ARCHITRAINER: building interaction at the intersection of architecture, cybernetics, psychology and technology

Date

2025-01-01

Author

Temizel, Ensar

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Purpose: The paper aims to recognize ARCHITRAINER, an interactive machine developed during the early 1970s, as a remarkable yet overlooked experiment in transdisciplinary research at the intersection of architecture, cybernetics, psychology and technology. It seeks to contextualize the project within the highly transdisciplinary research landscape of the period, which is argued to be significantly due to the constructivist epistemology widely adopted across disciplines. Design/methodology/approach: The paper mainly benefits from methods of architectural history, specifically archival research and interviews. Based mainly on unpublished documents, it offers an in-depth account that not only dwells on the project itself on a micro scale by focusing on personal histories of the figures involved, but also explores the macro scale processes that were in place regarding the larger research landscape of the period. It presents ARCHITRAINER as an outcome of those micro and macroscale interactions. Findings: Through the story of a case project such as ARCHITRAINER, the paper demonstrates how a common language stemming from a shared constructivist epistemology in the late 1960s and early 1970s allowed certain ideas developed for specific domains to be successfully utilized in other contexts. It underlines the power of the epistemological approaches, a significant example of which is developed within second-order cybernetics, in developing fruitful exchanges between disciplines. Originality/value: The paper reveals an underacknowledged project as a significant example of research into interaction in architecture based on cybernetic concepts. It highlights the originality and enduring value of ARCHITRAINER as offering a model of transdisciplinary research that might be considered still relevant for the present moment.

Subject Keywords

Architecture, Cybernetics, Design, Epistemology, History, Second-order cybernetics

URI

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=105002182533&origin=inward
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/114259

Collections

Department of Architecture, Article