The NEXT 150: The Future of Design Technology
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The NEXT 150: The Future of Design Technology
Jeanne S. Mam-Luft, Assoc. AIA, M.F.A.
Jeanne Mam-Luft has always embraced technology with every aspect of her modern being and is a true addict of gadgetry. But, when she re-entered architecture after three years in a dance program, she felt as if she had just crawled out from under a rock where words like “BIM” weren’t used. While this experience...
Technology: Love it or hate it? Tell Forward!
Take this simple, quick and easy survey and tell us what you think about technology in the architecture workplace.
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What are your thoughts, reactions, and criticisms to the views represented in this quarter’s Forward? Send us your thoughts on the future of green by emailing us at nac@aia.org. Your comments may be published on our next issue of Forward in January, 2009.
Results of July’s Poll: Kermit the Frog or Otherwise, It’s Not Easy Being Green
Half of our 121 respondents said that they are doing a good job of being green, while over 60% of them also believe that most people who claim to be green are trying hard, but ineffective.
The Jason Pettigrew ARE® Scholarship
The American Institute of Architects celebrates outstanding dedication to the profession of architecture through the Institute Awards program. The National Associates Committee (NAC) offers a scholarship to recognize Associate members for their accomplishments. It is with great excitement that we offer the Jason Pettigrew ARE® Scholarship.
Did you know that earning AIA/CES credit helps fulfill IDP requirements?
To find out how, visit the IDP Frequently Asked Question page
NEW: Sustainable Design Becomes a Mandatory Continuing Education Requirement for AIA Membership
To demonstrate our commitment to sustainable design, the AIA Board of Directors modified the AIA member continuing education requirement to include 4 hours of education in sustainable design as part of the existing 18 hour annual requirement. This sustainable design requirement goes into effect in calendar year 2009 and extends through 2012.
Sustainability has been a focus of architectural practice for more than 30 years, and the AIA has provided resources and tools to help its members better serve their clients and communities through environmentally responsible projects. The issue of climate change and the impact of buildings on carbon emissions created a new expectation among clients and the public to look to the expertise of architects for solutions that can help them leave a greener footprint. Social, political, and economic factors are all driving the market toward mainstreaming sustainability, and AIA architects who educate themselves in sustainable design will have an advantage, and again, have the privilege of providing ever greater service to clients and community.
Send questions to SDCE@aia.org
Practice Opportunities in the Age of Digital Design Technology
Philip G. Bernstein, FAIA, RIBA, LEED AP
We are proud and delighted to bring you an excellent piece that reminds us of theories underlying much of our modern day-to-day architectural practices. As more of our Associate members are enshrouded with the exercises of documenting buildings through three-dimensional models, this article gives insight as to how these tasks are born of truly revolutionary ideas. Philip G. Bernstein, FAIA, RIBA, LEED AP discusses human interaction with technology when it comes to design. In reference to MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte’s theories found in his book The Architecture Machine, Bernstein considers the ideology behind integrated design and focuses on how it is entering into a new paradigm that has evolved beyond the imitation of antiquated hand-drafting and orthogonal representation.
One of the National Associates Committee’s Regional Associate Directors, Curt Hoffmann, and his co-worker, Jason M. Raiten, sound off on their cases against and for the ubiquitous use of technology in the design workplace.
A Technologically-Rich Profession
Jason M. Raiten, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP
Jason M. Raiten contends that the use of building information modeling (BIM), and other office technologies, have changed the face of day-to-day architectural practice forever. With BIM, Raiten asserts that better designs may be accomplished, achieving in cost savings, along with sustainable solutions.
It’s Time to Defrag and Parse the Wetware.
Curt Hoffmann, Assoc. AIA, CDT
In a counter-argument to his co-worker Jason M. Raiten, Curt Hoffmann offers that the architecture workplace has run amuck with design software, and has thus, limited designers and stolen some of the beauty that was formerly possible with the tactile act of physically drawing. Hoffmann argues that while it may not be advisable or wise to completely rid ourselves of technological conveniences, we should remember that simplicity is often a better solution…
It’s the Simple Stuff that
Matters: Design Technology in the
Future
John Bacus, Product Manager, Google SketchUp
Bacus, who also holds an M.Arch from Rice University and a
B.Arch from Cooper Union, shares his thoughts on the future of
design technology in architecture, focusing on the “simple
stuff.” He starts out with highlighting the simplicity,
elegance, and exactitude of pencil drafting: “I learned in
this class…that a pencil is a pretty powerful piece
of design technology. And combined with advanced techniques like
descriptive geometry, there are not many forms that can’t be
precisely described with one.” And, Mr. Bacus describes the
free SketchUp experience as democracy: “This is the
democratization of design, happening right now, right under our
noses.”
Sesame Street architecture:
Cooperation = BIM + IPD
Joanna Beres, Assoc. AIA
Joanna Beres shares her thoughts about how Associate Members of
the AIA can foster the advancement of integrated project delivery
(IPD) through effective and progressive use of building information
modeling. She points out, using an analogy of a Sesame Street
collaboration, that as the future leaders of our practice, young
designers today are best poised (as deeply engaged in the inner
workings of BIM) to bring integrated project delivery to
fruition.
Zoom out: Seeing the big picture
Murali Paranandi, Professor at Miami University (Ohio)
Murandi Paranandi writes from the perspective a theory-based professor who, as he says, is best suited to teach the “know-why” to his students of architecture and interior design at Miami University in Ohio. In this excellent essay, Paranandi shares with us the theoretical basis for teaching technology in the training of a future architect, while revisiting how we got to where we are when it comes to design technology.
| October 23, 2008
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