Digitale Integration:   Collapse Complexity – Innovation Through Digital Integration

The increasing complexity in building processes is challenging
current architectural practices – However, innovation
through interdisciplinary digital integration offers
a solution. Instead of answering the ever-increasing requirements
in terms of sustainability, energy, and functional demands
by introducing additional building elements, academic research
and traditional craft can point towards alternative approaches in
order to handle complexity. These focus on the integration of
functional benefits into the material itself.
Only a few avant-garde building and research projects –
such as the European industry-led Innochain project – show
how the pressing need for innovation in the building sector
might be answered through integration. The key lies in a more
consistent application of a common digital platform, which all
architects, engineers and fabricators use on an individual basis.
Here, processes and tools can be connected directly, digital loops
established, and all participants receive immediate feedback,
overcoming existing barriers, and leading directly to process and
product innovation. It is possible to transfer ideas and concepts
developed in studio-like situations, to high-end fabrication machinery,
allowing architects to tap into the creativity in urban
setups, collaborating and producing with peers worldwide.