Techniques and Technology

Techniques and Technology

By, Rahim Ali


In his essay "Techniques and Technology" Rahim Ali talks about the relationship between three easily confusable words, Technology, Technical, and Technique. The Relationship he says is something called the "technology and cultural feedback loop." In this relationship new technologies effect the way artists and professionals do their work. These changes in techniques force new innovations in technology and the loop starts all over again. The technical efficiency helps show the productivity of a new technology with a new technique. This is measured numerically and is independent of outside forces that would usually judge a technologies success This relationship can be seen extremely clearly in architectural design in the last ten to fifteen years. The new technology of digital design has revolutionized the techniques used by architects to do their jobs.
Ali exams the work of the Eameses brothers who created create fiberglass chairs that have become the cheap and typical chair of many schools and other institutions. He walks the reader through the development of the chair's technology and then its effect on society by providing a extremely efficient, cheap, chairs to the market place. His main focus is not on the success of the chair, but on the innovation needed behind it. The brothers had successful plywood designs and laminated wood designs, but those designs had flaws, and by adopting new technology they changed their technique and over came their design flaws. Their practice was busy exploring new ways to fill the void for low cost durable chairs. When they discovered the use of fiberglass from a set designer, they created new techniques to use the technology effectively. Soon fiberglass was being used in many applications it originally wasn't intended for, but the extra uses raised the technology (fiberglass) to a new level of relevancy.
The new chairs in turn effected culture and society greatly and eventually became so popular they became monotonous with large institutional settings. The story of the Eameses brothers is to show how technology is pushed forward by the innovative and creative techniques of the Eameses brothers.
Ali writes about how technology that may have been revolutionary just five years ago is common place in firms today. Noticing that technology is quickly changing is key to a firm that may become stuck in design techniques that are out dated in a mere couple of years. To stay current a firm must adopt temporal techniques. This means taking a "bottom up" approach to architecture. The process is "non-linear" and has less formal structure then the usually design process. It stresses lots of exploration of new ideas and intensive analysis. The bottom-up method also creates a building that has many elements designed in unison making the final project a more united piece of work. The use of technology is vital in this process. The computer makes organization of analysis and working on a building as a whole easier. It allows the designer to discover new patterns and ideas that might have been lost or unforeseeable otherwise. It also makes innovation easier and more possible to explore.
Digital design has allowed temporal techniques to become effective in architecture. The technology changed the way architects work and practice. These temporal techniques allow for maximum innovation in design and force the need for newer technologies and better computer programs. Therefore after adopting digital design it is important to keep a open mind and continue to innovate. An architects cannot be become entrenched in a single design method or attached to a single computer program, but must be willing to adapt and be flexible enough to change the techniques and programs he or she uses extremely quickly.
Ali makes a valuable point about "the Loop" he recognizes the need for innovation in the techniques used by architects to force the computer programmers to create new and better products. He also promotes a work place that is maneuverable and adaptable to a quickly changing world. In all the most important thing to learn from this essay is that the architecture design world is changing all the time (if we notice or not) and innovation in technique is just important to stay one step ahead of the competition as the newest computer program is. Following linear and rigid design technique will not continuously produce original work even if done on the latest technology.