Enabling variations and dimensions of Technology in architecture: a complex debate

Abstract

The definition of enabling technologies highlights a still partially unsolved question. The so-called KETs are identified and remodulated according to the variability of financial markets and leading industrial production sectors. It is not surprising that the debate and experimentation on them has affected the field of Architecture with a preference for the digitization aspects.

In the disciplines of Architecture, however, it is important to focus on the technology that not only anticipates or solves problems thanks to the digital processes and devices, but it also contributes to enabling multiple states of co-evolutionary adaptivity between bios and techne.

On these questions, the issue of the enabling role of technology has been brought to the attention of some researchers who deal with the multiple challenges posed by technological innovations with respect to the complexities of doing Architecture. The contributions of Nicola Emery, Maurizio Ferraris, and Paolo Tombesi highlighted that the problem is not to classify, reorientate, deny, or exalt techniques as more or less enabling resources. A much more complex scenario emerges concerning the theoretical, anthropological, and methodological aspects of designing. The real challenge is to regain possession of the technological skills to connect or recompose different technical levels in an enabling, plural, and multidimensional organic vision, to guarantee, consolidate and improve our behavioral and housing attitudes.