Ecological hyper-architecture and the ambiguity of its value (2015)

The environmental movement of the 1960s and 1970s was constituted in part by ecologically conscious architecture. The value of architectural design was considered in relation to actions that support the recovery of endangered ecosystems and the future survival of the human species. Contemporary hyper-architecture, which incorporates formal and performative principles through the use of computation and indexing, no longer directs ecological awareness exclusively to moral decision-making. Rather, this awareness is incorporated into a way of thinking that recognizes the pervasive issues of ecology, environment, and the use of resources but as generative potential for the design of architecture itself. One consequence of the emergence of ecological hyper-architectures is the need for a discourse that explores the problem of values that occurs between the realm of ethics and the realm of architectural production.