Reviewed by:

• Design Technics: Archaeologies of Architectural Practice ed. by Zeynep Çelik Alexander and John May
• Giorgio Marfella (bio)

Design Technics: Archaeologies of Architectural Practice Edited by Zeynep Çelik Alexander and John May. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2020. Pp. 262.

The discipline of architecture is tormented by a perennial concern: the theoretical explanation of the role of tools in professional practice. The latest iteration is the obsession with digital practice and its associated apparatus of seductive jargon, software, and algorithms. Design Technics is a collection of seven essays that seeks new answers beyond these fascinations. Questioning and engaging with the mantra of the digital, this collection unearths the old relationship of architecture with techne, the ancient Greek word that best uncovers the root of this ongoing problem.

The existing scholarship on this complicated relationship is abundant and overbearing. Architectural historians and critics have confronted the endless facets of the "technical" problem of architecture in many ways. By and large, positions have settled in camps denoted by a few recurrent derivations of techne, which often morph into the ambiguous terms of architectural "techniques," "technology," "tectonics," or "technics." This collection settles on "technics," suggesting lineage with Lewis Mumford (Art and Technics, 1952), but missing—or perhaps avoiding—engagement with the precedent of Cecile Elliott's technological history of architecture vis-a-vis the manufacturing of building materials (Technics and Architecture, 1992).

Here the term technics signifies the dialectic between architects and their design tools and instruments. This interpretation eludes the physical products of the built environment, as well as the usual means of representation of architectural ideas. The approach is erudite, departing from the traditional spheres of architectural techniques, technology, and tectonics. The intent is however contradicted by the front cover, which shows two hands holding a compass on a drafting table. The instruments of concern here are not the conventional documenting tools of the profession (whether artisanal, analogue, or digital), but the behavioral scaffolds that frame day-to-day activities often taken for granted in architectural schools and studios.

The unifying theme of the book is clear from the titles of its essays, each one identified by a gerund: "Rendering," "Modeling," "Scanning," "Equipping," "Specifying," "Positioning," and "Repeating." These gerunds acknowledge the inevitable software-driven pursuits of contemporary designers. The titles are well-chosen, but the book's subtitle may leave many architects perplexed, once the subject of most essays become clear.

Except for the professional act of specifying, which Michael Osman uses to remind us about the clerical essence of architectural services, readers [End Page 630] will find more academic theory than architectural practice in Design Technics. Nonetheless, Osman's essay is likely to intrigue beyond architectural academia for showing the "never standard" history of timber balloon framing, through which he convincingly dismantles the 'revolutionary' pretenses of digital mass-customization. While Lucia Allais's essay on the experiential tradition of "rendering" and John Harwood's reissue of John Ruskin's idea of the "architecture of position" fall more in traditional discourses of architectural theory, other contributions are less directly pertinent to the discipline. This is by no means a criticism, but rather a bonus, as several essays will likely appeal more to historians of technology than to architects.

Some readers of this journal may be thrilled to dive into Çelik Alexander's essay on the development of the earliest reading machines, the precursors of digital scanners, and the transition from the analogue parallel processing methods of the 1930s to the more reliable and somewhat human discretizing image-recognition means developed in the 1950s. Others may appreciate the significance of the experimental bio-scientific modeling powers brought by the repressilator as expounded by Matthew Hunter or gain a different view on cybernetics from Orit Halpern's journey on the technology transfer between communication network theories and psychoanalysis. Some readers may even find amused delight through Edward Eigen's essay on the eccentric human-comforting ambitions of the automata, devised by watchmaker-illusionist Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin for his French bourgeois residence.

The overarching message of Design Technics is heterogeneous...

审核人：

• 设计技术：建筑实践考古学编辑。作者：Zeynep Çelik Alexander 和 John May
• 乔治·马尔菲拉（生物）

设计技术：建筑实践考古学，由 Zeynep Çelik Alexander 和 John May 编辑。明尼阿波利斯：明尼苏达大学出版社，2020 年。Pp。262.

建筑学科一直受到一个长期关注的折磨：工具在专业实践中的作用的理论解释。最新的迭代是对数字实践及其相关的诱人行话、软件和算法的痴迷。Design Technics是七篇文章的合集，旨在寻找超越这些魅力的新答案。质疑并与数字化的咒语互动，这个系列揭示了建筑与技术的古老关系，技术是古希腊词最能揭示这一持续问题的根源。

关于这种复杂关系的现有学术研究丰富而霸道。建筑历史学家和评论家以多种方式面对建筑“技术”问题的无穷无尽的方面。大体上，立场已经落入由一些反复出现的技术派生所表示的阵营中，这些派生经常演变成建筑“技术”、“技术”、“构造”或“技术”等模棱两可的术语。该系列以“技术”为主题，暗示与 Lewis Mumford（艺术与技术，1952 年）有渊源，但缺少——或者可能避免——参与 Cecile Elliott 的建筑技术史与建筑材料制造的先例（技术与建筑，1992 年）。

在这里，技术一词表示建筑师与其设计工具和仪器之间的辩证关系。这种解释避开了建筑环境的物理产品，以及建筑理念的通常表达方式。这种方法博学，脱离了建筑技术、技术和构造的传统领域。然而，本意与封面相矛盾，封面显示两只手在绘图桌上拿着一个指南针。这里所关注的工具不是该专业的传统记录工具（无论是手工、模拟还是数字），而是构建日常活动的行为支架，这在建筑学校和工作室中通常被视为理所当然。

这本书的统一主题从其文章的标题中清晰可见，每篇文章都用动名词来标识：“渲染”、“建模”、“扫描”、“装备”、“指定”、“定位”和“重复”。 ” 这些动名词承认当代设计师不可避免的软件驱动追求。标题选择得很好，但是一旦大多数文章的主题变得清晰，这本书的副标题可能会让许多建筑师感到困惑。

除了迈克尔奥斯曼用来提醒我们建筑服务的文书本质的专业行为之外，读者[End Page 630]将在设计技术中找到更多的学术理论而不是建筑实践. 尽管如此，奥斯曼的文章很可能会引起建筑学术界之外的关注，因为他展示了木气球框架“从未标准”的历史，通过它，他令人信服地打破了数字大规模定制的“革命性”伪装。虽然 Lucia Allais 关于“渲染”的体验传统的文章和 John Harwood 重新发表 John Ruskin 的“位置架构”的想法更多地属于建筑理论的传统话语，但其他贡献与该学科不太直接相关。这绝不是批评，而是奖励，因为有几篇文章可能更吸引技术史学家而不是建筑师。

本期刊的一些读者可能会很高兴深入研究 Çelik Alexander 的文章，其中涉及最早的阅读机的发展、数字扫描仪的先驱，以及从 1930 年代的模拟并行处理方法向更可靠且有点人性化的图像的转变-recognition 是 1950 年代发展起来的意思。其他人可能会欣赏 Matthew Hunter 所阐述的抑制器带来的实验性生物科学建模能力的重要性，或者从 Orit Halpern 在通信网络理论和精神分析之间的技术转移之旅中获得对控制论的不同看法。一些读者甚至可能会从爱德华·艾根 (Edward Eigen) 关于自动机古怪的人类安慰野心的文章中找到乐趣，

Design Technics的总体信息是异质的……