Digital Continuum

The book considers the digital continuum between architectural design and manufacture. The digital continuum, achieved with the technologies of CAD/CAM, numerical control and prototyping, is antithetic to the dematerialisation of design. The ability to digitally model the design, and thus to use this model directly in the context of production, creates a synthesis between design and construction, in line with the tradition of the close relationship between design and craftsmanship, between the quality of the design and the rules of the art of crafts. With computer models, designers can gain direct control of both manufacturing and assembly processes; the digital continuum is changing the relationship between design and construction. The evolution of the culture of design and construction is the underlying theme of this book. The aim is to discuss the direction that innovation is taking, with a particular focus on the current status of cutting-edge architectures. The book interprets the ways in which different firms have addressed design and construction issues, the different contributions provided by the various techniques, and the meanings expressed by the resulting architecture. [New English edition of Caneparo L. (2012). Fabbricazione digitale dell'architettura.