Beyond the Grid — Architecture and Information Technology

Professor Ludger Hovestadt’s Institute for Computer-Aided Architectural Design at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich is widely regarded as one of the world’s most important institutes currently working at the interface between architecture and information technology. The combination of these two makes it possible to see architecture no longer as a separate sphere of technological reality but rather as one element of a society based on information technology. As a universal tool, the computer encourages one to think in terms of information structures and systems that span individual fields. This "rethinking" of the nature of architecture is leading to a paradigm shift at the methodological level of design, planning, construction, and economy. After a decade of experimentation, it has now become possible to see information technology for architecture as the basis for a new and energy-saving practical approach to building. This publication presents the work of the chair for CAAD using numerous examples – from the Monte Rosa Alpine hut of Andrea Deplazes to the residential development of KCAP.