The Architecture Machine: Toward a More Human Environment

THE USE OF COMPUTERS TO AID THE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNER AND URBAN PLANNER IS ALREADY BEYOND THE EXPERIMENTAL STAGE AND PART OF THE WORKADAY ROUTINE OF MANY PROFESSIONALS. THERE ARE, FOR EXAMPLE, MACHINES THAT TRANSFORM TWO-DIMENSIONAL DRAWINGS INTO THREE-DIMENSIONAL PERSPECTIVE DISPLAYS AND OTHERS THAT CHECK MYRIAD ASPECTS OF A DESIGN AGAINST SPECIFICATIONS AND TOLERANCE REQUIREMENTS. THE ARCHITECTURE MACHINE LOOKS SEVERAL MACHINE GENERATIONS AHEAD OF THESE TO A FUTURE IN WHICH GENUINE MAN-MACHINE DIALOGUE IS ACHIEVED, WHEN MAN AND MACHINE WILL ACT TOGETHER ON SOMETHING CLOSER TO EQUAL TERMS TOWARD A COMMON GOAL, EACH CONTRIBUTING HIS-ITS OWN CHARACTERISTIC FACULTY. THE IDEAL RESULT WOULD BE A FINAL DESIGN SO SEAMLESS AND WELL INTEGRATED THAT IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO TELL WHICH PARTNER CONTRIBUTED WHAT, AND SO CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE, YET CONTINGENCY-PROOF, THAT NEITHER AN UNAIDED DESIGNER NOR THE MOST ELABORATE COMPUTER SYSTEM COULD HAVE PRODUCED IT WITHOUT THE HELP OF THE OTHER. NEGROPONTE LOOKS FORWARD TO MAN-MACHINE RELATIONSHIPS SO PERSONAL THAT EACH CAN (POLITELY) INTERRUPT THE ROUTINE WORK OF THE OTHER WITH A FRESH INSPIRATION OR A NUDGING REMINDER OF HIGHER PRIORITIES; SO PERSONAL INDEED THAT THE RESPONSE PATTERN OF A MACHINE TO ONE DESIGNER WOULD BE SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT FROM ITS DEALINGS WITH A DESIGNER OF ANOTHER TEMPERAMENT OR OF ANOTHER CULTURE. SOME OF THE PROPOSALS PUT FORTH HERE HAVE ALREADY BEEN REALIZED IN A SYSTEM CALLED URBAN5, DEVELOPED AT M.I.T. AND IBM BY THE AUTHOR AND HIS COLLEAGUES. A FULL ACCOUNT OF THIS SYSTEM IS GIVEN. BEYOND THIS, THE MORE RADICAL AND ADVENTURESOME OF THE MAN-MACHINE INTERACTIVE ATTRIBUTES ENVISIONED BY NEGROPONTE ARE NOW BEING CREATED WITH THE COMING OF MORE DESIGNERS (MEN) TRAINED IN THE NEWER TECHNOLOGIES AND MORE SOPHISTICATED CONFIGURATIONS (MACHINES)—AND THE EXPLORATORY INTERACTION OF THE TWO. THE AUTHOR HAS CONSULTED THE FULL LITERATURE ON SYSTEMS THEORY PHILO