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" Digi-Tech: "
Moore, Steven John
Wright, Eric
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1112335
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| Doc. No
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TLpq2528195199
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| Main Entry
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Moore, Steven John
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Wright, Eric
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| Title & Author
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Digi-Tech:\ Moore, Steven JohnWright, Eric
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| College
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University of Johannesburg (South Africa)
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| Date
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2019
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| student score
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2019
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| Degree
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M.Tech.
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| Page No
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127
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| Abstract
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The American architect, Nicolas Negroponte, known for his work on the shift between the physical and digital states of value, critiques modern society’s means of consumption within the digital economy. He states that “the change from atoms to bits is irrevocable and unstoppable, the changes are exponential - small differences of yesterday can have suddenly shocking consequences tomorrow” (Negroponte 1995:185). This proposal takes on Negroponte’s four points of critique as potential architectural informants for successful futures - an architecture that is decentralised, global, harmonious and empowering. Negroponte made a variety of technological predictions in 1984 that ranged from touch operated devices to smart multi-functional televisions. In the 80’s these would have seemed farfetched, however they are now commonplace in most households. Negroponte frames the shift from physical to digital living as moving from atoms to bits where physical goods are categorised as atoms and digital information as bits (Negroponte 1995: 12). Modern living has developed into a complex set of physical and digital reliance’s. From simple text interfacing for communication to super-smart organisations, it can be argued that all urban dwellers live in-between the bit and the atom, at varying scales, in varying states. The proposed project is situated within our physical reality, a world that is rapidly and increasingly being digitised. The proposal argues that although global forces of capital are perpetually creating, claiming and commodifying new territories within the digital realm, these territories cannot be separated from the physical reality to which they are associated with and made possible by. In this work I coin the term Digi-Tech, a variation on the terms ‘low-tech’ and ‘high-tech’, to talk about systems and spaces that require, sustain, or involve predominantly digital environments. My understanding of the Digi-Tech territory is embodied in the unique characteristics of cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency, a decentralized digital currency, operates independently from the traditional global banking system. The value of cryptocurrencies is determined by the computing power of interlinked physical computers on a global network of users. This reliance on the physical to create value in the digital is where my research and Major Design Project is located. The term Digi-Tech is also employed as an evolved version of the late 70’s architectural modernist movement, ‘High- Tech’, whose originators include Norman Foster, Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano. If High-Tech architecture embodies a belief in the power of new technologies to improve the world, so too does Digi-Tech. If ‘High-tech’ did this by incorporating elements of the contemporary high-tech industries and advanced construction techniques into building design, this project aspires to similar leaps forward, imagining how Digi-Tech assimilates digital forces in the making of a new architecture. Johannesburg will be the biggest city in Africa by 2030 in terms of its GDP (Phakathi 2016: 1). The city once fuelled in its aggressive development by the exploitation of natural resources, is now in a state of flux. Currently the economy is shifting states from relying on its geological advantage to now becoming more reliant on information exchange and digital trade value. My Major Design Project identifies three spaces in Johannesburg where physical-digital reliance can be observed; The Johannesburg Stock Exchange in Sandton, North of Johannesburg, City Deep, Africa’s largest inland port South East of Johannesburg CDB and the Tshimologong precinct in Braamfontein, known for the progressive nature of the creating of digital innovation and content. These study sites serve as informants to the physical and digital reliance’s in the proposal. It is the intent of the project to push the current potential of this shifting state between the physical and digital to new architectural possibilities for an inevitably more-digital future. Our cities are becoming smarter and our lives are beginning to shift into more digital networked spaces of work, social interaction and escapism. This project puts forward alternative ways to navigate these new territories, allowing people to access, experience and better understand the Digi-Tech territory. The Major Design Project, Digi–Tech, Architecture Between Physical and Digital States, identifies Digi–Tech as a new architectural movement and uses this architectural classification as a driver for a temporary event-based pavilion located within the Fakugesi digital innovation festival at the Tshimologong precinct in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. The project aims to construct a fleeting version of what Digi-tech can be conceived to be.
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Architecture
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Digital currencies
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Digitization
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Infrastructure
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Land use
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Stock exchanges
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