Visiting professor John Frazer on 'Digital Tools in Design Practices'
15 Aug 2013
Visiting Professor John Frazer lectures on 'Digital Tools in Design Practices', Sallis Benney, Grand Parade, 04/02/10, 2.00pm -3.30pm
John Frazer is also an English architect and influential teacher and writer on architecture and intelligent CAD systems. Pioneering computer technologies in architecture, urbanism and design, his researches have been developed at the Architectural Association in London, Cambridge University, the University of Ulster, and at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University where he was Swire Chair Professor, Head of the School of Design and Director of the Design Technology Research Centre. Professor John Hamilton Frazer is currently the international research co-coordinator for the Gehry Technologies, Digital Practice Ecosystem. Since 2006 Professor Frazer has also been the head of the School of Design at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. As a consultant in partnership with Julia Frazer, he worked with Cedric Price for the Generator Project USA 1976 – 1980 which real breakthrough was to give the Generator a concept of boredom.
The task is to develop the tools and models necessary to design and better manage our cities. Although we have technology to build a planetary eco-model, we would still need time to develop, populate it with data, and validate the model. Whereas this may be unaffordable for the planet, what we can work on right now is to model major concentrations within our cities, build integrated urban digital models, make the models more intelligent, make the models predictive, actively involve citizens in the exploration of alternative development, turn the models into active design tools, and connect the city models together. In this regard, interactive, generative, and interconnected city models are quicker to build, validate, safer to interfere with the operation of our cities, and do not tamper directly with natural systems. The next step after that is to connect the city models to form a “talking cities network”, provide the planet with a nervous system, thus empowering us to better develop and manage sustainable cities.
