Broadly, parametric design can be defined as work that is driven by parameters - where certain sets of rules inform the architectural or design output. It does this by looking at some of the key developments in digital thinking within this industry - ranging from the late 19th century until the present day, with continuous emphasis on parametric design.

This report aims to describe the ways in which innovations in digital tools for design and fabrication in architecture have contributed to the way that people experience the built environment today. In the meantime, though, dig into the report below - and join us to consider how looking towards the past may help us anticipate the future. You can pick up the print version of the report and see the data visualisation at SPACE10 Copenhagen. The latter was led by information designer Giorgia Lupi, and essentially consolidates the history you’ll read below into an ebbing and flowing illustration which guides you through key buildings, architectural movements, digital developments, and more.

Claypool wrote the entire piece, whereas Pentagram designed the physical version - as well as the data visualisation included within the pages. To tackle a body of work of this scale, SPACE10 teamed up with architecture theorist Mollie Claypool and design firm Pentagram. How can the digital aid in the creation of new spatial models that are more equitable or inclusive? How have digital design and digital fabrication innovated not only designing and making, but also how we experience the built environment? Are digital tools mere methods that can solve technical problems, or can we extrapolate their potential to change the way we design, build and inhabit our world for a more sustainable future? These are just a few of the questions guiding the creation of this report.

In this context, the increasing proliferation and promise of digital technologies are huge opportunities to shift our shared understandings of the world from an architectural perspective. ‘Interactivity and connectivity to virtual data and digital information will be stronger than ever before.’ ‘In the future, digital tools will come… closer to our human bodies, enabling us to more conveniently access and utilise digital information in our daily lives,’ says architect and designer Soomeen Hahm. This fundamental shift is not lost on the architecture industry.

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