Desenho digital: instrumento e meio de comunicação do arquitecto

Abstract

Architecture, as a discipline that studies and seeks space solutions to serve the needs of Man, has acquired in its history a greater importance for society. This factor created a need to communicate with more and heterogeneous areas of knowledge. As a result, the process of representation and communication gained more relevance to the discipline and its processes. Since the Renaissance, the architect uses design as an instrument of work, to create solutions, and also to communicate the found solutions to the various agents involved, making it a key partner in all phases of project. With the evolution of society, architecture has developed itself to meet the new needs. The design, in turn, had some limitations to follow such developments. About 2 decades ago, through the use of digital technologies, a new door was opened for the development of design in architecture. Initially, in order to improve productivity and then, gradually, to respond to the needs of various stages of architecture process, digital design was responsible for a change in the architecture work processes and, for increasing its range of solutions. The question to be studied in this work is to understand how the digital world changed the use of design in architecture. Thus, the interest is to realize if the changes produced by digital design allow the maintenance of the analog design's characteristics that make it an essential tool for the architect. Also important is, the study of some of the new capabilities and solutions that digital offers, such as the use of videogame engines to visualize architecture, which are explored in the case study. As a working tool, the digital design, influences the architectural language because it allows to explore disciplinary fields that the analog by itself can´t. The work process, itself, is different so the final result is always influenced. It is important to note that this does not result in a loss of autonomy of the architect, as some authors argue, but in an increase of available solutions to the exercise of that freedom instead. The digital design /modeling is an instrument that, maybe because it's relatively recent, is still seen with some reluctance in many parts of the discipline. This work attempts to explain the enormous potential of digital design, as an instrument to improve the whole process of design and transformation of space, making it an important element in order for architecture to continue, as always, to respond effectively to the demands of society.