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The new age arrives on no specific day; it creeps up slowly, and then pounces suddenly. -The New Yorker, The A.I. Issue, November 20, 2023The digital realm and the extended realities of architecture are changing at breakneck speed. There is a sense of something radically different nowan accelerating cyber-avalanche, generating previously unimagined spatial complexity. With the convergence of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and robotics, a new era of both real danger and great opportunity has arrived.A graphic by Richards and Julie Fish, entitled Some Acronyms, points to the disorientation of rapid technological change.Invisible Environments: Reflecting on Six DecadesIn 1966, Canadian Architect published a two-part essay by Toronto philosopher Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), titled The Invisible Environment. His musings extended from Plato and education, to John Cage and silence, to computers and electronic circuitry as an extension of the human nervous system. McLuhan reworked the essay for Yale Universitys prestigious Perspecta journal in 1967, with an adjusted title: The Invisible Environment: The Future of an Erosion.These essays are labyrinthian. McLuhan speaks of the new and potent electronic environment we now live in and the intricate and complex integral world of electric information, with assertions like The future of city (sic) may be very much like a worlds faira place to show off new technologynot a place of work or residence whatever. All of this gets bracketed with digressions into pop cultures invisible systems and brainwashing, with comments on The Beatles and even an illustration of Sean Connery as James Bond, pointing a gun skyward. Expanding on the invisible systems and environments that he believed to be increasingly controlling our minds and society, McLuhan writes about consciousness: Let me suggest that it may be possible to write programs for changes not only in consciousness but in the unconscious in the future. One could write a kind of science fiction story of the future of consciousness, the future of an erosion. The future of consciousness is already assuming a very different pattern, a very different character. Its as though McLuhan was talking about today.A 1983 pre-internet-era illustration, colour-enhanced by the author, reflected on the possibilities of an electronic cottage connected to global information systems. Image: Canadian Centre for Architecture. Gift of Larry Richards in honour of Phyllis Lamberts 80th birthday. Larry Wayne RichardsTwo decades later, in 1983, the birth year of the internet, I presented a project entitled The Positive and Negative Influences of Electronic Systems on Architecture at an international research meeting in Poland. The project focused on how computing was transforming architectural design and production, and speculated on new kinds of digitized, simultaneous experience. I included a colour-enhanced illustration of an electronic cottage, offering a glimpse into a world that has now fully arrivedgiven todays techno-laden skies, with more than 10,000 satellites plus two occupied space stations orbiting Earth, and the preponderance of work-and-shop-from-home. Through that 1983 project, I was starting to realize that, as David Wortley, British consultant on immersive technologies, said to me, We can be several places all at once.Since the 1980s, research and publications on digital architecture have exploded, as documented in the 1,660-page book Digital Architecture (Mark Burry, ed., Routledge, 2020). Canadas architectural practices became more efficient with electronically assisted computation. Imaginative proposals for virtual places have proliferated, like Toronto-based theoretician Brian Boigons 1993-95 Spillville, a conceptual design for the first avatar town, in which one could interact with cartoon characters on the internet. Boigon explained, Youll have your own personal cartoon, and youll be able to manipulate it in cyberspace.During 2010-11, the Canadian Centre for Architecture presented 404 ERROR: THE OBJECT IS NOT ON LINE. The exhibition, which included aspects of my 1983 project, questioned online habits and new ways of thinking about the web. Two years later, the CCA generated an exhibition and accompanying book, Archaeology of the Digital (Greg Lynn, ed., CCA and Sternberg Press, 2013) that explored the genesis and establishment of digital tools at the end of the 1980s.Fast forward to 2019 when, in a coda to my chapter on postmodernism in Canadian Modern Architecture (E. Lam and G. Livesey, eds., Princeton Architectural Press), I referred to cyber-postmodernity and techno-postmodernity. These references were spotted by David Minke, associate at GEC Architecture, who invited me to give a talk in an office lecture series and to elaborate on my cyber-techno preoccupations. Minke asked: What era are we in? Thus, the prickly matter of Zeitgeist arose: What is our time, space, and spirit?I gave the lecture for GEC at their Toronto studio and via Zoom for their Alberta offices. Titled Extended Realities, I spoke about the extraordinary time that we are inthe rapid technological change characterized by acceleration, convergence, and disorientation, and symbolized by a mind-boggling profusion of defining acronyms. I asked that audienceand now I ask readers hereto ponder what these extended realities might mean for the changing practice and creative art of architecture.A rendering by Khloe Bouchard of Montreal-based Moment Factory points to the normalization of socializing in virtual spacesContinuum or Erosion? Although some see our current socio-technological condition as simply another inevitable step in the so-called March of Progressthe evolution of humankind over millions of yearsIm not convinced. Granting that the momentous technological inventions of the past two centuries such as the telegraph, electricity, radio, automobiles, airplanes, television, computers, robots, and smart phones were disruptive at the time, but soon smoothed into daily life, todays changes seem to be of a different magnitude. According to the Oomph Group (January 14, 2025), there has recently been a huge influx of venture capital into the AEC industry in Canada, fuelling tech start-ups and generating highly competitive, disruptive circumstances. Indeed, the rapidly unfolding, immersive, resource intensive, micro-chip world of artificial intelligence, robotics, and virtual reality is unprecedented.These new, fluid technologies propel us far beyond the array of familiar altered states such as dreams and anaesthesia, or the tech-place-otherness of smart phones and Zoom, and into augmented, extended, and simultaneous realities. There are new, architectural-digital-spatial implicationsparticularly in the arena of the material versus the immaterial. There is no longer an inevitable, innocuous technological continuum. Something new is happening, erasing boundaries between the real and the unreal, truth and fiction.Artificial intelligence is getting smarter faster, but harbours its own demise. In When A.I.s Output Is a Threat to A.I. itself, Aatish Bhatia (New York Times, August 25, 2024) forewarns of degenerative A.I. which hallucinates on its own data and, through unintended feedback loops, The model becomes poisoned with its own projection of reality. This is true of images as well as text.A recent rendering generated by student Zee Virk in Midjourney points to the discontinuities of A.I.-generated imagery.Both the magic and madness of accelerating digital technologies were brought home to me in a rendering generated by Zee Virk, a student of Dr. Douglas MacLeod at Athabasca University. Using Midjourney A.I., she entered the elaborate prompt:a community wellness centre, with a rotunda in middle bringing in natural light, views of the surrounding pine trees beyond, glass door opening to a seating area, people of all ages, timber and brick structure, caf with plants at front, concrete floor, ar 16:9The almost instantly produced image seems lovely until one looks closely and sees bizarre, structural anomalies. Where are those timber fragments heading? MacLeod notes that such discontinuities raise the question: Will being articulate with input become the most important characteristic of an architect?Mega-dollars are being poured into artificial intelligence R&D and new markets. Where will this lead? In a conversation with Prof. Phillip Bernstein, Deputy Dean of Yales School of Architecture and author of Machine Learning: Architecture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (RIBA, 2022), he noted that the trillions invested in A.I. by the large platform providers like Meta and Google are not generating the returns expected and added, Perhaps the bubble is about to burst. Meanwhile, there is a shocking lack of regulation. Daniel Kehlmann shouted in The Guardian (July 22, 2024): Not yet panicking about AI? You should betheres little time left to rein it in.Architecture and ImaginationThere are rays of hope. With the development of A.I. and other digital technologies, human-enhancing possibilities are unfolding in agriculture, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, prison reform, weather forecasting, and financial management. For example, virtual reality is helping to-be-released prisoners imagine and adjust to their forthcoming real world, and A.I.-powered robotics are enabling sophisticated prostheses that adapt to their users motions. What are the possibilities in architecture? What will our individual and collective imaginations bring to the accelerating, dense, highly interactive digital environment? How will nature and the phenomenological intersect with the simulated and virtualspatially, socially, psychologically? Toronto writer Stephen Marche has published discerning pieces on powerful new technologies, particularly A.I. He recently told me, In the end, I think A.I. will be another tool. A useful tool, but a limited one. The philosophical questions that it brings up, though, are simply vast. Might we say vaster than vast?I spoke with several architects, asking: what now? Key portions of three interviews follow, underscoring the power of the human imagination to propel us into an exhilarating, yet precarious future.Meaghan Lloyd is the chief of staff and partner at Gehry Partners in Los Angeles.A graduate of Yales School of Architecture, she joined the Gehry office in 2000 andwas CEO of Gehry Technologies during 2013-14.Larry Wayne RichardsGehry Partners designed the FORMA towers (73 and 84 storeys), which are under construction in Toronto. Whatdigital technologies wereusedto develop and guide the project through various stagesdesign, fabrication, onsite construction, etc.?Meaghan Lloyd The design of FORMA is unique for Toronto in that we are using a unitized curtain wall system.The majority of projects in Toronto use a window wall system.We worked closely withPermisteelisa, a company known for advanced technical solutions, and with whom we have collaborated on many projects. Our vision entailed a highly active faade. We worked withPermasteelisato develop a system that supported that vision and the clients budget.It required a lot of iterating with the engineers and fabricators to find tolerances for the panels that would work with their manufacturing tools and techniques.This could only have been done using Digital Project.The early design work was done in Rhino, and all of the consultant work was produced in Revit.Trimble (Gehry Technologies) translated our Rhino/Digital Project models into Revit for consultants drawing production. The project was delivered on the Trimble Connect platform.LWROver the past 30 yearssay, from the Bilbao Museum to the FORMA projecthow would you characterize the trajectory of digitally supported design and technological construction in the work of Gehry Partners? Digitally, what have been the most important changes and advances?Gehry Partners FORMA towers, designed with the support of digital tools and technologies developed by Gehrys office, are currently under construction in Toronto.ML Architecture,engineering, andconstruction tools have changed a lot.When we began the design for the GuggenheimBilbaoin 1993, very few firms were using3Dcomputer modelling.We were partners withDassaultSystemes,who had a product called CATIA, which was widely used by aeronautical/aerospace engineers.Itsapowerful modelling and simulation tool, which is geared toward designing and building large, complex assemblies.CATIAwas a natural fit for our work, and it was essential to help demystify our more complex designs for the engineers, fabricators, and contractors who worked on our buildings.We ended up creating a product withDassault Systemescalled Digital Project, which we continue to use on all of our projects.It was obvious that clarifying data for everyone would create a clearer, more concise, more collaborative process.Time and again we saw the benefitsbetter upfront cost estimating, fewer clashes between trades in the field, fewer changeorders from the contractors, cost savings for the clients,and higher margins for the fabricators and contractors.By the way, global material waste is estimated at 1.3 billion tonsannuallyand rising.Our work with Digital Project consistently removes waste and saves money and time.Digital Project is not the only tool in the marketplace,and,over the years,many other tools have been developed to address specific trades or issues.Added to this, each owner, consultant, and contractor comeswith their own preferred tools, which means that the digital delivery strategy for nearly every project is different.This requires a whole other type of integration and coordination.In response, we created an agnostic cloud-based collaboration platform where all applications could connect into one central model.We sold that product to Trimble. It became thecore of their productcalledTrimble Connect.LWR Are VR, AR, and A.I. becoming integrated into the conceptualization, design, and realization of Gehry Partners architecture? How important is the convergence of technologies such as BIM, A.I., VR, and robotics? Do youdoes Frankforesee realizing buildings and places simultaneously in physical reality and virtual reality? Is there speculation in your office on this? Technologically-digitally, beyond improved efficiency and higher precision, do you think were entering a radically new era?ML A.I. will certainly change things.Im not sure that anyone quite knows the magnitude of it just yet.Our office is discussing places where it will have the highest and best impact on our work, and on architecture in general.Frank [Gehry] has never used digital tools to assist in the design of our projects.Design is and should remain an inherently humanistic pursuit.As a practice, we have always used technology to assist us in bringing efficiency to the detailing, engineering, manufacturing, and construction of projects.We see A.I. as potentially speeding up drawing production, and helping us iterate through technical options to find the most economical and highest-value solutions for each particular project. There are less technical areaslike specification packages, zoning, and code checkswhere A.I. could be quite impactful.On the manufacturing/fabrication side, robotics and Machine Learning have been employed for years.There are so many possibilities, but it is still quite nascent.Im not sure that any of the existing Large Language Models are smart enough to tackle gravity and the complexities of living on planet Earth yet, but that is all on its way.Hopefully, it will help unlock a lot of potential, and create opportunities for more diverse talent to emerge.Douglas MacLeod, FRAIC, is a registered architect, Chair of the RAIC Centre for Architecture at Athabasca University, and a contributing editor to Canadian Architect. Dr. MacLeod led pioneering work in virtual reality at the Banff Centre and is an expert in e-learning, regenerative design, and virtual design.Larry Wayne Richards There is a lot of discussion about blurring the line between the physical-material and the cyber-virtual. You go further and assert that the digital model is the real thing, rather than the physical entity. What are the implications for architecture?Douglas MacLeod The underlying premise of Building Information Modelling (BIM) is that a building can be represented as a database. Drawings and specifications are manifestations of that database, and so is the building itself. As science fiction writer Bruce Sterling noted in Shaping Things (MIT Press, 2005), the object is mere hard copy and the model is the entity. In architectural terms, the BIM model is the entity, and the building is mere hard copy. Digital Twins take BIM models to the next level of sophistication by creating dynamic models that can be fed data (such as temperature and humidity) from the Internet of Things, and which can be used to simulate and optimize the performance of a building. In the future, the Digital Twin, combined with A.I., may autonomously control the operation of that buildinga very dangerous proposition. In such a scenario, virtual worlds will be able to dominate the physical world.LWR You mention 20th-century architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and his pronouncements on the transcendent nature of technology. Might you elaborate on this in relation to the digital era?DM In a 1950 speech at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Mies said Wherever technology reaches its real fulfillment, it transcends into architecture. When he made this statement, construction sites were cutting-edge laboratories for technologies such as concrete, steel, and mechanical systems; but since then, the word technology has become increasingly focused on digital technologies. The word architecture has been appropriated by other disciplines, particularly in computer science, where people speak of hardware and software architectures and the Architecture of the Internet. What Mies said is still true. The internet has transcended into a unique architecture, and so will artificial intelligence.LWR Finally, lets talk about regulation of A.I. Its broadly acknowledged that regulatory frameworks are urgently needed at international, national, and corporate levels. But initiatives are falling dangerously behind aggressive marketing. Youve said you believe that there should be policies so that people can own and control their data. You suggest that a person could enter the workforce with their own Digital Twin, but acknowledge that this is a Utopian idea, and that equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization must be maintained. Your thoughts on regulation?DM We need legislation to ensure equal access to emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. A.I. is particularly important because, if unregulated, it will result in job losses across all disciplines, including architecture. In the future, it will be possible for A.I. to produce a fully detailed and code-compliant building design without the need for an architect. We need to think carefully about how A.I. is deployed. It should be thought of as a critical resource like healthcare or education. Corporations dont own our healthcare or educational systems, nor should they own our A.I.s. Every student entering a school system should be assigned an A.I. that learns with them. When that student graduates, they and their A.I. enter the workforce together. This is the only way to keep meaningful jobs for humans.Sandra Manninger is an architect, researcher, and educator. She holds a PhD from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and is Associate Professor in the School of Architecture and Design at the New York Institute of Technology.Larry Wayne Richards SPAN, your studio, participated in the 2023 exhibition /imagine: A Journey into the New Virtual at the MAK Museum in Vienna. You explain that your installation, The Doghouse, was a large-scale physical model created from 2D images using Midjourney, and that the structure becomes a visual representation of the mathematical processes underlying its creation. This causes me to reflect on architect-theoretician Peter Eisenman in the 1970s and his notions of a conceptual architecture that privileges ideas and that, in Brechtian manner, traces and re-represents its own origins. Is your work similar in this regard?Sandra Manninger Eisenmans contributions to conceptual architecture, particularly his focus on the interplay between form and idea, have deeply influenced the field. While our work at SPAN aligns with Eisenman in privileging ideas and tracing architectural forms origins, we emphasize technology as a tool to reveal complex spaces.With The Doghouse, we created a large-scale physical model that functions as more than a static object. Through 3D modelling, robotics, and advanced fabrication techniques, it becomes a dynamic visual representation of various forcessocial, cultural, political, mathematical, and physicalthat shape our environment. We use these technologies not only as design tools, but as instruments to uncover and reveal the underlying structures that define spaces. We see architecture as a medium to display and understand these processes. By integrating cutting-edge technologies, we create works that engage both the physical aspects of space and the intangible dimensions that influence how space is perceived and experienced. Our work is rooted in the belief that architecture can reveal the complex interplay of forces shaping our world.While Eisenmans work focused on the autonomy of architecture, SPANs work extends this inquiry into digital and virtual realms.We are particularly interested in how new technologies offer insights into our place within these multidimensional spaces, providing ways to explore and understand the environments we create and inhabit. SPANs interactive installation, The Doghouse, explores the possibility of folding 2D images from Midjourney into a 3D physical object, and incorporates robotics and advanced fabrication techniques. Photo courtesy SPAN LWR In presenting New Virtual, MAK organizers acknowledged that much of the visioning for building in virtual space might not be feasible yet. Are we still in the realm of science fiction, or do you think we are on the threshold of new, digital-spatial paradigms in architecture that are realizable?SM This can be examined by considering how understanding of the virtual and the real has evolved. Today, as philosopher of technology Benjamin Bratton and professor of cultural theory Luciana Parisi point out, the virtual is no longer a distant or speculative concept, but an essential layer of reality. The virtual layer, driven by complex computational systems, is already influencing the way we design and inhabit spaces. The virtual is not separate from the real; it operates within and alongside it, actively shaping the physical environment in ways both subtle and profound.The development of these virtual spaces is not just about envisioning possible futures. It is a process unfolding in real time, driven by algorithms and computational processes that extend beyond human perception. These processes are generativethey create new forms of spatial experience and architectural practice that challenge traditional notions of what is feasible or realistic. The virtual is redefining our reality, producing new spatial paradigms that may not yet be fully recognized, but are nevertheless very real.Larry Wayne Richards, FRAIC, is Professor Emeritus and Former Dean of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto.As appeared in theApril 2025issue of Canadian Architect magazineThe post What Now? Acceleration and Imagination in Digital Space appeared first on Canadian Architect.
