INTRODUCTION
DESIGN IN A TIME OF SIMULTANEITY, SUPERINTEGRATION, AND CONVERGENCE

This convergence will be recognized as the largest, most complex, and most surprising event on the planet up until this time.

-Kevin Kelly1

There is today a pronounced and accelerated convergence in architecture. This convergence is occurring in building design, fabrication, and construction because of doers, not thinkers, and in practice, not academia. It is about solution-centric individuals engaging in real-time problem solving, not in abstractions. The nature of this convergence, where things are converging, and what that convergence means for architecture is the subject of this book.

The emergent forces and technologies that have come together in the second decade of the twenty-first century have developed to the point where real-time integration of all facets of the design and construction process is now possible. Computational tools, collaborative work processes, and the cloud make real-time/right-time convergence today a reality. However, tools aren't the only things causing this convergence: it's also due to the maturity of the design community. Those who have been at this for a while, as they attest throughout this book, recognize a convergence of forces, technologies, and workflows not only in their own work, but throughout the profession and industry.

There is even another force at work: millennials. No longer restricted to use of the tools created and distributed by software manufacturers, and impatient with the old guard, standard procedures, business as usual, and the status quo, young and emerging professionals are driving this movement toward convergence by taking matters into their own hands via employee-created and freely disseminated software plug-ins and add-ons, along with user-empowered scripting and visual programming, thereby improving workflows and increasing efficiencies.

CONVERGENCE DEFINED

Design professionals today recognize that technology and work processes are converging in their area of practice or expertise. Convergence refers to two or more things coming together, joining together, or evolving into one. It is manifested in such things as building information modeling (BIM) and computation; gaming and spatial analysis that join in virtual reality; design optimization and fabrication; and reality capture co-joining in photogrammetry, visual sensing laser scanning, drones, and robotics. What design professionals don't realize is that these convergences are taking place in all facets of the design professions and construction industry. Moreover, they don't have a thorough understanding of how the pieces fit together, what the potential impacts are, or-most importantly for their practices-where all of this is heading. The convergence referred to in the book title has both practical and emergent antecedents. Architecture is a complex undertaking requiring the input of many individuals with varying interests, backgrounds, and expertise. This has not changed-and will not change. What is changing is the way these individuals are working, communicating, and collaborating. Their individual contributions-and the tools they are using-are converging. To meet today's demands for speed, affordability, and quality, they are integrating their efforts. With increasing demands to make decisions in real time, design professionals-having met the challenges and opportunities of this moment-are moving beyond the linearity metaphor and thinking in terms of simultaneity, superintegration, and convergence.

1 and 2 Robert Vierlinger with Bollinger+Grohmann Engineers and Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), 3D print of the Pavilion for the CIAB, 2013.

The project development of expressive structural logics with Karamba3d demanded an extraordinary level of interdisciplinary collaboration in the design and development of the structure.

Architects and other design professionals today are expected to design and construct in a manner that uses fewer resources, while still innovating, adding value, and reducing waste. Deliverables have to take less time and cost less money to produce, while not compromising on quality-expectations that many feel are unrealistic at best, and often result in a negative impact on outcomes, working relationships, and experiences. Old paradigms such as "Quality, speed, and price: pick any two" no longer apply. Owners expect all three-perfect, now, and free-on almost every project.

3 Deutsch Insights, role convergence diagram, 2017.

The comprehensive body of convergence is made up of individual converging chromosomes.

Traditional linear thinking no longer works in this converged-upon world. At the same time, the emergent forces and technologies that have come together in the second decade of the twenty-first century have developed to the point where they make real-time integration of all facets of the design and construction process possible. Computational tools, work processes, and the cloud make real-time convergence today a reality.

4 Deutsch Insights, circle flow diagram, 2017.

Emergent forces and technologies have developed to the point where real-time integration of all facets of the design and construction process is now possible.

Architects in particular are about to go through a period of intense change, a transformation brought about due to convergence. An understanding of the convergence that is taking place is pivotal to practice and how architects will work in the years ahead; it is critical to education and how architects are trained and educated; and it is central in the reappraisal of the architecture that this transformation will bring about.

5 Deutsch Insights, Practical and Ineffable Convergence, 2017.

Design professionals are increasingly challenged to realize meaning and agency within the constraints of computational tools.

Whereas convergence is marked by a blurring of lines, disciplines, and roles brought about by interdisciplinary collaboration, until recently architects have tended to innovate only in their own sector. Today, for example, contractors often are at the table with the owner and architect from day one-something architects didn't have to consider even a generation ago. "Architects and general contractors don't always involve subcontractors in early phases of design and preconstruction. But if they want to prevent time and money from trickling down the drain, they should."2

In the past, architects had a tendency and preference to study and address each subject separately. Some people in our industry address BIM, some address computational tools . but few address both combined. BIM has enabled architects to include means and methods in their models, enabling them to venture into design-build delivery methods, fabrication, and direct-to-fabrication projects from their models. Who is tracking that movement? Like the Internet, convergence exists despite isolated, disconnected, or unconnected efforts and focus.

It is hard to address a tool or process that is in motion, especially one that is moving toward, or merging with, another. When something moves, it has a trajectory: It moves toward or away from something, whether by means of push or pull. If everything converges, what is it converging toward? What is the end point? The meeting point? What are we working toward?

Is that meeting point nothing more than increased efficiency? Today's architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO) industry is marked by productivity, innovation, affordability, and speed. It's not just that things are speeding up, but that they are moving toward each other: they're converging. If the vocabulary we use to explain our work is any indication, we as an industry have spent the past decade leveraging the language of performance to get work approved that aims at-if never quite achieving-the nexus of perfect, now, and free.

CONVERGENCE PARADIGMS

Because so many innovations appear to be disconnected and disparate, there's a temptation, when looking for a guiding theory or justification, to tie them together into a convenient framework. Does doing so conclusively capture the trajectory of convergence? Three convergence models represent lenses by which to see what is occurring in our industry: Software of Everything, Master Algorithm, and Total Architecture.

6 Deutsch Insights, Venn diagram, 2017

Diagram representing the convergence of design, structural analysis, and the cloud.

There have been numerous attempts to create a Software of Everything. Specific tools such as Kimon Onuma's Onuma System address the entire building lifecycle from planning through operations, and (in a more limited way) Tekla's Structural Designer combines structural analysis and design into a single application. However, a more general look at how BIM itself represents a convergence of all facets of design, construction, and beyond will serve as an illustration of what the Software of Everything might look like.

As will be explored in a later chapter, purpose-built BIM models are being used today for code compliance, cost estimating/quantity take-offs, coordination and fabrication, scheduling, and on-site production control. But that is not all. In...