Archaeology of the Digital: Complexity and Convention

15/06/2016. Exhibition at CCA [Montreal] Canada 11.05.2016>16.10.2016
metalocus, PALOMA DE LA QUINTANA

The CCA presents its third exhibition of the program Archaeology of the Digital, a cycle that reflects on how digital technologies have progressively redefined architectural practice and reshaped architectural theory. The project is comprised of in-depth research into digital architecture and a historical reading of its trajectory from early experiments in the 1980s to the early 2000s.

Sections of the Chemnitz Stadium by Peter Kulka with Ulrich Königs, 1995. Photograph Gift of Ulrich Koenigs. © Peter Kulka with Ulrich Koenigs. Image courtesy of Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.

Sections of the Chemnitz Stadium by Peter Kulka with Ulrich Königs, 1995. Photograph Gift of Ulrich Koenigs. © Peter Kulka with Ulrich Koenigs. Image courtesy of Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.

Rendering of space frame of BMW Welt by COOP HIMMELB(L)AU records, 2003. Photograph Gift of COOP HIMMELB(L)AU. © COOP HIMMELB(L)AU. Image courtesy of Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.

Jyväskylä Music and Arts Center (competition): Flow rendering by OCEAN North, 1997. Photograph Gift of Johan Bettum and Kivi Sotamaa. © OCEAN North. Image courtesy of Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.

Kansai National Diet Library (competition): Site plan by Reiser + Umemoto, 1997. Photograph Gift of RUR Architecture. © RUR Architecture. Image courtesy of Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.

Eyebeam Atelier Museum (competition): Screen capture of Rhinoceros 3D file by Preston Scott Cohen, 2001. Photograph Gift of Preston Scott Cohen. © Preston Scott Cohen. Image courtesy of Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.

Water Flux (unbuilt): Rendering of the structure by R&Sie(n), 2003. Photograph Gift of New-Territories/R&Sie(n) by Francois Roche, Stéphanie Lavaux. Image courtesy of Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.

Hypo Alpe-Adria Center: Rendered aerial view by Morphosis, 1996. Photograph Gift of Morphosis. © Morphosis. Image courtesy of Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.

Chemnitz Stadium (competition): Photograph of model by Peter Kulka with Ulrich Königs, 1995. Photograph Gift of Ulrich Koenigs. Image courtesy of Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.

Villa Nurbs by Cloud 9, 2009. Photograph Gift of Enric Ruiz Geli. © Enric Ruiz Geli/Cloud 9. Image courtesy of Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.

Installation view of “Archaeology of the Digital: Complexity and Convention”. Photograph © CCA, Montréal. Image courtesy of Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, 2015.

Photograph of model of the BMW Welt by COOP HIMMELB(L)AU, 2004. Photograph Gift of COOP HIMMELB(L)AU. © COOP HIMMELB(L)AU. Image courtesy of Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal.

Curated by Greg Lynn, Complexity and Convention is the third and final exhibition of the CCA’s Archaeology of the Digital program, in which twenty-five seminal projects are collected, catalogued, preserved, and made available for research. The project constitutes a precise inquiry into the relationship between architecture and digital technologies in order to increase understanding of the design process while addressing the challenges of preserving digital archives and ensuring their future accessibility.

The research has resulted in a new acquisition strategy for born-digital material and the formation of a digital archive composed of 25 key projects designed by some of the protagonists central to debates during the period in question. Each of the projects represents particular theoretical directions and technological experimentation that have influenced recent architectural history.

The first two exhibitions—Archaeology of the Digital in 2013 and Media and Machines in 2014—featured projects for which entirely new technological tools were conceived and developed, such as Frank Gehry’s Lewis Residence, Peter Eisenman’s Biozentrum, Chuck Hoberman’s Expanding Sphere, Asymptote’s NYSE Virtual Trading Floor, or dECOi Architects’ Hyposurface, among others. The third and final exhibition in the series focuses on how a group of international firms active during the 1990s through 2000s adapted such new technologies and integrated them in architectural practice: this was the period during which digital technology moved from exception to norm.

Whereas the curatorial method of the first two exhibitions emphasized individual projects based on their distinct and clearly defined digital approaches, the organization is more synthetic in the third exhibition. Instead of isolating singular practices, Complexity and Convention shows commonalities, hybridizations, and cross-pollinations of the digital medium and methods. These shared approaches and tools are viewed through the lens of five themes: High-Fidelity 3D, Topology and Topography, Photorealism, Data and Structure and Cladding.

Included are a range of built and unbuilt projects:

Erasmus Bridge (Rotterdam, The Netherlands; 1990–1996) by Van Berkel & Bos Architects
Chemnitz Stadium (Chemnitz, Germany;1995) by Peter Kulka with Ulrich Königs
O/K Apartment (New York, USA;1995–1997) by Kolatan/Mac Donald Studio
Yokohama International Port Terminal (Yokohama, Japan; 1995–2002) by Foreign Office Architects
Interrupted Projections (Tokyo, Japan; 1996) by Neil M. Denari Architects
Kansai National Diet Library (Kyoto, Japan; 1996) by Reiser + Umemoto
Hypo Alpe-Adria Center (Klagenfurt, Austria; 1996–2002) by Morphosis
Jyväskylä Music and Arts Center (Jyväskylä, Finland;1997) by OCEAN North
Witte Arts Center (Green Bay, USA; 2000) by Office dA
Phaeno Science Centre (Wolfsburg, Germany; 2000–2005) by Zaha Hadid Architects
Villa Nurbs (Empuriabrava, Spain; 2000-2015) by Cloud 9
Eyebeam Atelier Museum (New York, USA; 2001) by Preston Scott Cohen
Carbon Tower (prototype, 2001) by Testa & Weiser
BMW Welt (Munich, Germany; 2001–2007) by COOP HIMMELB(L)AU
Water Flux (Évolène, Switzerland; 2002-2010) by R&Sie(n)

These projects, alongside those of the two preceding exhibitions, are part of an ambitious acquisition strategy that establishes a cohesive history of this transformative period in architecture. These born-digital project archives are acquired as the result of the close collaboration and generous contributions of the architects involved.