The Impact of Information Technology on Architectural Education in the 21st Century

Architecture is a technology-intensive discipline. It uses technology ? both in the process of designing and in its products ? to achieve certain functional, cultural, social, economic, and other goals. In turn, technology transforms the discipline. The importance of technology to the discipline and to the practice of architecture has been demonstrated again and again throughout history. In the 21st century, the advent of computer-aided design, computerassisted collaboration, construction automation, “intelligenti buildings, and “virtuali places, promise to have as much of an impact on architectural design processes and products as earlier technological advances have had. Like most other early adoptions of a technology, the first uses of computing in the service of architecture mimicked older methods: electronic drafting, modelling, and rendering. But this rather timid introduction is changing rapidly: new design and evaluation tools allow architects to imagine new building forms, more responsive (and environmentally more responsible) buildings, even radically new types of environments that blend physical with virtual space. Communication and collaboration tools allow architects, engineers, contractors, clients, and others to work much more closely than was possible before, resulting in more complex, more innovative, and more effective designs. Understanding and shaping this transformation are the basis of architectural education in the 21st century