Computing In Architecture

I never took the time to think just how important and necessary computers and computer-aided software is to designers and architects of today. After sitting down and reading this article, I found that computers are more than just a way to get work done faster. The software developed for use in today’s design world, works side by side with the actual designer or architect to create a better product that individuals might not be able to develop just on their own.

There has always been a desire for perfection. Since the Vitruvian man by da Vinci, the quest for creating a perfect product has been present. The software used today, is able to assist designers to create their perfect buildings. Software has means to tools that can be used when designing that humans do not have access to. It can see what is not already there. For example, the article discusses how details of buildings can be shown by the computer almost instantly, but would take an extremely talented artists countless hours to complete. The computer also has the ability to show buildings that have not been built yet merely designed. It can take that design and place it where the building will one day stand. This ability of the computer greatly impacts the design process.

Computers have impacted what designers can do. Before these programs, everything in the design process was done by hand. The computer is able to take what would take hours upon hours to do and condense it into only a few minutes. The time saved by the computer can be predisposed into other parts of the design process. This becomes especially important if further down the project the designer realizes that a mistake has been made. Many times one small change will affect the whole project. By hand this could take long hours of finding the mistake and then fixing it and everything there after it. The computer could fix the mistake in minutes and without much headache.

I believe that the future can only be positively impacted by technology. I believe that these programs will only help designers to create better products with faster results. It is hard to even imagine what will be developed next. It seems that every time a new program or technology is developed the next version is only a year away. Even with all the technology there are still problems that the will need to be addressed in the future. A computer that freezes and documents that continue to get lost are only a few of them. If designers sill plan on using computer-aided programs to design their projects, there needs to be a way to save their work that is more reliable.