Synopsis "Digital Dreams: Architecture and Cyberspace (Cyber Editions)"
This book is an examination of the role of architecture in the era of virtual reality, cyberspace and nano-technology. Three threads run through it: theoretical writing: drawn project work; and descriptive texts--linked graphically rather than chronologically or hierarchically. We are on the verge of a major shift in direction. Technological explorations into cyberspace, molecular and tissue engineering, genetics and the theories of complex systems are accelerating and will drastically change our environment -- and therefore our architecture. Since it is space itself that is being re-evaluated, it is inevitable that this process will lead to a new articulation of architecture in terms of its use, effectiveness, scale of operation and aesthetic content. Some will see this as an architectural crisis, others will not see it at all, and still others will see it as the opening-up of new spatial frontiers. This book takes the last approach, putting forward a variety of explorations that will enable the reader to see the diversity and potential of technological innovation, the interaction of these techniques, and the resultant possible architectures. The laboratory for these explorations has to encompass the real city, the unreal city, and the visceral and mental spaces of the body -- and the blurred spaces in between. The issues addressed include algorithmic and hypertextual architectures, shamanistic spatial procedures in cyberspace, self-replicating and artificially intelligent architecture, the alchemic nature of soft and digital spaces, the architectural implications of swarming, hyperstructural biomechanisms, the new plasticity in architecture, and the evolving and split physiology of the human body. The potential difference between now and soon is huge; the shock could be massive, and many aspects of society will change or die. Digital Dreams plots the changes that will occur in our spatial lexicon and speculates on how they will affect our ability to conceive, navigate and occupy these previously unavailable, technologically defined landscapes.
