The Future Of Architecture: No Architects

Could new technologies, such as nanotechnology, make architecture irrelevant?

1 minute read

June 12, 2002, 11:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"Nanotechnology alone offers exciting and disquieting possibilities. Originally proposed by Nobel physicist Richard Feynman forty years ago, nanotech manipulates individual atoms and molecules to build things—anything, in fact. Experts anticipate that within the next few decades, large-scale objects, including buildings, could be fabricated using microscopic robots called assemblers, which would join to make a cybernetic glue, able to assume any shape and size. Such an instrument would eliminate traditional constraints of design and construction. Standard, irreducible components, such as the 2 X 4, the brick, steel shapes, nails and screws, will be replaced by microscopic parts. Form, texture, color, and strength would be defined at the cellular level. Orthogonal geometry, demanded for efficiency by standard frame construction, could disappear altogether."

Thanks to ArchNewsNow

Tuesday, June 11, 2002 in Architectural Record

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