Product Description

We all know that today's architectural design has moved from the sketchpad to the screen the era of the Mayline and the drafting board now seems downright Paleolithic but techniques for using the computer not just as a tool for rendering but as a generative instrument remain woefully unexplored. In Tooling, the latest installment in our renowned Pamphlet Architecture series, the technologically progressive young firm Aranda/Lasch illustrates how advanced computational methods and algorithmic codes can be used to foster architectural design.

Tooling explores patterns generated by computer codes that in turn create an organizational template assembling projects. By openly sharing these codes, the authors seek to foster further investigation into their methods, allowing other architects to model and evolve more critical and insightful geometries and patterns.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26952 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

About the Author
Benjamin Aranda and Chris Lasch established their New York-based architecture firm in 2003. Their work has appeared in The LA Times , Metropolis , and Else/Where , and on the PBS program "Reel New York."

Customer Reviews

Conceptual Analysis with Little Detail
Aranda/Lasch provide a glimpse of what algorithmic techniques in architecture are capable of producing. Spiraling, packing, weaving, blending, cracking, flocking, and tiling are briefly defined, and their conceptual application in architecture is explored.

Although interesting, the discussion is left at a highly conceptual level, and the book could benefit from more detailed exploration and explanation. A website promising programming code to accompany the techniques has yet to be developed (and 2 years from date of publication probably never will) and does not appear to require the purchase of the book in order to access if it ever does go online.

A better discussion of algorithmic architecture can be found in Kostas Terzidis' Algorithmic Architecture, which not only shows better developed architectural projects but provides an analysis of code scripting.

Where's the website?
This book looks at scripting from a conceptual point of view. I enjoyed its form and content. The examples of work were inspiring.

Why do I give this 3 out of 5 stars? I feel slightly miss led. On page 94 the authors write "Scripts from tooling experiments are available at www.arandalasch.com/tooling". Yet the site doesn't exist! The authors have yet to create this accompanying site that could give more tangible insight into the nitty-gritty of scripting. I assume it won't happen as its been more than a year now since the book was published. Too bad, because there are really few books that get into the details of scripting without becoming "programming books". Aranda and Lasch could have been pioneers in this area as they seem to enjoy the hands-on aspects of making stuff. Instead, they have dropped the ball.

The book is full of pseudocode which is fine if you already know how to program. But for DIY beginners like myself, its just not enough...

suggested for digital designers
as an architect, i find this book fascinating. but it is not in any way limited to the practice of architecture. its relevance extends to all fields of design, and probably into fields of which i am not familiar. its a 'must have' in my opinion.