ABSTRACT
During the 1980s, when digital technology started to be widely used in practice, the traditional relationship between architecture and materiality seemed to be threatened. This fact was perceived by many, and was widely discussed both in academic and professional environments. The emergence of a new tool (the computer) and a new medium (the digital) to develop architectural projects prompted a natural resistance from those who were deeply tied to conventional representation techniques. Although this reaction is understandable, the discrepancy between the ability to describe any imaginable geometry in the computer, and the limited building methods of that time to execute complex forms did not help in facilitating the cultural assimilation of digital technologies in practice. As became more evident during the 1990s, architects foresaw the possibility of new material effects emerging from alternative digitally designed forms, but they could not find the means to realize them physically.
