Much like most industries, the architecture industry as well has never come to a standstill. With the evolution of humans, the design and construction of buildings have also evolved. The past few decades have seen considerable shifts from traditional concepts and practices.
All these changes bring up the question: what will the architecture of the future look like?
The digitization of an increasing number of things has undoubtedly reached the architecture industry as well. The human population is continuously growing, and therefore, the supply of resources is continually dwindling. Architects are now faced with questions such as: how can the limited resources be used most efficiently?
The answer to that is Smart Cities. Research shows that the rapid changes in technology will soon give rise to smart cities, monitored through countless sensors. Sensors will track our movements and work to decrease our energy consumptions to a minimum.
Computer-aided design is used by a majority of industries nowadays, and the architecture industry is no different. Parametric design essentially allows the designer to compute various types of outputs by merely adjusting the parameters.
The parametric design takes designing a notch upward as it allows the user to carry out tasks that were impossible to do through traditional modeling software. With the aid of the computer's cold calculations, architects can design imaginative buildings that have never been seen before.
BIM or Building Information Model is by no means a new concept - however, it has recently started gaining more traction. There are several benefits it can provide to its users. Architects can use it to design 3d models and store them in multi-client databases - the model can be used and modified by several people simultaneously.
As more and more people become aware of it, there is no doubt that it will soon become the leading design in the architecture industry. The idea that all architecture will be made through Virtual Reality one day is slowly but surely becoming our reality.
Assisted robotics is more probable than some may think. It essentially involves a human and a robot working in collaboration to carry out specific tasks - in this case, architecture and construction.
With the increasing use of robotics in manufacturing, soon, algorithms will be valuing which material to use in any construction project and how much. 3D printers will bring those models to life, further pushing the limits to computerized designs.
As with architecture itself, the future of architects is also changing in front of our very eyes. In the near future, architects' role is likely to differ significantly from what it is today. These studies may no longer focus on only the calculations part of it, but rather, they may need to specialize in several other fields as well if they are to keep up with the changing industry. Such diversity in studies will not only be the exception, but it is likely to become the rule instead.
