I’ll talk about all the convergence I’ve been seeing in 2013 another time. Suffice to say that Randy Deutsch‘s tweet about this Design Intelligence article fit too perfectly with part of my talks from ABX and EcoBuild. So I’m spurred to share. Read the article. It’s a good list. Any list about Architecture that has Robots as a bullet point is a winner in my eyes. Seriously, how fucking cool is that? We live in a world where a serious architecture and design magazine and website can have a list of impending trends that non-ironically includes robots. Yes please. I love this world we live in.

Now for my One Complaint.

We talk so much about all the exponentially increasing Ds of architecture. We do 3D and 4D models. But we all want 5D and 6D. And we ascribe fancy additional layers of information to each D. The idea is that more Ds equals more clarity and understanding of the final design. Let’s prove the point by looking in reverse. A 3D model gives a clearer picture than a 2D set of drawings. We all know this. Rarely is EVERY condition modeled in 3D actually shown in the sliced 2D documents. It’s the same reason why we build physical study models and don’t just sketch all day. Next step… a 2D set of drawings is clearer and more descriptive than a 1D document. Here’s some proof via probably the most famous 1D document out there:

14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
-Genesis 6:14-16

Think you and I will build the same ark if we follow those directions? Seems like there are a few details missing. Perhaps I’ll change my website’s tag line from “Some days I’m an Architect who writes. Other days I’m a Writer who dreams about architecture.” to “Some days I’m a 3D modeler doing 1D models. Other days I’m a 1D modeler dreaming of 10D models.”

Not Enough?

Want more on all the Ds of architecture (3D, 4D, 5D, 6D, nD…)? Check out this post on BIM Guilt. It has a math equation.

And you know who Randy Deutsch is, right? Have you read is book? I’m reading now.