Oculus - Winter 2015 - (Page 11)

Letter from the editor Letter from a Luddite ©Sam Lahoz, digitized by K+G Panic Graphics first words Editor, digitized. I was tempted to leave the rest of this page blank. Approaching this issue brought out technophobias I didn't know I had. Of course, I know about the digital world and its ever-growing influence on architecture and all things design. I know the names of the programs, apps, and systems, and what they're used for and why. But I didn't understand how they work. Not that I really do now, but I know a lot more, and the phobias have retreated. Pulling this issue together put me on a fasttrack learning curve, which turned out to be great fun. We are delighted that Troy Conrad Therrien, curator, Architecture and Digital Initiatives at the Guggenheim Museum, accepted our invitation to pen the Opener. He seemed a natural choice, after overseeing the Guggenheim's "Åzone Futures Market" online exhibition, and the Åzone Terminal currently installed at the Center for Architecture at the Seaport until the end of the year. The academic-corporate incubator The Bridge at Cornell Tech will not only connect students, academics, and infotech businesses, but also help integrate Roosevelt Island into the city. Project Soane has architects worldwide working to restore Soane's legendary Bank of England - virtually. A high-tech approach creates a 21st-century building in SoHo that echoes the neighborhood's 19thcentury past with a contemporary twist. A small firm takes matters - and technology - into its own hands for big results. Two takes on how Big Data and technology are reshaping architecture. An architecture firm launches a research arm that uses geospatial and visualization technologies to help human rights groups around the world. And finally, a look at how drawing with digital tools is no less liberating than using pen and ink. In our regular departments, "One Block Over" gives us a bit of respite from technology overload with a look at how The Battery has rebounded from Superstorm Sandy to become a major waterfront oasis. IBM's 1964 World's Fair pavilion, the focus of "51-Year Watch," showed off the era's cutting-edge computer technology within a gigantic Selectric typewriter ball. And "In Print" cheers a collection of essays by Rybczynski and a "sumptuous" history of the legendary Dakota apartment building, among others. Once, not long ago, "grasshopper" was an insect that chirps cheerfully on summer nights, "rhino" was an endangered animal, and "rev it" is what the mechanic would tell me to do when he was tuning my car's engine. Now, their namesakes are allowing architects and designers to create marvels only dreamt of, not that long ago. Kristen Richards, Hon. AIA, Hon. ASLA kristen@ArchNewsNow.com Correction: In the Fall 2015 issue "Home Game," page 28, BanG studio should have been credited for the design of the residential portion of City Point's Tower 1. Reinventing Architecture: Design in a Digital World Winter 2015 Oculus 11

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Oculus - Winter 2015

First Words Letter from Two Presidents
Letter from the Editor
Center for Architecture
One Block Over
Opener: Practical Attitudes
ICE in the River: Cornell Tech’s Center of Connectivity
Restoring – At Least Virtually – One of England’s Greatest Lost Buildings
At the Corner of Past and Present
The Design-Fabrication Dynamic
How Big Data is Reshaping Architecture
Architecture at the Digital Edge
3D for the Defense
Thinking Beyond the Flat Page
In Print
51-Year Watch
Last Words
Index to Advertisers

Oculus - Winter 2015