Artefactos digitais e espaços interactivos. Para lá da arquitectura

Abstract

Technology is not an attribute of contemporary architecture: it is inherent in its concept and has always been among its deepest concerns. Nowadays, technology is no longer understood only as a tool to answer to specific problems, but as a reality in itself that is present in all areas of human activity. It has revolutionized our perception of space and of ourselves, assuming a central role in how we understand and relate with the world around us. This study aims to reflect on the impact of emerging digital technologies on the field of architecture. It also contributes for gaining consciousness about the appropriate operational capacity and authorship mark that architecture design should reflect, questioning at the same time the need for architectural debate in our contemporary cities. Specifically, it uncovers the potential of digital artifacts that we have now and explores its influence on the design of interactive spaces. In the first place, from the analysis of diverse authors and their contributions, it highlighted theoretical advances that may help in the task of better understanding the concepts, values and worldviews that new technologies (including the cyberspace) bring to our lives. This meant that through a bibliographic review covering these issues, different historical, cultural, social, technological and philosophical contexts were mentioned and analyzed. Thus, this dissertation seeks to establish a relationship between these diverse parameters and clarify the possibility of an architecture that expresses the social, scientific and technological environment to which it belongs. Technology changes the society in a continuous and irreversible way. The architectural project can be understood as the creation of a new social program that emerges from the transforming possibilities of new technologies. The previous material paradigm has shifted to an information paradigm, in which the technology becomes a vehicle for communicative interaction. Finally, through the contextualization of some projects and trends that integrate emerging digital artifacts, this dissertation seeks to examine the potential of interactive spaces, as well as outline a vision for the future: what are they, what is the impact in our lives and what are the parameters for its design. Instead of trying to explain why these interactive systems are needed and/or meaningful, it is more significant to demonstrate that the motivation for designing these applications is the desire to create spaces with potential to influence and enrich people's behavior and actions, their level of communication and interaction, and with the space around them.