Autonomy and Automation in the Architectural Project: The Algorithm of Hypermobile Commuter's City

Abstract

The introduction of automatic digital techniques in architecture and the wide availability of big data pose several opportunities and risks concerning the architect's role in automation's creative process. The Hypermobile Commuter City (HCC) project explores the use of big data for informing design processes and transforming the architect's role in designing for cities and suburbia. Applying computational techniques from the territorial to the building scale, HCC changes the final architectural object into an open-ended process able to reconnect design with a diversity of real factors, overcoming the standard vision of practitioners. This raises questions about the architect's autonomy when dealing with automatism as well as the limits of computation and determinism on the built environment.