Jon kindly gave us permission to embed the movie above and as part of the team behind Wikitecture – possibly one of the most defining projects in the new age of collaborative virtual architecture – The Arch is always worth a look.

The discussion continues in a longer post on Jon’s site.

Of course getting organisations, architectural schools, planners, urban designers, students and all the other players in the city design process to use these new worlds is a still an uphill struggle.

These are however early days….

The post Virtual Space, Wikitecture and Shaping Buildings: The View from The Arch appeared first on Digital Urban.

Jon kindly gave us permission to embed the movie above and as part of the team behind Wikitecture – possibly one of the most defining projects in the new age of collaborative virtual architecture – The Arch is always worth a look.

The discussion continues in a longer post on Jon’s site.

Of course getting organisations, architectural schools, planners, urban designers, students and all the other players in the city design process to use these new worlds is a still an uphill struggle.

These are however early days….

The post Virtual Space, Wikitecture and Shaping Buildings: The View from The Arch appeared first on Digital Urban.

The project states that

Analogously, the concept of Source Code is readily found in the everyday practice of architecture in forms of drawings, agendas, documentations, ideas, specifications, and material libraries. However, none of the above, with the seldom exception of ‘ideas’, are freely redistributable, publicized, or allow for criticism and input akin to what an open-source model offers. The architectural practice, today, is skewed towards personal benefit and gratification of individual architects. Thus, the laws protect creative property, on one hand, but are constricting and oppose collaborative creativity that could contribute more rapidly to architectural theory and practice.

Moreover, architectural practice could benefit greatly from the transparency of process that open-source module employs. If the design processes, planning, and the general production sequence from design to construction were observable, architects would take on pedagogical role as well. That is especially important in architecture, where training is not a straight forward process.

It an interesting concept and one that we applaud – take a look at http://arch1k.wikidot.com/ for full details and how to take part.

Also take a look at our posts on Wikitecture – a similar idea taking place in Second Life.

The post Wiki Architecture: Open Source Architecture – The White House appeared first on Digital Urban.

The project states that

Analogously, the concept of Source Code is readily found in the everyday practice of architecture in forms of drawings, agendas, documentations, ideas, specifications, and material libraries. However, none of the above, with the seldom exception of ‘ideas’, are freely redistributable, publicized, or allow for criticism and input akin to what an open-source model offers. The architectural practice, today, is skewed towards personal benefit and gratification of individual architects. Thus, the laws protect creative property, on one hand, but are constricting and oppose collaborative creativity that could contribute more rapidly to architectural theory and practice.

Moreover, architectural practice could benefit greatly from the transparency of process that open-source module employs. If the design processes, planning, and the general production sequence from design to construction were observable, architects would take on pedagogical role as well. That is especially important in architecture, where training is not a straight forward process.

It an interesting concept and one that we applaud – take a look at http://arch1k.wikidot.com/ for full details and how to take part.

Also take a look at our posts on Wikitecture – a similar idea taking place in Second Life.

The post Wiki Architecture: Open Source Architecture – The White House appeared first on Digital Urban.

Can mass collaboration and collective intelligence improve the quality of architecture and urban planning?

Ryan and Jon are both architects exploring the potential of systems such as Second Life for collaborative design. In their own words, Wikitecture’s central aim is to explore that question by applying an open-source paradigm to the design and poduction of architecture and urban planning.

In much the same way Wikipedia enables a loose, self-organizing network of contributors to collaborate on content creation, they have been experimenting with ways to bring together a diverse and geographically disperse community of individuals to create an architecturally noteworthy design that, in the end, is more than the sum of its parts. One of the single problems of collaborative design in virtual environments is often the interface itself. The key to mass participation is an easy to use menu system allowing designs to be submitted, edited and viewed.

Wikitecture uses a unique ‘tree’ display system linked to a central column, pictured below:

The best way to understand the interface is to sit back and watch the introductory movie, it all becomes clear when the leaves start appearing on the tree, inspiring work:

The project is now well underway, with over 40 contributers and 50 designs the concept is as intriguing as it is unique, the movie below provides a view of the work to date:

Studio Wikitecture assumes the principles of good design are universal enough that they can be learned in one discipline and applied in some fashion to another. Through Studio Wikitecture, Brouchoud and Schultz are trying to provide a channel where these individuals can apply their skills to the design of a building.

Take a look at The Arch and StudioWikitecture.com for full details and information on how to take part.

The post Wikitecture: Architecture in Second Life, Progress. appeared first on Digital Urban.

Can mass collaboration and collective intelligence improve the quality of architecture and urban planning?

Ryan and Jon are both architects exploring the potential of systems such as Second Life for collaborative design. In their own words, Wikitecture’s central aim is to explore that question by applying an open-source paradigm to the design and production of architecture and urban planning.

In much the same way Wikipedia enables a loose, self-organizing network of contributors to collaborate on content creation, they have been experimenting with ways to bring together a diverse and geographically disperse community of individuals to create an architecturally noteworthy design that, in the end, is more than the sum of its parts. One of the single problems of collaborative design in virtual environments is often the interface itself. The key to mass participation is an easy to use menu system allowing designs to be submitted, edited and viewed.

Wikitecture uses a unique ‘tree’ display system linked to a central column, pictured below:

The best way to understand the interface is to sit back and watch the introductory movie, it all becomes clear when the leaves start appearing on the tree, inspiring work:

Studio Wikitecture assumes the principles of good design are universal enough that they can be learned in one discipline and applied in some fashion to another. Through Studio Wikitecture, Brouchoud and Schultz are trying to provide a channel where these individuals can apply their skills to the design of a building.

This does not negate the fact that a certain foundational knowledge is still necessary to design a building that will actually function and stand up, but SW feels that this knowledge can be acquired through a number of channels and should not be restricted to just architects and their particular educational path.

Take a look at The Arch and StudioWikitecture.com for full details and information on how to take part.

The post Collaborative Virtual Architecture – Wikitecture appeared first on Digital Urban.

Can mass collaboration and collective intelligence improve the quality of architecture and urban planning?

Ryan and Jon are both architects exploring the potential of systems such as Second Life for collaborative design. In their own words, Wikitecture’s central aim is to explore that question by applying an open-source paradigm to the design and production of architecture and urban planning.

In much the same way Wikipedia enables a loose, self-organizing network of contributors to collaborate on content creation, they have been experimenting with ways to bring together a diverse and geographically disperse community of individuals to create an architecturally noteworthy design that, in the end, is more than the sum of its parts. One of the single problems of collaborative design in virtual environments is often the interface itself. The key to mass participation is an easy to use menu system allowing designs to be submitted, edited and viewed.

Wikitecture uses a unique ‘tree’ display system linked to a central column, pictured below:

The best way to understand the interface is to sit back and watch the introductory movie, it all becomes clear when the leaves start appearing on the tree, inspiring work:

Studio Wikitecture assumes the principles of good design are universal enough that they can be learned in one discipline and applied in some fashion to another. Through Studio Wikitecture, Brouchoud and Schultz are trying to provide a channel where these individuals can apply their skills to the design of a building.

This does not negate the fact that a certain foundational knowledge is still necessary to design a building that will actually function and stand up, but SW feels that this knowledge can be acquired through a number of channels and should not be restricted to just architects and their particular educational path.

Take a look at The Arch and StudioWikitecture.com for full details and information on how to take part.

The post Collaborative Virtual Architecture – Wikitecture appeared first on Digital Urban.