Equity In Practice: Digital Architecture’s Role In Maker Culture

Abstract

Low-tech building methods have been gradually developed according to the actual needs of a community and the demands of location-specific requirements. High-tech digital design has advanced the level of precision and control over material ap-plications and has increased the possibilities for studying design options. But where might the two meet? How can in-novation in construction carry forward the lessons learned from vernacular and low-tech building solutions? How can contemporary technology be used to create new solutions that are as context-aware and affordable as low-tech solutions in places that low-tech solutions are still generally practiced? This paper explores the relationship between digital design and low-tech application by local labor looking for opportunities to advance the exchange between both the design process and the practice. The goal is to study and advance the linkage between the precision and design innovation of computational technology with traditional building systems in a context-aware and universally applicable manner. The study process starts by observations from designing a screen brick wall which leads to developing an modeling tool that allows the users to design brick masonry wall systems in a digital world and to create construction guides for building the wall in the physical world, allowing for back and forth communication between the designer, the community and the mason during the design and construction process. This process is not only a form finding exploration, it rather focuses on the communication between team members and the ease of construction. The designer can simultaneously study form, pattern, and solar exposure and can communicate the process and the result with the mason and the users using simple paper guides called “DNA guide”. This approach advocates a collaborative process where the form-making, prototyping and building is a shared experience between the designer, the community and the layperson.