We gain a lot… but what are we losing?: A critical exploration of the implications of digital design technologies on sustainable architecture

In the field of architecture, new technologies are enabling us to promptly simulate, quantify, and compare multitudes of design alternatives and consider an ever more expanding list of environmental and economic parameters within the early design phases of projects. However, architecture today veers further towards non-neutral technologies, changing our culture, introducing new values, and (re)shaping our social ideals. The change of media, from the manual to the digital, has deeply transformed architecture and city design. There is undoubtedly progress, but what are we losing in this automation, virtualization and over-digitalization? Are architects—creators of space, human experience, and cultural capital—starting to occupy the role of technicians? Sustainable architecture is a field that is already experiencing tensions between the quantitative and the qualitative, the optimum and the ethical, and the parametric and haptic methods. Yet the rapidly evolving CAAD technologies overlook many of the non-quantifiable values of these binaries. Gains in speed and efficiency in the design process with the help of parametric design may be challenging the designer’s reflection-in-action process required for critical architecture while ethical, cultural, and human dimensions can hardly be modelled algorithmically. Similarly, computational thinking and digitalization in architectural education, have yet to come to terms ‫‪with‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪loss‬‬ ‫‪of‬‬ ‫‪analogue‬‬ ‫‪ways‬‬ ‫‪of‬‬ ‫‪learning‬‬ ‫‪that‬‬ ‫‪favour‬‬ ‫‪a‬‬ ‫‪more‬‬ ‫‪diverse‬‬ ‫‪and‬‬ ‫‪inclusive‬‬ ‫‪classroom‬‬ ‫‪environment.‬‬ ‫‪Instead‬‬ ‫‪of‬‬ ‫‪keeping‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪analogue‬‬ ‫‪and‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪haptic‬‬ ‫‪practices‬‬ ‫‪away‬‬ ‫‪from‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪immaculate‬‬ ‫‪realm‬‬ ‫‪of‬‬ ‫‪CAAD,‬‬ ‫‪this‬‬ ‫‪paper‬‬ ‫‪argues‬‬ ‫‪for‬‬ ‫‪hybrid‬‬ ‫‪technologies‬‬ ‫‪that‬‬ ‫‪recognize‬‬ ‫‪these‬‬ ‫‪practices‬‬ ‫‪and‬‬ ‫‪their‬‬ ‫‪value‬‬ ‫‪in‬‬ ‫‪sustainable‬‬ ‫‪design‬‬ ‫‪and‬‬ ‫‪incorporate‬‬ ‫‪them.‬‬ ‫‪Film‬‬ ‫‪animation,‬‬ ‫‪as‬‬ ‫‪a‬‬ ‫‪branch‬‬ ‫‪of‬‬ ‫‪architecture’s‬‬ ‫‪most‬‬ ‫‪expressive‬‬ ‫‪means,‬‬ ‫‪film,‬‬ ‫‪can‬‬ ‫‪serve‬‬ ‫‪as‬‬ ‫‪a‬‬ ‫‪paradigm‬‬ ‫‪of‬‬ ‫‪a‬‬ ‫‪feasible‬‬ ‫‪disruptive‬‬ ‫‪technology,‬‬ ‫‪but‬‬ ‫‪most‬‬ ‫‪importantly,‬‬ ‫‪as‬‬ ‫‪an‬‬ ‫‪indicator‬‬ ‫‪of‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪hybridity‬‬ ‫‪between‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪handmade‬‬ ‫‪and‬‬ ‫‪the‬‬ ‫‪digital‬‬ ‫‪and‬‬ ‫‪its‬‬ ‫‪effectiveness‬‬ ‫‪in‬‬ ‫‪expressing‬‬ ‫‪vital‬‬ ‫‪elements‬‬ ‫‪of‬‬ ‫‪sustainability‬‬ ‫‪that‬‬ ‫‪are‬‬ ‫‪otherwise‬‬ ‫‪dismissed.‬

We Gain a lot…But What Are We Losing? A Critical Reflection on the Implications of Digital Design Technologies

Purpose. Highly sophisticated digital technologies, have distanced architects and designers from intimate and immediate hand-drawing practices. Meanwhile the changes they rapidly bring come with undetected changes in cultural and social norms regarding the built environment. The growing dependence on computers calls for a more holistic, socially inclusive, and place-responsive design practice. This paper attempts to shed light on what we are losing in the design process as we rapidly transition to digital media used to communicate architecture. We contemplate the paradigms in which the human body and physical objects still play an important role in today's design environment. Approach. The paper looks at current trends in developing and establishing "computer imaging" within architectural education, and the architectural profession through parametric design and the area of sustainability. In order to reveal novel and hybrid ways of architectural image-making, it also looks into art forms that already experiment with bodily practices in design, taking an artisanal animation project as a case study. Findings. The renewed longing for craft, haptic environments, tactile experiences, and hand-crafted artefacts and artworks that engage the senses can be exemplified with the success of the documentary Last Dance on the Main, an animated film on the endangered layers of human presence in one of Montreal's downtown neighbourhoods. The open possibilities for creative hybridizations between the handmade and the digital in architecture practice and education are exposed. Originality. The influence of film on the perception and consequent design of cities is well documented. There is little literature, however, on how the materiality and process of artisanal film animation can provide alternative, if not additional, insights on how to communicate various aspects of the built environment, particularly those rooted in the human body. Furthermore, handmade film explores a broader understanding of sustainability, which includes considerations for social and cultural contexts

Effect of chorioamnionitis on brain development and injury in premature newborns

Objective [ ] The association of chorioamnionitis and non-cystic white matter injury, a common brain injury in premature newborns, remains controversial. Our objectives were to determine the association of chorioamnionitis and postnatal risk factors with white matter injury, and the effects of chorioamnionitis on early brain development, using advanced MR imaging. Methods [ ] Ninety-two preterm newborns (24-32 weeks gestation) were studied at a median age of 31.9 weeks and again at 40.3 weeks gestation. Histopathological chorioamnionitis and white matter injury were scored using validated systems. Measures of brain metabolism (N-acetylaspartate/choline and lactate/choline) on magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and microstructure (average diffusivity and fractional anisotropy) on diffusion tensor imaging were calculated from predefined brain regions. Results [ ] Thirty-one newborns (34%) were exposed to histopathological chorioamnionitis, and 26 (28%) had white matter injury. Histopathological chorioamnionitis was not associated with an increased risk of white matter injury (relative risk: 1.2; P=0.6). Newborns with postnatal infections and hypotension requiring therapy were at higher risk of white matter injury (P<0.03). Adjusting for age at scan and regions of interest, histopathological chorioamnionitis did not significantly affect brain metabolic and microstructural development (P>0.1). In contrast, white matter injury was associated with lower N-acetylaspartate/choline (–8.9%; P=0.009) and lower white matter fractional anisotropy (–11.9%; P=0.01). Interpretation [ ] Histopathological chorioamnionitis does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of white matter injury on magnetic resonance imaging or with abnormalities of brain development. In contrast, postnatal infections and hypotension are associated with an increased risk of white matter injury in the premature newborn. Final published version [ ] Ann Neurol. 2009 Aug;66(2):155-64. URL: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/76507645/homeMedicine, Faculty ofPathology and Laboratory Medicine, Department ofPediatrics, Department ofRadiology, Department ofScience, Faculty ofStatistics, Department ofUnreviewedResearcherFacult