Digital by Material

Abstract

The synthesis of data and material, which decisively failed to develop in the early digital age, is being realized — enticingly, playfully, and sensually — in today’s architecture. This becomes apparent in various medial, spatial and structural manifestations, whereby one premise persists: In the moment in which two seemingly separate worlds meet through the interaction between digital and material processes, data and material can no longer be interpreted as a mere complement but rather as an inherent condition and thus an essential expression of architecture in the digital age. A digital materiality is emerging, where the interplay between data and material is seen then, in a new light, as an interdependent structuring of architecture and its material manifestations. Digital materiality is thus not incidental, nor supplemental, nor is it a process of embellishment; instead it corresponds to an extensive collaboration, which can be analytically developed and implemented on an architectural scale. This leads as well to a new form of architectural expression and its material sensuality.