Digital redux: the confluence of technologies and politics in architecture

摘要

Much has been written on the impact of digital technology and its translation into architectural practice and education. This article reconsiders this process of integration to question current trends in research and pedagogy. Recent efforts to expand architectural research in schools tend to focus on broadening its spectrum while reinforcing design as research. We argue that the relevance of digital technology to these discussions, and its role in expanding fields of research, depends on different cultures of investigation and their differing institutional contexts. Our interest is in cultures that, as lines of thought, broaden the field of architectural research and make it heterodox, thickening a line of research with multiple interpretations. Tracing early experiences in the 'paperless' studios of Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), this article questions how architectural pedagogies are developing in response to the current normalisation of digital design, with a focus on the Architecture Association's Design Research Lab and the Strelka Institute in Moscow.