Wigley’s ‘The
Architecture of the Mouse’ explores the notion of a blurred integration
from analogue to digital, as stated in his opening statement; “The mouse is a
potent prosthetic. When placed in front of our desktop we do not even have to
think consciously about reaching for it.”1 This unconscious decision
is what defines the transition, we are seamlessly transitioning ourselves in
architecture, moving away further from analogue techniques and picking up
digital tools. However, they are no longer becoming foreign object, but muscle
memory between our body and brain.
As our digital tools develop, the technology and physical
capabilities of the architect and designer also advance. Computational
technologies such as CAD and CAM software are the mere beginning, we have moved
on to digital fabrication, robotic aid all the way to complete robotic
fabrication. “One no longer needs to move towards an interface… The interface
is already well inside our reach…”2
“The daily dive into the computer is not a leap from
analogue to digital or from real to simulation, but a choreographed blurring of
the two…”3 We are not becoming the ‘pencil’ to the technology at
hand, rather we blending in with it, bringing our knowledge and applying it
with the digital tools we have to create an integrated experience. Wigley fears
that the point where we finally seamlessly blend into the digital is where “The
human would become the prosthetic attachment to the machine organism…”4
rather than the mouse being the prosthetic attachment as it is now.
We as users are still in control of what is happening,
robotics is still being heavily explored, developing with assisting us as
designers and fabricators, not creating and imagining designs of buildings and
structures. We still have a long way to go to see what the machine can offer to
architects and designers, the boundaries are merely being touched.
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