Glitch architecture

Abstract

Architectural designs are visualised on computer screens through arrays of pixels and vectors. These representations differ from the reality of buildings, which over time will unavoidably age and decay. How, then, do digital designs age over time? Do we interpret glitching as a sudden malfunction or fault in the computation of the design’s underlying data, or as digital decay resulting not from the wear and tear of tangible materials but from the decomposition of the binary code, or from system changes that cannot appropriately interpret the data? By exploring a series of experimental design practices for deployments and understandings that are the consequence of malfunctions during computational processing, glitches are reinterpreted. Advancing from two-dimensional glitch art techniques into three-dimensional interpretations, the research employs a methodology of systematic iterative processes to explore design emergence based on glitches. The study presents digital architectural form existing solely in the digital realm, as an architectural interpretation of computational glitches through both its design process and aesthetic outcome. Thus, this research intends to bring a level of authenticity to the field through three-dimensional interpretations of glitch in an architectural form.