Oral Presentation , Page 81-100 (20) Full Text (1.4 MB)

Volume Title: Digital Technology in Architecture and Arts - Era Challenges

DOI: 10.21608/dtaa21.2022.1719

Moshira Karmouse

Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University

The notion tectonic, from the Greek tekton which signifies builder or carpenter, was used since the 19th century by construction theorists to indicate the relationship between building techniques and design aspects. In contrast, the concept of Atectonic is considered the negation of the authentic tectonic philosophy where main construction technologies and materials have less effect on the observers’ understanding of architecture.
In the information age, major shifts took place in the architecture design and construction field. These shifts affected all stages of design and construction process. The use of CAD/CAM technologies resulted in dramatic transformation in both form generation, construction planning, material use and construction techniques. These changes led to a rethinking of tectonic/Atectonic understanding of representational and enological aspects of forms. Many recent research work has focused on discovering and defining a new relationship between the original theory of tectonic/Atectonic and the contemporary digital architecture where concepts like generative forms, design algorithms, material computation may have led to the tectonic or Atectonic nature of architecture expression.
In this paper, the terms tectonics and Atectonic will first be defined according to different architectural theories by analyzing the work of theorists who founded the original tectonic theory. Then, these defined terms will be discussed in relation to digital architecture. As the notion “digital architecture” may refer to many aspects of design and construction processes that are affected by the ongoing and swift development of informational and digital technologies, this research is focusing on the morphological expressions of digital architecture. Digital architecture morphology will be examined to terms of tectonic/Atectonic theory on both representational and ontological levels through analyzing selected examples of digital architecture. Through this discussion an evaluation to the nature of digital architecture relationship to tectonic or Atectonic aspects is reached and the new kind of tectonics - digital tectonics expressions is articulated.

Tectonic, Atectonic; Digital Architecture; Digital Design; Architecture Morphology. Architecture Expression

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