Architecture and computing: determinism or mediation? From a computer paradigm to digital tectonics

This paper is a response to Kenneth Frampton’s reviews of computer based architectural practices. It is suggested that Frampton’s position stems from the determinist theory of technology as detailed in “Towards a Critical Regionalism”. In response to this, it is argued in the paper that the study of computer architecture requires an analysis that supersedes the simplifications of determinism. It is the desire of this paper to demonstrate that digital architecture is a vast field of exploration where the exchanges between technology and culture are of extreme importance. It is, as such, paramount to understand this when endeavouring to conceive the emergence of the new approximations that represent important transformations in the undertaking of this profession.