Intersections in Timber, Technology and Cultural Typologies: Finding the Balance Within Architecture

Abstract

Architecture walks a fine line between the mediums of scientific discovery, artistic nature, and analysis of culture. When one of these factors becomes more prioritized over others, there becomes an imbalance. One of the most common critiques of contemporary architectural practice is that this imbalance has caused an increasing divide between architecture in academia, practice and research. While technological innovation within the discipline of architecture is the future, this exacerbates many of architecture's already existing imbalances. When trying to solve the issues of the modern practice of architecture through AI, algorithms, and computer technology, much of the actual "architecture" and craft of design is lost. This prompts the question: can there be a medium where both innovative technology and craft can coexist within design? By embracing a more transformational concept of combining both legacy and material conditions, we can innovate through critical reason and tradition in a "fusion of new horizons" as coined by German philosopher, Hans Georg Gadamer (1960). As stated in Studies in Tectonic Culture, all architecture comes through "processing what exists in the present, and what has come before", (Frampton, 1995). Unlike technology that regards the past as obsolete and always aims at a non-perceptible future in search of progress, a more reflective, critical theory is needed for advancing architecture. It is a humanistic science that must not only acknowledge the past but cherish and embrace it. This research seeks to re-discover the human balance within the architectural discipline: space-making while being knowledgeable of cultural sensibilities and continually advancing the discipline through technological innovations.