Tracing the Shifts in Architectural Production through the Digital Turn

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-747-7_7How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Digital architecture; urban futures; architectural alienation

Abstract

This research investigates the transformation of architectural practice through digital technologies since the 1990s, examining how computational design has reshaped spatial production and phenomenological experience. The study evolves into addressing broader technological revolution affecting architectural discourse. Drawing on Deleuze’s (Deleuze, 1988) mathematical continuity, Shklovsky’s (Shklovsky, 1988) estrangement theory, and Harman’s (Harman, 2018) object-oriented ontology, the investigation traces three phases: blob architecture through folding geometries (1990s); collaborative parametric design challenging traditional authorship (2000s); and contemporary AI-generated architecture. The central thesis posits that digital architecture exists in productive tension between estrangement and familiarity, where technologies offer unprecedented creative possibilities while potentially alienating practitioners from embodied spatial experience. Key findings reveal “computational alienation” echoing Marx’s critique of industrial separation and Berry’s (Berry, 2014) digital alienation, where designers become distanced from tactile knowledge, and Srnicek’s (Srnicek, 2019) “platform urbanism” that reifies social relations into algorithmic optimisation following Lukács’ (Stahl, 2023) commodity fetishism. The research identifies a fundamental ontological shift from “possible to real” speculation toward Deleuze’s “virtual to actual” processes, supported by Carpo’s (Carpo, 2017) digital design analysis. The study concludes by proposing a critical digital practice advocating for “intimate algorithms” that remain phenomenological responses while embracing technological innovation.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Nishant Modi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/24
TI  - Tracing the Shifts in Architectural Production through the Digital Turn
BT  - Proceedings of the International Seminar on Designing the Future (ISDF 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 143
EP  - 159
SN  - 3091-4442
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-747-7_7
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-747-7_7
ID  - Modi2026
ER  -