3 Global Tendencies for next generation of digital technology

With machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data availability in abundance, we’ve seen great focus in our industry on the topic of design generation. I believe that the successful integration of smart technology will see the enhancement of creative thought. What do you, our colleagues in the business, think is the most important tendencies within digital technology right now? Here are my suggestions:

1) Property Technology (Intelligent Use of Square Meters) 

WHY: The COVID pandemic, which has brought about new ways of working, will affect the space management strategy of the future. Building mono-program buildings – that is, a home that is only a home, an office that is only an office – all but ensures that they will only be in use for a portion of the day. Just think of the echoing emptiness of central business districts during the pandemic. What a waste!

The future city has to be one where buildings don’t sleep (or at least sleep less) and evolve throughout the day to suit the needs of different users at different times. This will be made possible in part by big-data, real estate technology, platform economics, etc., which we can leverage to identify opportunities for reuse and reinvention. Certain industries already use this kind of data for planning in a more clinical sense, but how can we leverage it in design? 

Photo: As part of an Industrial Ph.D., the three-year study investigated the design's intentions for social wellbeing using the following parameters: movement and occupancy of the building, social interactions and group formations of users, and user activities and social distances. The study relied on a technological approach using location-based sensors in accordance with GDPR data privacy regulations. / Henning Larsen | Data Driven Architectural Design

2) Generative Design (Iterative Design Process)

WHY: Generative design is the tool that enables us to pursue all our sustainability strategies. It allows us to fail fast in a virtual world while striving for as close to perfection as possible in the built design. It allows us to collect and communicate knowledge from decades of built projects.

Generative design is an iterative design process that involves a program that will generate a certain number of outputs that meet certain constraints. Then, a designer can fine tune the feasible solution by selecting specific outputs or changing input values, ranges, and distribution.

The designer doesn't need to be a human: it can be a test program in a testing environment or even an artificial intelligence such as a generative adversarial network. But how can we as designers learn to refine those programs so they can stimulate our creativity to unfold the full potential of our design?  

Photo: Created by Ramboll’s computational design team, SiteSolve is a generative and interactive platform that radically enhances the appraisal of new developments by incorporating engineering and fabrication criteria for buildings into a collaboration platform. / A generative design tool to maximise your residential site potential | SiteSolve (site-solve.co.uk)

3) Digital Manufacturing and Robotic Assembly

WHY: The world needs a seismic change in how we think about and use construction material and digital production technologies. While this may be obvious, it requires a systemic approach rather than just something championed by a small group of individuals. 

The excess we see today occurs because there's currently no penalty for over-designing, which encouraging designers and engineers to err on the side of safety and aesthetics over material efficiency. We need to recognize that construction materials don’t come from an unlimited pool of natural resources. Using computer- integrated manufacturing, we can design structures that use them responsibly.

Photo: Robots use recycled bricks to build sinuous and striking Shanghai art studio. Grey-green bricks were taken from the existing gallery building, which had been deemed unfit for purpose, and carefully placed by a series of mechanical arms to construct a curving, heavily textured exterior.