Crowdsourcing Architecture
A study of distributed cognitive systems and their
role in facilitating transformative practice

Philosophical epistemes have influenced architecture for millennia. Platonic rationalism championed a utopian and moralistic trinity of firmitas, utilitas, and venustas. Kantian idealism emphasized the primacy of embodiment as the noblest of objectives. Lockean empirical methods sanctioned the incrementalism of archeological and ethnographic science. And constructivist theories of self-organization have powered the development of autopoietic systems. Such shifts notwithstanding, Vitruvian principles still dominate theory and practice. Moreover, as specialization continues to emphasize sociological divisions between building designers, interior designers, landscape architects and others, it is perhaps not surprising that academic theoreticians are ‘further removed from practice and from buildings than ever’.

While computer-aided design (CAD) has delivered sophisticated capabilities across a range of disciplines, its ability to generate ideas (ideation) has been rather superficial. Indeed, studies reveal that CAD’s emphasis on production has constrained creative flow and bounded ideation to ‘surface over space’. We argue that as the nascent field of transformation design begins to reconfigure notions of creative authorship and the role of practice, architectural tools that perpetuate Vitruvian principles of firmness, utility and delight no longer seem adequate. As recent support for Maslow’s ‘theory of motivation’ suggests, the two human scales most neglected by the Vitruvian system – ‘physiological’ and ‘self-actualization’ needs are directly linked to current epidemics of obesity and clinical depression.

Clearly, cultural shifts toward extrinsic goals such as materialism and status and away from intrinsic goals such as personal meaning and affiliation have come at a cost. In an attempt to counter such biases, we propose future CAD tools begin to prioritize the role of ‘user’ rather than ‘expert’. According to the Design Council: ‘because transformation design is about applying design skills in non-traditional territories, it often results in non-traditional design outputs. Projects have resulted in the creation of new roles, new organizations, new systems and new policies. These designers are just as likely to shape a job description, as they are a new product’. Thus, if design thinking is to operate beyond CAD’s traditional form-making role, alternative crowdsourcing tools must begin to address all scales (levels) of human motivation.

Keywords: CAD, crowdsourcing architecture, transformation design, hierarchy of needs

thesis abstract by G M Munro