versioning_vector-based design

In their introduction to Versioning, SHoP Architects make a distinction between “vector-based information and pixel-based simulation and representation.” These two divergent systems present, through their contrasts, the essence of versioning.

Vector based graphics use precise mathematically based forms, which are continually adaptive and flexible. Change the equation, and the resulting image responds accordingly. A vector-based graphic is completely precise, its accuracy limited only by the medium on which it is projected. Raster or pixel-based graphics, on the other hand, are estimations, and limited by their initial inputs. The accuracy of a raster image depends entirely on the number of pixels that create it. If given enough of these digital dots, they merge together, creating a continuous, seamless whole. This relies on a simulation - a tricking of the mind - and is dependant on the initial input. Future iterations will be directly descended from that original image/idea/form. Ingebord Rocker equates this with architecture that is merely the representation of an a priori idea or image. It is also his critique of DynaForm, which began with a “master form” as opposed to a set of “master rules” from which the form is derived.

Versioning, or vector-based design, fosters a non-linear approach that attempts to control the process by which the form is created - “a formal means of production to address variable conditions” – rather than the form itself. Versioning, then, is a shift not in design style, but in design process.

Vector-based design that can easily be translated from digital projection to physical fabrication reveals versioning’s greatest asset – reviving architecture’s commitment to built things. Purely digital design is limited by its “immateriality.” Through versioning and digital fabrication, we now have the potential to “recombine” the processes of virtual and physical modeling.