Architectures
New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods
of Computer-Aided Design
by Yehuda E. Kalay
The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2004
521 pp., illus. b/w and col. Trade, $55.00
ISBN: 0-026-11284-1.
Reviewed by Peter Anders
MindSpace.net, Midland, MI
ptr@mindspace.net
The publication of Yehuda Kalays
Architectures New Media is
an important event in the history of design
computation. Kalay, a professor of architecture
at Berkeley, has been a proponent of computer-aided
design (CAD) since its earliest years
and has himself developed software now
in use in various applications. His tenure
in the field gives him a unique vantage
point on CADs development. In this,
his first book on the subject, Kalay conveys
a sense of personal history, presenting
a summary of ideas and observations that
have occupied him throughout his career.
Architectures New Media is
ambitious, accounting for several thematic
strands that form the braid of architectural
computation. These themes are presented
in sections on communications, synthesis,
and evaluation, plus a more general section
on the future of digital technology in
architecture. Within these sections are
chapters illustrating specific methods
or principles that have informed design
computation. For instance, within the
section on synthesis we find separate
chapters on procedural, heuristic, and
evolutionary methods, along with conventional,
non-digital techniques. This nested framework
gives the book its structure and focuses
on important aspects of design technology.
Unfortunately, the compartmentalization
of topics, at times, results in disjointed,
deliberate prose. Contiguous chapters
often seem unrelated, commencing with
historical throat-clearing that bogs down
the narrative and undermines its arguments.
Strapping CAD to the history of architecture
puts the subject on a Procrustean bed,
stretching and lopping it to suit a determinist
history. From the book it would seem that
CAD was simply the product of a gradual,
progressive evolution. This is misleading:
Computers do not extend the history of
architecture so much as intervene and
disrupt it. While the mimesis of
architectural techniques has driven CAD
development in the past, the books
assertions of continuity obscures the
radical nature of the technology. Computers
underlying principlesmutable,
algorithmic, and abstractchallenge
values of permanence, materiality, and
space that are fundamental to architectural
practice. The unsettling, subversive potentiality
of digital technology is lost with Kalays
narrative strategy.
Fortunately, the books content belies
historicizing, offering insights into
digital technology along with stranger
aspects of architectural media, such as
evolutionary methods for "breeding"
design solutions, virtual place-making,
and automated design agents. Illustrations,
diagramseven mathematical
formulaeabound making this
book one of the most comprehensive on
the subject to date. At roughly 500 pages,
the book averages 10 pages for each year
of design computations history.
Thats thorough. New Medias
historical proximity to this period,
however, leads to inevitable oversights
and omissions. A review of the index yields
no mention of John Hollandthe
inventor of genetic algorithmsMarcos
Novak and Gerhardt Schmittvisionaries
of virtual architectureor
even William Mitchell who wrote the books
forward. Given the books scope,
a comprehensive bibliographyrather
than chapter noteswould also
have been welcome to Kalays readers.
But these faults could be easily overcome
in subsequent editions. Yehuda Kalays
book is a valuable contribution to the
literature of architectural computation
and an important marker in the fields
still evolving history.