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Testing the relevance of parameterization to architectural epistemology.

Article Excerpt
Introduction

The epistemological relevance of architectural researchers' selection of study media is a well-explored question (Bermudez & King, 2000; Hewitt, 1985, Crowe & Hurtt, 1986; Leatherbarrow, 1998; Porter, 2004). In particular, it is widely acknowledged that specific media are uniquely capable of disclosing significant attributes of works of architecture, and that in some cases, these attributes are strongly tied to a specific medium. Consider the study of an existing work of architecture using traditional (i.e., non-digital) tools such as a pencil, straightedge and compass. As a means of studying a building, such as St. Paul's Cathedral in London, the tools are well suited insofar as they enable the straightforward translation of observation to paper. However, the same set of tools is likely to be poorly suited for studying Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the geometry of which is difficult to register with traditional tools. This simple observation obviously reflects formal differences between two buildings conceived at different times using different technologies, but more importantly, it suggests that existing works of architecture can be differently susceptible to being studied in a specific way (i.e., using a fixed set of tools). The comparison indicates that study media are not neutral epistemological frameworks: researchers' choice of study media limits the kinds of questions they can ask of architecture.

Building information modeling (BIM) software is marketed to the architecture profession primarily as a tool to aid the design and construction administration of new buildings. BIM has obvious benefits and widespread acceptance throughout the profession. A principal component of BIM is parametric modeling, which enables modelers to establish a deep layering of architectural fragments, components, assemblies, and subassemblies, fully categorized and cross-referenced, and capable of automatically propagating changes to linked components. Moreover, BIM is proposed as a means of transparent information exchange: the United States National Building Information Modeling Standard calls for a "standardized machine-readable information model for each facility, new or old, which contains all appropriate information created or gathered about that facility in a format useable [sic] by all throughout its lifecycle" (NIBS, 2005). The current trend in BIM is to establish means by which the constituents of the construction industry (e.g., architects, engineers, contractors, agencies, owners) can freely exchange information in a digital form during design and construction of a work of architecture (Plume & Mitchell, 2007). It is obvious that software interoperability development depends on BIM becoming wholly transparent as a means of supporting the seamless exchange of information between constituents.

These observations, coupled with the substantial contemporary interest in the use of parametric modeling as a tool for the study of existing architecture (e.g., Barrios, 2004; Barrios, 2005; Burry & Burry, 2006; Potamianos & Jabi, 2006; Potamianos, Turner, & Jabi, 1995), prompts the question of whether all existing works of architecture are equally susceptible to the kind of...