ARCH427: 3D Modeling in CAD Alan Pang
Homework 3: Francois Roche and Stephanie Lavaux Lecture
In the method of using computers, more specifically 3D modeling, to
communicate design intent and help make further decisions architects are merely
following convention. The process which Roche employs takes computer aided design to
a whole new level. While a computer has been a tool employed for drawing in the past
and present, the computers, or robots, which Roche uses are truly computer aided design.
The computer takes on a larger role in the process of design.
The project which best emphasizes this process which Roche has employed so
often would seem to be his concrete distributing machine. The human is almost
completely removed from the equation, with the machine being designed to lay concrete
to create a structure. The human factor only comes into play in the origins of this
machine; constructing it and creating algorithms or some sort of program to allow it to
build successfully.
Not only is this pushing computer aided design to the next level, but almost seems
to push architecture to a new level. Roche spoke of how as an architect, we are
metaphorically flying, seeing everything, but rarely allowed to land. This metaphor
explains how an architect never is allowed to learn everything, but only brings the skills
of others together in order to design a structure. By building these machines, it is almost a
manifestation of this metaphor. Roche is bringing together the many skills needed to
build a structure and placing them into a machine. Whether it is the power necessary to
physically construct or the knowledge needed to create a standing structure.
Though it seems that the human factor is completely removed from a machine
which builds on its own, the human is nonetheless present. The design of the structure
