Architecture and Computer Programming

I was in Architecture. I completed a Master’s degree and I worked in the industry for 3 years. It was an interesting experience, but I made the transition into Software Engineering. People generally assume there are no similarities between the fields, but I believe computer programming and architecture aren’t that far apart and architecture would do well to learn some lessons from computer programming.

I explain the industry that I used to be in (architecture), and the transition I made (computer programming), and people assume there are no similarities between the two fields. To an extent, there aren’t similarities. Architecture transitions from digital design into physical constructs while computer programming always exists within the digital realm. A lot of Architecture ends up in living in this theoretical, digital realm. In a normal project, digital design would make up half of an architecture project, the other half would deal with turning this digital project into a physical reality. That transition from digital into physical is brutal; it demands coordination between engineering, clients, governments, and construction teams. Potentially thousands of people that all have different motivations.

Computer programming doesn’t have to deal with these real world problems. It doesn’t have to deal with coordination and compromises to the extent that architecture does. At tech companies, there is the scrum. Two week intervals with deadlines and iterations. That is completely impossible in the world of architecture and construction; you don’t iterate, you get it right the first time or you adjust to make that initial build work. At the same time it doesn’t mean that concepts from computer programming couldn’t work in architecture.

Iteration is possible in the digital world, it is much harder to iterate in the real world. In architecture, we would do mock-ups. These were samples of how the rest of the building should be built. This mock up process could take forever, a mock-up could take a week to build. It would take another two weeks to review. Another two weeks after that to modify, and another two weeks after that to re-review. That is already 7 weeks for just two iterations of a model.

So what concepts from computer programming should architecture adopt? It is funny, because there are a lot of terms that computer programming has taken from the world of architecture. I think that in the future, the distinction between computer programming and architecture will blur. With the advent of virtual reality and augmented reality, what we physically experience and what we digitally experience aren’t very distinguishable. Do people connect on a more meaningful level on a physical level or a digital? Every day we take a step closer to where those two levels meld together.