Final week workshop on ai | CYBERNETICS

THE READINGS 7

BIM

With the shocking article title BIM's Seven Deadly Sins, Dominik Holzer runs through the numerous "prevailing problems that have emerged in the uptake of BIM in design practice" (Holzer. 2011. pg. 464). These seven sins are:

• Technocentricity
• Holzer explains how the use of BIM is a different process to using CAD, where CAD replicates an already produced design and produces faster, more accurate digital versions of drawings; BIM involves the conception of designs from the beginning and changing the workflow, which provokes change within workplaces. Holzer explains how this change can create a better or worse environment on individuals, depending on how literate they are with the technology. This case is backed up with the 'Law of Disruption' which displays how technology undergoes the most drastic of changes over time.
• Ambiguity
• Discussed under the "sin" of ambiguity is the lack of "specific definitions of distinct BIM services as they are emerging in practice". Providing a diagram, Holzer explains how BIM has an "overarching capacity to inform the way we conceive, construct, and manage buildings" which can lead to a misunderstanding that BIM is associated "with everything interesting one could achieve in architecture with the help of computational design", generalising computer process involved with building design.
• Elision
• The Effort/Effect over time graph, popularly used to promote the positive of BIM is analysed by Holzer, claiming that that there is misrepresentation because of thelack of scrutiny of content that the graph presents, calling it "overly simplistic" and with missing information, also criticising whether the graph is based of quantitative data or informal observation.
• Hypocrisy
• The hypocrisy of BIM occurs during the collaboration process. Criticism of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) that BIM offers, where in theory, functions well, but "hits substantial roadblocks in practice". Organisation within the team is essential and needs to be prioritised over immediate interests of their own.
• Delusion
• Delusion occurs when clients ask for certain deliverables that contradict each other or are misleading. The example used is when clients ask only for 2D documents but also request BIM to be implemented for coordination of information, meaning they are really asking for more than 2D documents without realising. 3D models also make it difficult to communicate to builders who still use the traditional 2D drawings for construction drawings.
• Diffidence
• The initial implementation of BIM into an established business will cause disruption in multiple ways. The initial costs upfront can potentially be a deterrent due to the software licences and required computer hardware to run BIM. Staffing can be an issue when implementing the new practices as there is a need for staff training and hiring of new staff. 
• Monodisciplinarity
• brb

Reading:

Holzer, D. (2011). "BIM's Seven Deadly Sins." International Journal of Architectural Computing 9(4): 463-480.

THE READINGS 1 2 + SKETCHES

WEEK 1
Upon looking through Architecture in the digital age : design and manufacturing, The relationship between architecture and construction is explored, Specifically speaking, under the section: Information Master Builders written by Branko Kolarevic. The relationship between architecture and construction has gone through an interesting evolution. Architects today are known for handling the design and drawings of buildings and normally don't involve themselves with construction, in fact, The American Institutes of Architects (AIA) state that "The architect will not have control over or charge of and will not be responsible for construction means, methods, techniques, sequences, or procedures.". This disassociation was believed to be a result of architects developing ways to communicate designs to builders without their presence, i.e. the development of perspective and orthographic drawings during the renaissance period. It is interesting to note that architects and builders were completely synonymous not long before this. The disassociation is also a topic that is brought up in Architectural models: material, intellectual, spiritual by Bradley Starkey, where he discusses Robin Evans' views on how architects do not work directly with the object they're designing, like a painter or sculptor, but work towards it. Architecture soon started to regain the involvement in fabrication through digital terms, mirroring what is being done in the shipbuilding industry where the designer and builder are one legal entity, no design externalisation is necessary. An interesting point is brought up when it is mentioned that drawings are completely eliminated in shipyards and boatyards as a three dimensional model is used instead through the stages of design and construction. The power that architects can now wield with digital processes is discussed in the section Design Worlds and Fabrication Machines by William j. Mitchell. Mitchell begins with how a generic office building can be defined by a simple algorithm that is repeated, essentially providing it little information and getting a lot more in return. With the great processing power that is available in this digital age, comes with great design freedom but at the cost of an increased amount of parameters to deal with and a potentially reduced efficiency.

readings:

Kolarevic, B. (2003). Information Master Builders. Architecture in the digital age : design and manufacturing. B. Kolarevic. New York, NY, Spon Press: 55-62.

Mitchell, W. (2003). Design Worlds and Fabrication Machines. Architecture in the digital age : design and manufacturing. B. Kolarevic. New York, NY, Spon Press: 73-80.

Starkey, B. (2005). "Architectural models: material, intellectual, spiritual." Arq : Architectural Research Quarterly 9(3-4): 265-272.

SKETCHES


WEEK 2

Fabian Scheurer's Materialising complexity is introduced with a question as to the origins of designtoproduction. Scheurer explains the problems that were encountered when Splines and Non-uniform Rational B-Spline Surfaces (NURBS) were introduced to the CAD programs designers used around the 1950s. This produced "blobby" designs that designers liked but were "expensive!" and/or "difficult!" due to the lack of identical and repeating orthogonal elements these designs required. This caused architects such as Arnold Walz, who were "Lazy but smart architects", to create drawing algorithms rather than numerous drawings of slight variance by hand or mouse. These algorithms used defining inputs to produce drawings or 3d models. This is now known as parametric modelling.  Although this condensed the amount of drawings that were needed, it caused problems such as knowing to program in the first place, and having to create a common algorithm that solved all of the problems that was difficult to solve one initially. These challenges prompted by parametric modelling are outweighed by the benefits it provides. Scheurer than explains how parametric modelling would be useless with digital fabrication tools that enable the production of many variations of components at a price close to mass production of a single component. This concept of algorithms, or codes/rules to solve design problems, can be seen in nature. Discussed in Kevin Klinger's Relations: Information exchange in designing and making architecture, "The ancient Greeks translated codified geometry into fundamental principles that could be applied as universal solutions for design strategies", with the most obvious example of this being the golden ration, which is found abundantly throughout nature.

The connection of designing and fabrication that designtoproduction offers is also discussed through Branko kolarevic's Information master builders. The ability of working directly from 3d CAD models because of CNC fabrication methods have enabled designers to do more than just drawings. This method no longer relies on manufacturing and designing having to be externalised, unifying the two processes.

readings:

Scheurer, F. (2014). Materialising Complexity. Theories of the digital in architecture. R. Oxman and R. Oxman: 287-291.

Klinger, K. (2008). Relations: Information Exchange in Designing and Making Architecture. Manufacturing material effects : rethinking design and making in architecture. B. Kolarevic and K. R. Klinger. New York, Routledge: 26-36.

Kolarevic, B. (2003). Information Master Builders. Architecture in the digital age : design and manufacturing. B. Kolarevic. New York, NY, Spon Press: 55-62.