Ludger Hovestadt

Treatise on digital architecture Hovestadt’s treatise strictly follows the model of the famous treatises by Vitruvius (De architectura) and Alberti (De re aedificatoria), based on the supposition that we find ourselves in a comparable situation today. Vitruvius and Alberti expressed the meaning of architecture in their eras: Roman antiquity and the Renaissance. Hovestadt has done the same for the present day, incorporating considerations of physics, mathematics, technology, literature, and philosophy. Books 1 to 3 deal with the role of the architect and the objectivity of architecture. Books 4 to 6 address the modalities of speaking about and encoding architecture: the secret, the public, and the private. Books 7 to 10 are dedicated to actual digital mechanisms: artificial intelligence, natural communication, gnomonics, and cultural heritage. An architectural treatise for our age in 10 books Inspired by the works of Vitruvius and Alberti Published in three volumes in the Applied Virtuality series

Treatise on digital architecture Hovestadt’s treatise strictly follows the model of the famous treatises by Vitruvius (De architectura) and Alberti (De re aedificatoria), based on the supposition that we find ourselves in a comparable situation today. Vitruvius and Alberti expressed the meaning of architecture in their eras: Roman antiquity and the Renaissance. Hovestadt has done the same for the present day, incorporating considerations of physics, mathematics, technology, literature, and philosophy. Books I to III deal with the role of the architect and the objectivity of architecture. Books IV to VI address the modalities of speaking about and encoding architecture: the secret, the public, and the private. Books VII to X are dedicated to actual digital mechanisms: artificial intelligence, natural communication, gnomonics, and cultural heritage. An architectural treatise for our age in 10 books Inspired by the works of Vitruvius and Alberti Published in three volumes in the Applied Virtuality Book Series, Vol. 19, 20, and 21

Treatise on digital architecture Hovestadt’s treatise strictly follows the model of the famous treatises by Vitruvius (De architectura) and Alberti (De re aedificatoria), based on the supposition that we find ourselves in a comparable situation today. Vitruvius and Alberti expressed the meaning of architecture in their eras: Roman antiquity and the Renaissance. Hovestadt has done the same for the present day, incorporating considerations of physics, mathematics, technology, literature, and philosophy. Books I to III deal with the role of the architect and the objectivity of architecture. Books IV to VI address the modalities of speaking about and encoding architecture: the secret, the public, and the private. Books VII to X are dedicated to actual digital mechanisms: artificial intelligence, natural communication, gnomonics, and cultural heritage. An architectural treatise for our age in 10 books Inspired by the works of Vitruvius and Alberti Published in three volumes in the Applied Virtuality Book Series Ludger Hovestadt, professor of architecture and CAAD, ETH Zurich

Imagine a world where the power is always on, where there is not just enough energy, but an abundance of it. Such a world is no Utopia, it is a possible reality. Using indefinitely available sources of energy – especially photovoltaic solar, in combination with others – and networking this energy, much in the way that we have networked information, we can get beyond our current energy ‘crisis’ and resolve it. The world we then find ourselves in is not a world without problems – we will face new challenges on the way – but in terms of energy it is a world of plenty. Rooted in sound theory and based on technology that is available now, A Genius Planet offers an accessible but detailed and insightful perspective on how we can free ourselves from our dependency on natural resources and generate, trade, and use energy in ways that open up the genuine potential that we have at our disposal today.

This book shifts the frame of reference for today’s network- and structure oriented discussions from the applied computational tools of the 20th century back to the abstractness of 19th century mathematics. It re-reads George Boole, Richard Dedekind, Hermann Grassmann and Bernhard Riemann in a surprising manner. EigenArchitecture argues for a literacy of the digital, displacing the role of geometrical craftsmanship. Thus, architecture can be liberated from today’s economical, technocratic and bureaucratic straight jackets: from physicalistic optimization, sociological balancing, and ideological naturalizations. The book comprises a programmatic text on the role of technology in architecture, a philosophical text on the generic and on algebraic articulation, and six exemplary projects by postgraduate students in 2012 at the Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design at ETH Zurich, Switzerland.

Professor Ludger Hovestadt’s Institute for Computer-Aided Architectural Design at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich) is widely regarded as one of the world’s most important institutes currently working at the interface between architecture and information technology. The combination of these two makes it possible to see architecture no longer as a separate sphere of technological reality but rather as one element of a society based on information technology. As a universal tool, the computer encourages one to think in terms of information structures and systems that span individual fields. This "rethinking" of the nature of architecture is leading to a paradigm shift at the methodological level of design, planning, construction, and economy. After a decade of experimentation, it has now become possible to see information technology for architecture as the basis for a new and energy-saving practical approach to building. This publication presents the work of the chair for CAAD using numerous examples – from the spectacular Monte Rosa Alpine hut of Andrea Deplazes to the residential development of KCAP.