Ana Paula Baltazar

Towards a virtual architecture: pushing cybernetics from government to anarchy

Purpose – This paper aims to discuss the possibility of joining cybernetics and architecture as a continuous and open process, bridging design, construction and use, in that which is called cyberarchitecture.Design/methodology/approach – It develops the hypothesis that cyberarchitecture can benefit from taking the virtual into account in the design process, so that the architect is no longer the author of a finished architectural product, but of a set of instruments with which users can design, build and use their own environments simultaneously.Findings – A set of design principles is systematised and examined in three practical realms of design: urban, building, and relational, showing cyberarchitectures embryonic feasibility.Practical implications – Cyberarchitecture implies that architects are no longer authors of finished products and users, becoming designers of their own spaces.Originality/value – Cyberarchitecture avoids the usual cybernetics approach based on control‐system, indicating a less pr...

Spaces for differences: dwelling after deinstitutionalization

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on the point of view of architecture of an interdisciplinary research on housing and social integration of people with severe mental disorder (SMD) in Brazil after deinstitutionalization. It first aims to present the need for a qualitative evaluation of the way people with SMD deal with their living spaces (house and city); then to describe the method adopted to approach people living under control – in therapeutic residential services (SRTs) proposed by the State as the only alternative model for those leaving psychiatric institutions – and people living alone – with little psychiatric assistance and no dwelling support provided by the State. It aims to conclude with a discussion of the observed dwellings pointing towards the need to accommodate differences in any housing model adopted by the State.Design/methodology/approach – The qualitative evaluation enabled the focus of participant observation on the way people interact with each other and with their ...

Noncopyright and the Digital Interface to Support the Autonomous Production of Dwellings

This paper presents the discussions on intellectual property crucial for the research group MOM to develop the system IDA (digital interface for supporting autonomous production of dwellings). It first introduces IDA, its conceptual framework, its database and its interactive interface. Then, it examines the arguments for copyright, identifying them as myths or disguises of other intentions, usually based on perpetuating privileges. From that it discusses the way IDA approaches interaction as a means to break the usual logic of perpetuating privileges in digital systems. This leads to examining some anti-copyright movements concluding that they follow the same logic of register of the copyright. Thus, noncopyright seems to be the best means to protest against the current logic and for conveying information towards autonomy of users in their processes of production of space. It also points to an alternative use of computers in architecture as proposed in IDA, which is not based on representation but on interaction.