bentleyuser.org - The Lars Word

The Lars Word - November 2006
by Lars Hesselgren - 13 November 2006

I last wrote this column a year ago. This autumn was really a rerun of last year’s marathon – this time it was Volo, Greece, eCAADe Keynote speech, TU Delft, Holland, Free Form symposium, Philadelphia, Exton, Bentley, University of Pennsylvania non-linear dynamics round table, GC workshop Upenn, Innovation Conference, McGraw-Hill, NY, evening speaker, KPF NY, MIT and back to London.

Rather than going through each event I think it’s worth reflecting on trends in architectural design and how computing is reshaping the way we think about the world.

The trend towards more intelligent use of the computer as a design tool is stronger than ever. The realisation that the computer is a design tool as opposed to an information system (a la BIM), or a VR viewer (our old rendering friend) is finding more friends, in academia and in practice.

Tools are democratising the professions, and predictably the race for design control is on. Finally the engineering and architectural designs worlds are converging and the old boundaries are crumbling; but of course not without noise.

What it means for the tool builders is that it is no longer enough to divide the world into the old professional categories. Fluid Dynamics, Finite Elements, real physics simulation and Digital manufacturing are no respecters of diplomas.

Generative Components is catching part of that wave – the programming and mathematical paradigms are being exposed and used in a fashion challenging the accepted divisions of architects as wilful form givers, and engineers as solvers of the problems posed as a result.

But none of that removes the need for design skills. But today more than ever it is about posing the right problem, or posing the problem in an interesting and illuminating fashion.

This trend is of course one that the SmartGeometry Group was created for. We are expecting that our New York Workshop and Conference will represent the place to be where these ideas can be aired.

Will these new design tools solve the problems of the world – global warming, urbanisation, war and terrorism, resource depletion and sustainability?

Well the tool is neutral, except as an intellectual lever. We understand more than ever that the world we live in is the world we create; we make choices and we tailor the world to our needs.

I cannot but reflect on the pessimism of my youth – the Club of Rome assured us that by 2000 there would be no more oil, population explosion would ensure widespread famine and would end catastrophically. The developing world would never catch up.

Where are we today? We live in the West in a world of unbelievable plenty, consuming is a duty. The developing world is catching up, who would have predicted even 5 years ago that the new industrial giants would be Indian and Chinese? And the Internet convergence is finally here, information is a zero-cost commodity.

But knowledge, the ability to use information, and knowledge application, the creative drive, are more than ever at a premium, and it is no respecter of sex, race, religion or national boundaries.

And we are completely privileged to be in possibly the most exciting stage of humankind’s development. At around 2050 population growth will tail off, returning us to a static world.

Or is that a completely dumb thing to say?