Versioning - The New Trace Paper

In the SHoP article on versioning, the authors describe a new direction in architectural design in which computer algorithms are used to create design possibilities. In a way this seems to be an extension of the process of using many rolls of trace to create variants of design ideas. The computer simply allows the designer to generate many more options in much less time.

Versioning, however, takes a leap forward from the trace paper process in that it allows the designer to see possibilities that go beyond his/her imagination or time constraints. This, at first, may seem like a surrender of the architect's influence on the design. What is really happening here, though, is an extension of the design process into realms of space conception that may be influenced by more than architectural precedent and known building methods.

The promise and difficulty of the exponential increase of technological development should be a serious concern to anyone involved in the construction of buildings. The ability for a designer to constantly absorb new techniques is somewhat limited, not mention the capacity for one to imagine the best combinations and uses of those technologies. Versioning is way in which a designer can create frameworks the allow for the assimilation of new developments.