Kolarevic's, 'Information Master Builders', expresses his
will for architects to become 'information master builders', "In the
future, being an architect will also mean being a builder..."1,
highlighting how master builders & masons were in charge of all aspects of
buildings, "They had the central, most powerful position in the production
of buildings, stemming from their mastery of the material and its means of
production"2.
The tools used by architects defined their relationship to
their designs and buildings, compasses, pencils, straight-edges & T-squares
showed their relationship to rectilinear buildings, continuing on to describe
the struggle architects face representing the digital tools at their disposal.
The "experimental architects had to find contractors and fabricators
capable of digitally-driven production..."3 The integration of
CAM (Computer-aided manufacturing) revealed the time consumption and
error-prone production of drawings as well as allowing architects to produce
scale models almost instantly. By
becoming 'Information Master Builders', emerging architects are allowed freedom
and expression of creativity as well as productivity.
William's 'Design Worlds and Fabrication Machines'
deconstructs the methods of CAD modeling, breaking it down to fundamentally
grids and arrays, using a repetitive parametric code to finalise the model,
allowing a modeler to "put a relatively small amount of information in to
get a much larger amount of information out."4
Sheil’s
‘Transgression from drawing to making’ follows what Kolarevic was saying,
“drawings of the pre-digital era were made with tools that had altered little
through centuries of use: the compass, the ruler, the set square, the pen, and
so on.”5 and “…architects’ face to face contact with craftsmen and
builders became less frequent, non-verbal and less collaborative…”6
Technology has advanced to the point where digital fabrication
technologies (CAD/ CAM) allow the architect to redefine him/herself as the
master builder, injecting the information into ones design, being able to
communicate with the builder, client, creating exact geometric components and
designs, exploring new ideas and creativity.
