Computer - Tool vs. Medium

We have arrived an important juncture in the history of computing in our profession: This history is long enough to reveal clear trends in the use of computing, but not long to institutionalize them. As computers peremate every area of architecture - from design and construction documents to project administration and site supervision - can “virtual practicei be far behind? In the old days, there were basically two ways of architects working. Under stress. Or under lots more stress. Over time, someone forwarded the radical motion that the job could be easier, you could actually get more work done. Architects still have been looking for ways to produce more work in less time. They need a more productive work environment. The ideal environment would integrate man and machine (computer) in total harmony. As more and more architects and firms invest more and more time, money, and effort into particular ways of using computers, these practices will become resistant to change. Now is the time to decide if computing is developing the way we think it should. Enabled and vastly accelerated by technology, and driven by imperatives for cost efficiency, flexibility, and responsiveness, work in the design sector is changing in every respect. It is stands to reason that architects must change too - on every level - not only by expanding the scope of their design concerns, but by altering design process. Very often we can read, that the recent new technologies, the availability of computers and software, imply that use of CAAD software in design office is growing enormously and computers really have changed the production of contract documents in architectural offices