Technology: The Impact Of Technology In Architecture And Technology

Introduction:

Architecture and technology are interrelated. This connection started to become more obvious with the industrial revolution that was marked by many innovations important to architecture such as steel, electricity, elevators, and climate control equipment. After that faster paced revolutions were introduced by information technology that involve synthetic building materials, computer aided design and automatically generated drawings. These advances opened new horizons for architecture and building materials that were not possible or even –imaginable- fifty years ago. This essay examines the impact of such technology (especially IT) on architecture: starting with the past technologies effects on the practice in both form and materials,

For example, Roman architects used stone in a different way from their predecessors. They used stone arches, vaults, domes and roman concrete to have strong durable structures with larger spans. In the Gothic era, the invention of the flying buttress enabled the designers of the cathedrals to have thin high walls with large colored windows that brought light into the interior spaces. In the 17th century, the invention of steel followed by the invention of the electrical elevator permitted the design and building of tall skyscrapers. Mies van der Rohe is a good example of an architect who considered the effects of industrial revolution and found out ways of how to benefit from it.

As well as design, the properties of materials used in construction have major effects on the form of the building. As each material has its limits and can be shaped in restricted ways. Their properties determine how the building looks and behaves. The stone walls used in the historic examples of architecture are difficult to shape and have low strengths compared to the later discovered steel and concrete. Steel structures allow taller buildings with wide spans and free interior

Cyberspace: where more and more activities are starting to take place such as socializing, learning, shopping, online transaction, etc. This whole idea can promote the birth of a new type of architecture. After all, architecture involves making places: environments that help and improve human actions, for example, living, learning, socializing...etc.

The start of virtual places can be traced to video gaming, not the ones with the simple two-dimensional environments, but the complex three-dimensional places created on a world scale. The ideas in them involve creating places that people would want and enjoy being in. therefore it is logical to assume that the principles of creating such spaces would be the same one that have been real place making for decades.

Virtual architecture although unburdened by the laws of nature and physics, social and cultural logic are still important components that if disregarded, their absence can cause discomfort and irritation. For example in a cyber world is not required to use tables, but having the objects floating in mid air, is rather uncomfortable.

The negative side of