A Tour of 'Archaeology of the Digital' at CCA by Greg Lynn

With computer software (CAD and BIM), digital fabrication, and other technologies firmly entrenched in architectural production, Lynn's three-part Archaeology of the Digital exhibitions looked back as far as the late 1980s, when a only a few architects were exploring digital tools in architectural design. Complexity and Convention (a subtle nod to Robert Venturi's seminal Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture) "comprises twenty-five projects for which digital materials are integral to an understanding of the design process," per the CCA. The projects, many of them built, span from UNStudio's Erasmus Bridge (1996) to Coop Himmelb(l)au's BMW Welt (2007). Artifacts include construction drawings, photographs, renderings, models, films, and immersive technologies that emphasize how much technology has expanded in the hands of architects since the late 1980s.