The Weight of the Image: Teaching Design and Computing in Architecture: Masterclass NAi 1999

The radical restructuring of the field of architecture made possible by recent developments in computer design cannot be understated -- for the first time in history architects have been able to move from a top-down vision to a more organic, bottom-up vision. The 'insect-view' model developed by the ancient Greeks projecting grids on to the face of the earth is clearly the most enduring example of this top-down order, which has been slightly modified by Renaissance perspective and then Modernist collage. Now, in the era of cyber-design, architects have the opportunity to plan works where order is not imposed form up above, but instead emerges from the inside out. The Weight of the Image documents the fourth Master Class organized at the Netherlands Architecture Institute, where Lars Spuybroek (of NOX) and Bob Lang (Ove Arup) have developed a lucid and intelligent method of design where the 'emerging view' and the 'projected view' constantly alternate, and in the book they explain the procedure in full detail.