Contemporary architecture and scientific development

Abstract

In the last fifteen hundred years there has been a paradigmatic shift, science has replaced architectural treatises, and scientific methods are used to justify technical and even aesthetical decisions. The present issue of PARC – Research in Architecture and Construction – presents ten examples of the use of such methods for the production of buildings and the analysis of space. They range from the use of cognitive psychology for the conceptual phases of design and the simulation of human behavior by computer agents to the application of syntactic methods for the analysis of space. With this issue, we expect to contribute to the discussion about the effective contribution of science to the quality of the built space.