Architecture theory, 1960-1980 : emergence of a computational perspective

Abstract

This thesis attempts to clarify the need for an appreciation of architecture theory within a computational architectural domain. It reveals and reflects upon some of the cultural, historical and technological contexts that influenced the emergence of a computational practice in architecture. To carry out this new reading, we focus on the pioneering research that underpinned the beginnings of the relationship between architecture and computation and which was carried out at four research Centres both in the UK and in the USA: The Land Use and Built Form Studies [LUBFS], founded at Cambridge, UK; The Center for Configurational Studies at the Open University, Milton Keynes; The Architecture Machine Group [AMG] at MIT, and the Design Research Center [DRC] at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA. Moreover this thesis reinterprets the role of Leslie Martin as the founding father of LUBFS by showing the influence of the British physicist Desmond Bernal's building science research and the British avant-garde movement on Martin's work. This thesis also presents reflections on how best to use computation in architecture.