Presented at ARCC-EAAE 2018 : Philadelphia, PA May 16-19
ABSTRACT: Developmental leaps within digital technology has impacted architectural form and advanced how architects communicate, analyze, and incorporate advanced building technologies into their designs. Occurring over a period of decades, software’s impact on the practice of architecture has escalated through an increase in its accessibility and adoption by the profession’s leading architects. This has resulted in digital technology becoming one the largest contributors to innovation within the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, fundamentally changing the architectural process, and to some extent the contemporary design language. To better understand the relationship between digital technology and architecture, this study looks at a sampling of software utilized by the industry and evaluates it over a spectrum of time based on functional and developmental characteristics. Through the creation of a graphical representation of the collected data, patterns between taxonomies, software development, and its usage within architecture have been observed. It is proposed these trends can aid in the understanding of the landscape of software development, how it has transitioned over time, what programs are available for usage within architecture, and how they are interrelated with the architectural process. These trends — aided by the understanding gained from their analysis — can then be utilized to facilitate a discussion regarding how the trends relate to larger developmental tendencies within the AEC industry and be used as measures for the changing landscape of the architectural process.
Image: Software Development Graphical Representation (SDGR)