The Other Digital - What is the Glitch in Architecture?

Abstract

This paper will discuss and investigate the issues with the concept of 'glitch' in architecture. There are currently two definitions that sit in a symbiotic relationship with each other; Moradi's (2004) and Menkman's (2011). This paper will explore the implications of these two approaches, while investigating the possibility of a third, unique definition (the encoded transform), and what effect they have on the possibility for a 'glitch architecture'. The paper will then focus on the glitches' capacity to be disruptive within the design process. In the con-text of architecture, it has been previously argued that the inclusion of glitches within a design process can easily create a process that does not 'converge' to a desired design outcome, but instead shifts haphazardly within a set of family resemblances (Austin & Perin 2015). Further to this, it will be revealed that this 'divergent' quality of glitches is due to the encoded nature of architectural production.