Future of Design

The Future of Design Conference was held at Rackham Auditorium on Friday and Saturday.
I particularly liked the animations Hilary Sample presented because they clearly showed how the housing units would respond to varying lighting conditions. She also spoke about merging the real and the representational. Providing computer animations of building proposals seems to be an appropriate response to the increasing digitization of services in today's world. For me, at least, seeing three-dimensional, computer generated models and animations is an easier way to understand an unbuilt project than reading plans and sections.
John McMorrough argued that we must now consider what architecture might do rather than what architecture might be as we have in the past. He also explained that "quantification counts." Architects must quantify their work in order to convince others that great design is necessary in building.
Another assertion that was made during the conference was that design can change people's behavior. Sigi Moeslinger explained that design has an affect on the environmental, physical, social and mental health of human beings. She presented several ideas for designs that would encourage human interaction.