Full Article:

The concept of tectonics in architecture has evolved constantly in the past two centuries, but since the beginning of the “Digital Era” these theoretical changes have gained substance, and the term has been called “digital tectonics". There is still uncertainty, however, whether this new approach within computational process maintains the seminal poetical aspect of Frampton’s definition. This study examines the emerging meanings of digital tectonics in the context of the traditional perspective, considering the main authors and recently published papers. The results show that, despite few arguments in favor of the contradiction between the words tectonics and digital, there are many similarities in the way the tectonics elements are manipulated in both the traditional and computational design processes. The insights gained from this study may be of assistance to discussions regarding the role of tectonics in the design thinking in the context of computational logics and digital fabrication