Abstract

Architecture has been predominantly an idea-based discipline since the rise of the artist-architect in the early Renaissance. This identity has been closely intertwined with hand drawing. However, slowly eroding boundaries between design disciplines and the emergence and influence of digital media in architectural design and production processes have recently made possible various new design paradigms. The scientist-architect is emerging, and architects are again directly engaging the building process. New ways of working are making new expressions feasible. Within this emerging context, it seems important to survey the state of these changes and how hand and digital design media are valued within the academies and practices of architecture. Through an analysis of data collected from a survey of architecture faculty and administrators and a survey of architecture practitioners, the authors assess the value of hand and digital media within architecture. A speculative understanding of the results supported by current literature is proposed. The aim of this proposal is to provide critical reflection about the role of design media in defining the work and ultimately the boundaries of the discipline of architecture from within academia and practice.