Integrated workflows: Generating feedback between digital and physical realms

Abstract

As design thinking shifted away from conventional methods with the rapid adoption of computer-aided design and fabrication technologies, architects have been seeking ways to initiate a comprehensive dialogue between the virtual and the material realms. Current methodologies do not offer embodied workflows that utilize the feedback obtained through a subsequent transition process between physical and digital design. Therefore, narrowing the separation between these two platforms remains as a research problem. This literature review elaborates the divide between physical and digital design, testing and manufacturing techniques in the morphological process of architectural form. We first review the digital transformation in the architectural design discourse. Then, we proceed by introducing a variety of methods that are integrating digital and physical workflows and suggesting an alternative approach. Our work unveils that there is a need for empirical research with a focus on integrated approaches to create intuitively embodied experiences for architectural designers.