The Rise of the 'Invisible Detail': Ubiquitous Computing and the 'Minimum Meaningful'. (July 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ratti, Carlo; Claudel, Matthew; Garcia, Mark
• Is Part Of: Architectural design. Volume 84:Number 4(2014:Jul./Aug.)
• Page Start: 86
• Page End: 91
• Publication Date: 2014-07
• Subjects: 729
• DOI: 10.1002/ad.1785
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-8504

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>The architectural detail has provided the essential material building block for conveying an idea. <bold>Carlo Ratti and Matthew Claudel</bold> of the SENSEable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) ask how this, though, is all set to change in a digital context. As technologies shrink and vanish from sight, what might become the new minimum meaningful unit for architecture? How might a new relational scale establish itself, at the level of the 'invisible detail' or the microchip? How might this, in turn, change the very nature of buildings as they become highly responsive, human‐occupied transmitters?</p> </abstract>