TY - BOOK
T1 - Making Architecture Become
T2 - A performative approach to engaged encounters between inhabitants, architecture and technology
AU - Bolbroe, Cameline
N1 - The pdf is a temporary version.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The advancement of digital technologies has led to significant changes inarchitectural design since the 1960s. Not only concerning the developmentof new digital design tools but also in relation to new features andproperties of the built environment. Today, the opportunity to embedcomputational technologies directly into the fabric of buildings allowthe design of architecture that changes, responds and adapts to changingpatterns of inhabitation. Designing for such conditions challengestraditional architectural design approaches and emphasise the need for anapproach, which positions the active and engaged inhabitant as centralto architectural design processes. However, the majority of projectsand research focusing on the integration of embedded computational technologies into architecture, primarily consider the human being, as aninhabitant, based on a static architectural paradigm. This thesis, positionedwithin the field of Adaptive Architecture, investigates how architecturaldesign processes can be informed, taking into consideration the role andposition of the inhabitant in Adaptive Architecture. To do so, the thesisexplores how performative perspectives can contribute to the developmentof a methodological framework that allows the study of engaged encountersbetween inhabitants, architecture and technology.The thesis examines and discusses architectural discourse and projectsconcerning Adaptive Architecture from the 1960s and onwards, as wellas recent contributions to the field. The review shows that a recurringambition in the field concerns potentials that are resulting from directmutual exchanges between the inhabitant, architecture and technology.Still, only few contributions are based on an experimental research designthat in practice enable explorations into how the inhabitant co-constitutesAdaptive Architecture through their activities and actions. This discrepancybetween ambition and practice, reveals a need to develop conceptualisationsof the inhabitant as an acting and engaging individual, in order to realiseadaptation to human needs, preferences and aspirations. Aiming to developand offer a design perspective that encompasses such concerns, this thesisintroduces an understanding of Adaptive Architecture as an architecturein-becoming. Through this lens, architecture may be considered as ongoingprocesses of action, exchange and engagement between the material,meaning, human and non-human. Accordingly, the character of the designprocess itself transitions from being compository to capacitive. In order tosupport such design processes, a post-dramatic performative approach issuggested as a means to understand and explore the particular conditionsthat unfold as relationships between inhabitants and forms of architecturewith embedded computational technologies.Organised as a research-through-design process, the exploratory studyin this thesis introduces and applies performance techniques to conductparticipant-based explorations in three experimental environments. Theresults from this exploratory practice show that it is possible to unfold,describe and nuance a rich context of relational conditions that emerge asa result of engaged encounters between the participants and the particularexperimental architectural environments. Based on the insights fromthe participant-based explorative experiments, a particular quality, thepalimpsest (becoming-with-time), and four processes (becoming-withspace)are identified. The palimpsest denotes a particular relationshipbetween time and action, and the four processes denote specific mutualexchanges between the participants and the experimental environments.These four processes: attunement, coupling, negotiation and collaborationare framed as capacitive processes. Based on the insights and results ofthe participant-based explorative experiments, a specific methodologicalframework is proposed in order to enable an opportunity to capacitatedesign processes, and in which the active and engaged inhabitant is takeninto account. This methodological framework, Events as apparatuses forcapacitation, contains three elements: observational positions, modesand structures of engagement. The application of this methodologicalframework in a professional context, substantiate a performance-basedapproach as a productive tool for the exploration of specific designobjectives. Insights from practice frame two contributions to architecturaldesign practice for capacitating informed design development of adaptivearchitectural environments. First, how a performative perspective onAdaptive Architecture can enable the exploration and information ofadaptive architectural design in consideration of the active and engagedinhabitant. Next, how a performance-based methodology to adaptivearchitectural design enables the architectural researcher and practitioner toexamine and develop processes and qualities of Adaptive Architecture.
AB - The advancement of digital technologies has led to significant changes inarchitectural design since the 1960s. Not only concerning the developmentof new digital design tools but also in relation to new features andproperties of the built environment. Today, the opportunity to embedcomputational technologies directly into the fabric of buildings allowthe design of architecture that changes, responds and adapts to changingpatterns of inhabitation. Designing for such conditions challengestraditional architectural design approaches and emphasise the need for anapproach, which positions the active and engaged inhabitant as centralto architectural design processes. However, the majority of projectsand research focusing on the integration of embedded computational technologies into architecture, primarily consider the human being, as aninhabitant, based on a static architectural paradigm. This thesis, positionedwithin the field of Adaptive Architecture, investigates how architecturaldesign processes can be informed, taking into consideration the role andposition of the inhabitant in Adaptive Architecture. To do so, the thesisexplores how performative perspectives can contribute to the developmentof a methodological framework that allows the study of engaged encountersbetween inhabitants, architecture and technology.The thesis examines and discusses architectural discourse and projectsconcerning Adaptive Architecture from the 1960s and onwards, as wellas recent contributions to the field. The review shows that a recurringambition in the field concerns potentials that are resulting from directmutual exchanges between the inhabitant, architecture and technology.Still, only few contributions are based on an experimental research designthat in practice enable explorations into how the inhabitant co-constitutesAdaptive Architecture through their activities and actions. This discrepancybetween ambition and practice, reveals a need to develop conceptualisationsof the inhabitant as an acting and engaging individual, in order to realiseadaptation to human needs, preferences and aspirations. Aiming to developand offer a design perspective that encompasses such concerns, this thesisintroduces an understanding of Adaptive Architecture as an architecturein-becoming. Through this lens, architecture may be considered as ongoingprocesses of action, exchange and engagement between the material,meaning, human and non-human. Accordingly, the character of the designprocess itself transitions from being compository to capacitive. In order tosupport such design processes, a post-dramatic performative approach issuggested as a means to understand and explore the particular conditionsthat unfold as relationships between inhabitants and forms of architecturewith embedded computational technologies.Organised as a research-through-design process, the exploratory studyin this thesis introduces and applies performance techniques to conductparticipant-based explorations in three experimental environments. Theresults from this exploratory practice show that it is possible to unfold,describe and nuance a rich context of relational conditions that emerge asa result of engaged encounters between the participants and the particularexperimental architectural environments. Based on the insights fromthe participant-based explorative experiments, a particular quality, thepalimpsest (becoming-with-time), and four processes (becoming-withspace)are identified. The palimpsest denotes a particular relationshipbetween time and action, and the four processes denote specific mutualexchanges between the participants and the experimental environments.These four processes: attunement, coupling, negotiation and collaborationare framed as capacitive processes. Based on the insights and results ofthe participant-based explorative experiments, a specific methodologicalframework is proposed in order to enable an opportunity to capacitatedesign processes, and in which the active and engaged inhabitant is takeninto account. This methodological framework, Events as apparatuses forcapacitation, contains three elements: observational positions, modesand structures of engagement. The application of this methodologicalframework in a professional context, substantiate a performance-basedapproach as a productive tool for the exploration of specific designobjectives. Insights from practice frame two contributions to architecturaldesign practice for capacitating informed design development of adaptivearchitectural environments. First, how a performative perspective onAdaptive Architecture can enable the exploration and information ofadaptive architectural design in consideration of the active and engagedinhabitant. Next, how a performance-based methodology to adaptivearchitectural design enables the architectural researcher and practitioner toexamine and develop processes and qualities of Adaptive Architecture.
M3 - Ph.D. thesis
SN - 978-87-7949-028-4
BT - Making Architecture Become
PB - IT-Universitetet i København
ER -