The Turning Point in Architectural Design: A Historical Scenario for the Future

Over one hundred years ago, Adolf Loos had already complained: “The architect has caused architecture to sink to a graphic art.” He was pointing to a problem that had gone unnoticed for centuries. But today, in the age of digitalization, the separation between design and building practice that Loos had lamented is expanding immeasurably. Nowadays, CAD enables architects to design forms that they could neither imagine nor draw before. But where form becomes more important than function, context, and construction, architecture becomes arbitrary. Technology by itself will not bring about a turning point in building. It must be preceded by a turnabout in architectural design that can introduce further potentials of digitalization in a future-oriented way. By looking at the history of building, this richly illustrated volume opens up a scenario for the future that is needed ever more urgently in view of the global challenges we face in dealing with resources and energy.