If...Then: Architectural Speculations

Fernando Romero, The Architectural League of New York

Princeton Architectural Press, Apr 7, 2005 - Architecture - 175 pages

Stan Allen Architect; Dean of the School of Architecture, Princeton University The title of this year’s Young Architects competition derives from the language of the computer program. “If. . . then” is the contingent phrase built into the architecture of programming. With its origins in mathematical reasoning, it is the logical gate that indicates distinct pathways through the intricate structure of the computer algorithm. As such, it signals that architecture is entering a new phase in its complex relationship to digital technology. The definitive history of architecture’s relationship to the computer has yet to be written, but it would necessarily start with technology transferred from the military and engineering disciplines in the immediate postwar period. In recent decades, as the computer’s impact has shifted from the purely te- nical, it is possible to discern three distinct phases in architecture’s ongoing efforts to come to terms with what is still an evolving technology. In the first stage, under the influence of cyberpunk and deconstruction, the engagement with digital technology was primarily metaphorical. As access to the Internet expanded in the 1980s, many architects were fascinated by the potential of networked interconnectivity and fluid personal identity promised by this em- gent technology. The problem was that in reality available computer techno- gies were slow and expensive.

Contents

• Acknowledgments: 7
• Fernando Romero LCM: 20
• Tom Wiscombe EMERGENT: 46
• Anthony Piermarini and Hansy Better Barraza Studio Luz: 72
• Keith Mitnick Mireille Roddier Stewart Hicks Mitnick Roddier Hicks: 98
• Gail Peter Borden Borden Partnership: 124
• Tobias Lundquist Miloby Ideasystem: 150

Bibliographic information

• Title: If...Then: Architectural Speculations; Volume 6 of Young Architects
• Authors: Fernando Romero, The Architectural League of New York
• Editors: Princeton Architectural Press, The Architectural League of New York
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press, 2005
• ISBN: 1568985126, 9781568985121
• Length: 175 pages
• Subjects: Architecture / General; Architecture / History / General; Architecture / Individual Architects & Firms / General; Architecture / Regional