The Digital change. Reasons and meanings of a new architectural expressivity

The entry of computing in architectural has produced a real revolution in architectural scenario, changing the designer's arsenals and producing new expressive trends. However, up to now it is unclear how designers have actually taken advantage of the use of software to develop new styles, it is unclear what is the relationship between programs, operations and tools provided by them, and the formal configuration of new architecture. Moreover, the only element to identify digital influence on design seems to be only what designers or critics say-so. Then, the goal of the research was to actually identify these digital influences on architectural designs by developing a framework for identifying and classifying architectural design elements that should be attributed to the methods and techniques of design computing. This framework was developed in terms of a database where to collect and classify sixty case-studies, which are prominent recent buildings and acknowledged products of digital means. The goals of this are, firstly, to verify the applicability of the descriptive framework and, secondly, to identify combinations of elements that characterize different approaches or types in current architecture. The results suggest that the use of digital tools in architecture is ubiquitous, where the conceptual starting point of designers and the improvement of the original idea are expressed in the digital domain, taking advantage of the augmented representation skills to control and manipulate form. Furthermore, it seems evident that the current digital architecture is dominated by new figurative trends, which we will identify and examine in depth, showing also common aspects and eventual criticisms.