ABSTRACT
Every major technological shift has had an impact on the shape of buildings and cities, as well as the people that use them. The development of iron and steel enabled taller buildings, but without electricity to power and communicate between them, air conditioning to cool them, and elevators to make their heights accessible, we would still be building three-and four-story buildings such as we nd in cities from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Digital technology in the past 50 years has revolutionized both communication and computation. Today’s smartphone users are texting or watching cat videos on a computer much more powerful than those that accompanied astronauts to the moon (Tomayko 1988). How have these changes altered our buildings, our cities, and our construction processes? How can architects integrate this technology into the design and production of new buildings in ways that improve building performance and occupant quality of life? How can government facilitate improved design, energy e ciency, and healthy, resilient communities through technological
innovation? The two quotes above, one from a US White House report and the other describing a new building in the Netherlands, illustrate how deeply intertwined computing and the built environment are becoming.
