Architecture is changing along with the rest of our technology. There is the constantly present desire, for instance, for our buildings to be ‘responsive’. Architects, since the beginning of the Modern movement at least, have been incessantly pushing back on the dominating aspects of architecture. In this view, architecture restrains our liberty. It becomes a concrete image of history restricting the freedom of the present. Over time, this desire to free the individual from architecture has taken the form of the open plan, flexible spaces, and temporary buildings that can be reassembled to accommodate changing needs. More recently, architects have been attempting to make architecture that will literally ‘respond’ either to the individual or to other aspects of the environment in real-time. Some examples of this include Jean Novel’s Arab World Institute, where south-facing apertures adjust to levels of sunlight, the MIT-based PlaceLab, where a built-in computer will “sensitively adjust lighting and interior climate in response to your current activities,”[1] and Philip Beesley’s kinetic sculptures, large plastic billowing matrices that move in response to the presence of spectators. Although these projects are very different, they all incorporate contemporary technology to render architecture immediately responsive.
[1] Mitchell, PW, p.64
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