Computer-aided Design! What is that?
Earlier, nearly 40 years ago there was no such thing as AutoCAD, Building Information Modeling (BIM) and parametric design platforms namely Grasshopper. No one had predicted the future possibilities. All the drawings and drafts had to be made manually and then modifying the draft hundreds of times without any difficulties was impossible and implausible. Just imagine the time, money and patience it took to initiate a design concept. It would take days and sometimes months to make hand-drafted sheets and imagine the amount of paper utilized continually as the design progressed. Such practices were completely uneconomical. Also, preservation, security and storage of this valuable work was another responsibility. Modelling of the simplest structures would take days to design and one has to make sure to make almost no mistakes because with errors came incompetence.
Rapid Improvement
Thanks to some brilliant minds that introduced computer-aided software that not only accelerated the design processes but also paved the way for new prospects. The excellence of software is literally like a magic wand. One fabricates what one dares to imagine.
Contemporary Practices
What is architecture doing in the present time and the near future? The establishments we see around, are they being designed considering the losses or are we just blindly following and achieving our desires? Many work towards perfecting and saving our ecosystems through environmental design strategies but what is their percentage? How many of us are seriously acknowledging what is at stake?
What does the future hold?
Skyscrapers, vertical cities, cluster of functionally smart cities or habitats on Mars. Is our future completely designed by Virtual Reality or will there still be traces of Nature and its miracles? Our present welcomes technical and environmental improvements for the future, but will our future be serviceable and sustainable to assist and control these already designed advancements? Will our planet be able to integrate and harmonize with the growing needs of the human race?
Now, these questions trigger a chain reaction in our minds and we wonder whether we have ample natural resources to base our theories on preventing our biosphere or are we all advancing towards doom? The future can only survive on how willing and determined we are to succour the present resources. Time is limited but human greed isn’t.
Catastrophe or Salvation
With population engulfing Earth like some microorganism, glaciers melting continually, resources being used up at an unimaginable rate and carbon emission adding to carbon footprint, that day is not far when humanity will push ecological aspects to extinction since plenty of resources are already used up. Critically endangered species such as Rhinos, Orangutans, Tigers and Gorillas are in grave danger. But the important question is whether or not we are acknowledging the future losses being made and what are we doing to compensate these losses that are direct results of human beings’ cruel and criminal behaviour towards nature? This is not just the duty of conservationists or environmentalists, it is the responsibility of every individual to enrich and preserve the biosphere and species.
A sustainable environment is what we thrive to build but is this professional practice widely recognized? It is not just architects that are associated with building green; many workforces are joining hands to come with bigger and better solutions and establishing balanced biological and ecological equations.
Carbon Emissions
The construction industry is excessively responsible for carbon dioxide emissions since manufacturing cement, steel and other primary building elements and materials contribute massively in amplifying the carbon footprint and ruining future alterations. Every kind of production requires energy, even manufacturing a pencil demands an energy supply. But the product generated, as a result, curses the living conditions of living beings in the most fundamental ways. Years and years of carbon dioxide production have filled the glass of ‘nature’s tolerance’ to its brink and anytime the glass will overflow.
3D(s) as in Development and Demonstration of a Design?
With building green, comes the responsibility to reduce the consumption of resources and maximizing efficiency. Growing needs and futuristic designs demand maximum output and maximizing the rate of building spaces is done through thinking in terms of virtual reality. Virtual reality has the biggest share as technological advancement in the future. From small office spaces to large scale, industrial level projects, every single entity in the design world can be felt, analyzed and improved with great ease. 3D printing is not just limited to small scale product designing and manufacturing firearms, 3D printed houses are being constructed in many cities around the world. 3D printing in the construction business provides greater flexibility, zero labour force, eliminates the chances for errors, speeds up the design and construction process and majorly contributes to saving time.
Parametric architecture confirms the physical factors of a project being developed through the rapid generation of ideas eased by modelling. No one ever imagined seeing the future with such immense flexibilities.
What to anticipate?
The future is unpredictable but creating a foundation for the future is completely in our hands. As land is finite, our coming generation needs means to stipulate their survival. One can expect numerous skyscrapers in the future incorporated with sustainability.
If we proceed towards saving our home planet’s resources and succeed, we as a powerful race can blend the astonishing abilities of human beings and the gift that mother nature herself is.
Citations
Architecture, T. (2019). 5 Trends That Could Shape the Future of Architecture. Available at: https://www.thinkaec.com/5-trends-that-could-shape-the-future-of-architecture/. [Accessed: 10th June2021]
TMD STUDIO LTD. (2017). Emerging Trends That Will Shape the Future of Architecture. Available at: https://medium.com/studiotmd/emerging-trends-that-will-shape-the-future-of-architecture-356ba3e7f910. [Accessed: 11th June 2021]
