible variations and versions to create additional choices. The models can then be
evaluated, manipulated or modified to develop its functionality.

The use of computational techniques is merely a generative tool that frames a new style in
architecture. "Computers have no intelligence but enormous calculating power. Humans
have enormous intelligence but limited calculating power."24 As a result, the computer is
used as a tool in developing conceptual ideas that are initially thought by the designer.
Architectural concepts are expressed as generative rules creating the DNA of a design. The
relationship between the designer and the computer creates a new way of thinking about
architecture which has resulted into a paradigm shift.

The role of an architect has not changed significantly as Leach states, "It is not that the
architect here is any less imaginative, rather, the architectural imagination has been
displaced into a different arena - into the imaginative use of various processes."25 The
architect is still the decision maker and has full control on the computational processes that
needs to be applied. The parameters are applied by the architect in the form making
process. The role is accomplished through the architect's simultaneous interpretation and
manipulation of computational tools that decide the outcome of the final product.

Digital computational processes can benefit the design process as various construction tasks
can easily be developed simultaneously. "What we encounter with such programs is the
potential to view the whole design operation as a process. What applies to structure could
equally well apply to other aspects of the building process - to acoustic or environmental
concerns, to constructional or programmatic issues."26 The computer is being not used as a
tool of representation, but as a generative mechanism that becomes a part of the design
process. Generating new forms while also having instantaneous feedback on their

23
Tierney, Therese p. 107
24
Leach, Neil, et al. Digital Tectonics p. 75
25
Leach, Neil. "Digital Morphogenesis." p.35
26
Leach, Neil, et al. Digital Tectonics p. 75

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 Ankit Surti

performance from different perspectives such as space usage, lighting and fabrication
guides the forms that reflect on the architectural functionality rather than contradict real
design constraints.27

An important aspect of the design process that digital architecture lacks is the way bodies
react with the building. The phenomenological conditions of architecture is overlooked as
architectural form has become so intensive through the realm of digital architecture. Juhani
Pallasmaa argues that form has become more important than the human experience and
that the design of a building is influenced by the form that it generates rather than how a
building is experienced. He states, ""We make the mistake of thinking of, and assessing, a
building as a formal composition, no longer understanding that it is a metaphor, let alone
experiencing the other reality that lies behind the metaphor."28 Pallasmaa also, talks about
the emotions connected to human experiences and how those emotions should be
considered in the design process. Emotions are linked to phenomenological conditions and
the human experience of inhabitation. Working with the emotions develops architecture as
Pallasmaa states, "...emotions form the genuine "basic vocabulary" of architecture and it is by
working through them that work becomes architecture and not, for instance, a large-scale
sculpture or scenography."29 The emotions act as the language of the body which architecture
has to respond to and the digital realm seems to be missing this particular aspect.

The role of the computer has changed the way architects design and has an impact on the
thinking of phenomenology. Martin Heidegger opposed modern developments of technology
by blaming technology for the hastening of everyday life in the service of yield. 30 Pallasmaa
also, expresses his concern, considering the role of the computer in the design process.
Computer imaging tends to flatten our magnificent, multi sensory, simultaneous and
synchronic capacities of imagination by turning the design process into a passive visual
manipulation, a retinal journey.31 Human experience is essential and digital architecture
does not implement this into its design processes and computational techniques.

27
Ibid pp.89
28
Pallasmaa, Juhani. "The geometry of Feeling the Phenomenology of Architecture." p. 243
29
Ibid pp. 245
30
Grünkranz, Daniel
31
Pallasmaa, Juhani. "The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses". p.12

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 Ankit Surti

Zaha Hadid Architects

An architectural firm that has started to implement digital architecture is Zaha Hadid Architects
(ZHA). ZHA focuses on parametric design and explores the notion of parametricism. The work
of ZHA has changed over the years as emergence of a new style influences its basis of
exploration. The new paradigm has brought a new style to its conceptual thinking and
architectural discourse.

Over the years, Hadid's way of thinking has changed as her practice has changed, from that of
an radical visionary to an architect designing large-scale projects that are now being built in
various parts of the world.32 Hadid started by using drawing to an unusual degree as a means
of communicating her architectural ideas. Her compositions were very unique and complicated
to understand with various systems of projections in order to formulate the spatial
relationships and the visionary thoughts she had (Fig.1). Hadid's thinking started to change as
she realized if she wanted to build, her designs would have to work within property lines and
other limitations - material and conceptual imposed by clients.33 Thus, a change in style started
to evolve. The development of computer in architectural design and construction became a
huge factor in Hadid's philosophy.

The emergence of parametricism has influenced ZHA in exploring movement and fluidity in
architecture. It enables the geometric complexity manageable. The use of scripted parametric
systems allows to create a design that is restricted to formal, functional and environmental
constraints. For instance, the use of parametricism in the Innsbruck train stations demonstrate
the fluidity and the conditions achieved by ZHA (Fig. 2). "No other style could have achieved
this coincidence of adaptive variation to the different site conditions with genotypical
coherence across those phenotypical variants."34 Parametricism is able to create diversity
and animate the form or the surface.

The development of digital architecture certainly, has done nothing to diminish the intensity of
ZHA's architecture, though it has changed it as a visual presence and a philosophical

32
Woods, Lebbeus p. 30
33
Ibid pp.33
34
Schumacher, Patrik. "The Parametricist Epoch: Let the Style Wars Begin"

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 Ankit Surti

proposition.35 The new style has coincided with the dramatic shift in ZHA's design and clearly
has gave it movement. Parametricism is argued as the great new style by ZHA and its basis of
exploration has lead to the progression of a research group called the ZHA Computational
Design Research Group. The research group develops scripted parametric systems that relate
to the firms architectural discourse and considers environmental factors.

Fig.1: Drawing of Vitra Fire Station Fig 2: Innsbruck train stations

Fig 2: Innsbruck train stations

35
Woods, Lebbeus p. 34

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 Ankit Surti

Conclusion

Digital architecture is the new movement towards a paradigm shift and a new style has
emerged through the techniques of generative computational design. Digital architecture is
process based and its emphasis is on material performance rather than representation. The
computational techniques such as algorithms are used as a tool in assisting architects in the
generative process. The architect is still the decision maker and develops the parameters of
input data. The design involves a top-down process of form making and a bottom-up logic of
form finding. The shift in technology has had a huge influence in architectural design and
this shift can particularly be seen, as architecture moves into the digital era. An important
element of design process the digital lacks is phenomenology. The human experience of
space and architecture is lost as the emphasis is more on form.

Parametricism is implemented by ZHA and argue that it is the great new style after
modernism. Digital architecture has shifted its architectural processes into computational
parametrics. The new style is being explored and tested through built projects which reveal
the digital expressions and processes.

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 Ankit Surti

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