Digital anonymity. Human-machine interaction in architectural design

Abstract

The paper seeks to define the concept of digital anonymity. Digital anonymity is defined as the autopoietic condition of architectural design in the digital era, a state in which the combination of decontextualisation and depersonalisation of the design process leads towards emergent and anonymous design results.

Starting from the analysis of principles coming from the architectural world and then extending their definitions to considerations relative to other disciplines, the paper tries to delineate a new ethic of human-machine interaction and integration in the current architectural discipline. 

The evidence suggests that digital anonymity is the touchstone of an ongoing evolutionary process, which is translating architectural design into its new digital realm.