Redefinition Of Architectural Representation In The Computational Design Environment: Numeric Representation

The developments in the 20th century in technology and computer-aided communication means, as well as studies in mathematics, geometry and science have brought about significant changes in architecture as a consequence of its close relation with other disciplines (1). Changes in the formation, modification and transformation of data affected the architectural design practices directly or indirectly and altered the conception of space, its perception and visual expression in a radical way. Parallel to these developments, computational design tools and strategies such as parametric design, associative geometry, algorithmic procedures and scripting, which are already practiced in industries such as aerospace, automotive and shipbuilding propose the potential to alter the boundaries of architectural design and representation processes (Kolarevic, 2005). The use of mentioned strategies in architectural design processes influenced and blurred the relationships between the environment and the data, between the virtual and the real and also between the design ideas and their architectural representation. In this paper it is aimed to discuss the architectural representation process in the computational design environment and consider the radical shifts recognized in its re-definition subsequent to the ubiquitous practice of computational design tools and strategies.