Abstract- reading 1

Kolarevic, Branko. “Introduction” + “Digital Morphogenesis”, “Architecture in the digital age : design and manufacturing. p 2-27. New York, NY, Spon Press, 2003

While I'm not sure I agree with the author on everything he believes digital design is capable of or should be used for, his points are intriguing and definitely made me think about digital media in ways I never had to this point.
Kolarevic talks about baroque and art nouveau architecture as precedents for the "blobby" forms that are so prevalent today. I had never thought of that, though it makes perfect sense, but had always seen the "blob" as a child of the age of plastic. As he says, curvilinear forms have been used in vitually every other industry for years; from toasters to airplanes to the razor I have in my shower at this moment. Only recently has it come into the 'mainstream' of architecture. However, Kolarevic also claims "these contemporary digital architectures appear to reject any notion of urban and structural typology, continuity and morphology, and historic style and perspectival framework." I'm not sure I agree. Surely, some architects are ignoring the context of their projects, but that is a very general statement to make and many firms are focusing, as digital media takes over in the profession, on being sure they do not lose the urban typology and continue to let it surround and define their buildings, as with Ali Rahim and his Contemporary Architecture Practice.
Another of Kolarevic's main points is the idea of mass customization, the alternative to mass production. As digital design becomes more and more sophisticated and the idea of an algorithm setting up form and space for us (as architects) to choose from becomes a reality, "infinite variablilty becomes as feasible as modularity." Whether this is an entirely good thing is up for debate, but it is a stong point. (If everything is unique, is anything really so?)
As an extension of that point, Kolarevic talks more about the role of digital media in design- how it is not for formal expression, but should become instead inherent in the process of building, allowing architects to sort of 'reclaim' our profession, harking back to the medieval times of the master builders. The airplane industry does it; designing, producing, and consturctiing all from one 3d model, but I believe there are some large differences between airplanes and architecture.
Kolarevic's statement that computers are "more than just tools for producing blobs" is I think the phrase that sums up everything. The blob fascinates designers, as its just recently become feasible to build, but we need to be sure not to be sucked into what seems exotic at this point in history, but to instead use digital media in a way that will change and inform the architecture of the future for generations to come.