Building Technology Evolution

Eons ago, when designing the Mastabat al-Fir’aun at Saqqaras, the great Egyptian architect Imhotep conceived the idea of stacking “mastabas” (simple stone benches) on top of one another, like giant bricks, to sculpt a vast reclining edifice. This stepped monolith created two things: firstly, a gateway to heaven for the soul of the Egyptian King Djoser. Secondly, a revolution in construction design. The resolution of these and similar Egyptian structures of that time, such as the famous pyramids of Giza, demonstrate a crude but intuitive approach to building construction.

Every human civilisation’s buildings begin with these roughly articulated forms. From the Minoans to the Mayans, all architecture begins with shapes and language reliant on gravity, the inherent properties of different materials, and man’s craftsmanship. This approach is necessarily simple and unsophisticated when compared to today’s laser-guided monuments. Indeed, the progress of architecture can be seen as a reduction of the scale at which we resolve our buildings.

With this in mind, the appearance of electronics and machine technologies embedded within contemporary buildings should come as no surprise. We now draw our buildings on computers with an inhuman, almost god-like precision. We have afforded ourselves a level of resolution unimaginable to the civilisations of old.

This silicon dexterity enables manipulation of building materials, so the technologies in our built environment are ubiquitous.Building Management Systems are used throughout the world to measure the environmental conditions of a building, such as day-lighting, sound volume and air temperature. We can then use micro-technologies to adjust the parameters accordingly. Like ever-more sophisticated organisms, our buildings are now being designed not just to stand up, but to breathe, listen, move and perhaps, one day soon, to think.