This recent editorial on the Architectural Record website shows that some people are considering the new digital fabrication to be a substitute for experiencing architecture in person. Most of us experience buildings from the exterior and never have the opportunity to move through soaring volumes or intimate spaces. I am on the Record's website weekly flipping through slide shows, comparing photos to plan view. As the editorial states there is no substitute for experiencing a building in person and the way it effects our senses: the somber cool interior of the Taj Mahal's mausoleum or the disorienting angles of the staircase at Liebskind's Denver Art Museum.
Our clients appreciate the added information standing virtually in their new space affords them. While the construction process is always relatively fluid, now there can be little misunderstanding of how the finished space should look. Perhaps eventually we will just give 3-D renderings directly to contractors. With the advent of the iPad, the Venture Architecture portfolio is literally in our back pocket, or here, at your fingertips.
