‘WHAT (A) FUTURE FOR ARCHITECTS by Alfredo Roccia Tiree metamorphous of the spirit do I designate a you: ‘ww the spirit becometh a camel, the camel a ion, and the lon a lata child! Niewsche When you type “Architects” on “Will robots take my job?" the probability of automation you get is 1.8%, with the “Automation Risk Level” equal to “Totally safe.”® These are quite reassuring figures for a profession whose destiny is intrinsically connected with the socioeconomic, cultural and technological advancements of our time. The robotic threat, then, seems co be apparently warded off. ‘As a matter of fact, a not too distant heavy robotisation scenario—of which mass unemployment is the most natural effect—is slightly apocalyptic and needs to be faced or at least mitigated (since inevitable) in a capable way at the risk of unprecedented economic crisis. Nevertheless, whether the date with Maschinenmensch is only pushed back, the role of digital cechnology in architecture in the last decades has been undeniably remarkable and we (as architects) have never been so close to a practice in which every single phase—from design to construction—is becoming automatized or, eventually, “automatic.” This is just a repercussion of the third millennium society transformation, afterall, namely part of that anthropological mutation that everyone has witnessed. » Friedrich Nieasche, Thus Spate Zarathustra ed. Tom Grifth, cans. Anthony Common (London: Wordsworth Ealitions, 1997: inivlly published in German as Alo speach Zavathusra: Ein Buch fir Alle und Keine in 1883-85), 21. 2 Will robots ake my job, accessed April 4,2018, hutps!/villroborstakemyjob.com? © On the same webpage, 2 profesional projected growth qual co 78% by 2024 is, adicionally reported. The figures are specific co the US job markec and further developed from the website authors based on analysis expresed in: Cari Benedikt Freyand Michael ‘A. Osborne, “The Futue of Employment: How susceptible ae jobs to computerisation?” (working paper, Oxford Martin Programme on Technology and Employment, London, 2013) eps fww.oxfordmantin.oxac.uk/publiations/view/1314,Progressively developed from the 70’s with che coming of Computer- Aided Design (or Drafting; CAD), the architectural digital revolution had its relentless outburst at the beginning of the 21" century, heavily influencing the progress and direction of the practice.‘ Besides che natural evolution of CAD, other software has gradually played an important role for the AEC Industry development, reaching a high systematized level swith the coming of Building Information Modelling(BIM).On one side, thisaccentuated the building design and construction complexity; onthe other, it made the whole production process more effective’ Omitting che construction phase of the work—which belongs to BIM by now, and attempting to separate parts of an increasingly incestuous electronic relationship, the design graphic stage is historically formed by the 2D drawing, 3D modelling and Visualisation triad, each one with its we had to select the most congenital degree of complexity.© Bue significative milestones related to this triad, as well as the most able to influence the architect's mind, we would not be able to leave the new Parametric design and Augmented Reality (AR)IVirtual Reality (VR) technology out of consideration.” Parametric design isa way of controlling the form by means of parameters and rules defined by algorithmic methods. For this reason, its application allows designers to easily play with heir own architecture, analyzing its different aspects thanks to a quick manipulation of construction data (such as materials, structural properties, manufacturing technologies, etc.), regulations, context, environment, etc. That is a 3D design process characterized by a purely digital workflow, in which a genuine “Without ealing he 40's digital computer projects for mlitary purposes, the Sketchpad program writen by Ivan Sutherland as PRD dissertation at MIT in 1963, is probably an ilseius forefather ofthe modern CAD. ef. van Ealward Sutherland, “Sketchpale A mar-machine graphical communication system” (PhD dis. Masachuses Insitute of Technology, 1963), bups:/space miteduhhandl1 721114579 © Air al the Euzopean Union introduced the 2014/24/EU directive regarding the use ‘of BIM for public works design and constuction forthe Member States. The same evolution of generally used software in the Feld of architecture makes tis subsvsion by species hard, since many of them oscillate within ches different categories by now. Nevertheless, overlooking chat genres mixcure and trying to make a (never thorough) lst we could (improperly) divide them like this. Archicad, Autodesk ‘AutoCAD, Microsation for 2D drawing, Autodesk 3sMax, Autodesk Maya, Blender, ‘CATIA Cinema 4D, Rhinoceros, SketchUp for 3D modeling: Corona Renderer, Mental Ray, V-Ray as rendering engine for the architectural visalisation. As previously mentioned, this list i imprecise and does noc consider BIM solutions provided by sofiwaresuch as Autodesk Revit, Vectorworks and Archicad isl 7 Among parametric design sofware we can at last mention: Aucodesk 3ds Max, ‘Autodesk Dynamo, Aucadesk Maya, Autodesk Revit, CATIA, Digital Project and Grasshopper 3D.interpretation is replaced by an automatized analysis. Therefore, itis “an iterative, generative and reactive process rather than one of evolution.”* If Parametric design is indissolubly tied to 31 modelling as well asto an “active” phase of the project, the latest AR/VR technology only apparently belongs to the visualisation field, and then “passive” design phase—as i will be explained later. Recent studies proposed the idea of a 4th platform wave for Consumer computing’ driven by the AR/VR (plus Mixed Reality)""—the other three waves are, chronologically: PC, Internet and Mobile. They also forccast a Mobile market disrupted by AR with a total $120 billion revenue by 2021. On the other hand, since the success of these technologies seems to be unstoppable, also its application in archiecturo—to simplify the technical progress of a building —makes the alliance (designer, client and contractor) apparently happy. ‘The IMAX effect The coming of a virtual going beyond the simple static nature of a rendering has mutated the architectural visualisation DNA. Thus, another significant anthropological change is expected: “faux” images of the screen are superimposed to the “true” images of reality. So far, the project “reality” and its “virtual” image were lying on alternate planes and the quality of an architectural space could be evaluated by means of perspectival drawings, collages and, lately, more or less realistic renderings, In any case, that was done separately. But now, AR visors allow a fall immersion in what we are realizing and that deceps contraposition between realty and virtual has been actually dissolved. Or perhaps, the most common mistake may lie here: reality and virtual would not be two opposed entities—while the first is natural and authentic, the second is artificial and specious—but rather two sides of the same coin. “Virtual” does not mean “illusory.” Iestillshares an aspect of truth with the real world, instead, representing still a thought and, therefore, something that could happen. * Adel Zakout, “Top 10 Buildings Parametric Design” Huo, updated January 8, 2013. Ip we hiingronporcomadelzakouteop-10bildngs parame 838268, > DigCapical, "Augmented/Virwsl Realy Report Q3_ 2017," January 2017. haps nwwaligh-apital.comlecporta/#augmented-vieualcalty. In bre, he Augmented Realiy(AR) superimposes viral objects in che teal word: che Virtual Realy (VR) shifts user in a vetal worl finally, the Mixed Rely (MR) sets ‘etal solic-ke objet inthe rel space so that users can perceive and teat chem as they wer rel