Architectural Intelligence - Revision history

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Author

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	Molly Wright Steenson, born 1971, American design professor and historian of architecture and technology.<ref name="wikipedia">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Wright_Steenson Molly Wright Steenson], Wikipedia.</ref> She holds a PhD in architecture from Princeton, a Master's in Environmental Design from the Yale School of Architecture, and a BA in German from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.<ref name="wikipedia" />		By Molly Wright Steenson, born 1971, American design professor and historian of architecture and technology.<ref name="wikipedia">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Wright_Steenson Molly Wright Steenson], Wikipedia.</ref> She holds a PhD in architecture from Princeton, a Master's in Environmental Design from the Yale School of Architecture, and a BA in German from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.<ref name="wikipedia" />

	She was K&L Gates Associate Professor of Ethics and Computational Technologies at Carnegie Mellon, where she also served as Senior Associate Dean for Research in the College of Fine Arts and later as Vice Provost for Faculty.<ref name="wikipedia" /> She is now president and CEO of the American Swedish Institute.<ref name="wikipedia" /> Earlier posts include resident professor at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, where she led the Connected Communities research group from early 2003 to late 2004, adjunct faculty at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.<ref name="cmu">[https://www-design-d01.andrew.cmu.edu/people/faculty/molly-steenson Molly Steenson], Carnegie Mellon School of Design.</ref> She has worked on the web since 1994, at design studios, consultancies, and Fortune 500 companies.<ref name="conveyux">[https://conveyux.com/speakers/molly-wright-steenson/ Molly Wright Steenson], ConveyUX.</ref>		She was K&L Gates Associate Professor of Ethics and Computational Technologies at Carnegie Mellon, where she also served as Senior Associate Dean for Research in the College of Fine Arts and later as Vice Provost for Faculty.<ref name="wikipedia" /> She is now president and CEO of the American Swedish Institute.<ref name="wikipedia" /> Earlier posts include resident professor at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, where she led the Connected Communities research group from early 2003 to late 2004, adjunct faculty at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.<ref name="cmu">[https://www-design-d01.andrew.cmu.edu/people/faculty/molly-steenson Molly Steenson], Carnegie Mellon School of Design.</ref> She has worked on the web since 1994, at design studios, consultancies, and Fortune 500 companies.<ref name="conveyux">[https://conveyux.com/speakers/molly-wright-steenson/ Molly Wright Steenson], ConveyUX.</ref>

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-{{stub}}
+=== Author ===
-Architectural Intelligence
+Molly Wright Steenson, born 1971, American design professor and historian of architecture and technology.<ref name="wikipedia">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Wright_Steenson Molly Wright Steenson], Wikipedia.</ref> She holds a PhD in architecture from Princeton, a Master's in Environmental Design from the Yale School of Architecture, and a BA in German from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.<ref name="wikipedia" />
-Paperback
+She was K&L Gates Associate Professor of Ethics and Computational Technologies at Carnegie Mellon, where she also served as Senior Associate Dean for Research in the College of Fine Arts and later as Vice Provost for Faculty.<ref name="wikipedia" /> She is now president and CEO of the American Swedish Institute.<ref name="wikipedia" /> Earlier posts include resident professor at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, where she led the Connected Communities research group from early 2003 to late 2004, adjunct faculty at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.<ref name="cmu">[https://www-design-d01.andrew.cmu.edu/people/faculty/molly-steenson Molly Steenson], Carnegie Mellon School of Design.</ref> She has worked on the web since 1994, at design studios, consultancies, and Fortune 500 companies.<ref name="conveyux">[https://conveyux.com/speakers/molly-wright-steenson/ Molly Wright Steenson], ConveyUX.</ref>
-Pub date: November 1, 2022
+MIT Press, hardcover 2017, ISBN 9780262037068. Paperback November 1, 2022, ISBN 9780262546782.<ref name="mit">[https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262546782/architectural-intelligence/ Architectural Intelligence], MIT Press.</ref> Research for the book was supported by a Graham Foundation grant.<ref name="graham">[http://www.grahamfoundation.org/grantees/5610-architectural-intelligence-how-designers-and-architects-created-the-digital-landscape Molly Wright Steenson], Graham Foundation.</ref>
-==Description==
+=== Description ===
-In Architectural Intelligence, Molly Wright Steenson explores the work of four architects in the 1960s and 1970s who incorporated elements of interactivity into their work. Christopher Alexander, Richard Saul Wurman, Cedric Price, and Nicholas Negroponte and the MIT Architecture Machine Group all incorporated technologies—including cybernetics and artificial intelligence—into their work and influenced digital design practices from the late 1980s to the present day.
+Steenson examines four architects working in the 1960s and 1970s who built interactivity into their practice, and argues that their experiments laid the foundation for contemporary digital design.<ref name="mit" /> The subjects are Christopher Alexander, Richard Saul Wurman, Cedric Price, and Nicholas Negroponte with the MIT Architecture Machine Group.<ref name="mit" />
-Alexander, long before his famous 1977 book A Pattern Language, used computation and structure to visualize design problems; Wurman popularized the notion of “information architecture”; Price designed some of the first intelligent buildings; and Negroponte experimented with the ways people experience artificial intelligence, even at architectural scale. Steenson investigates how these architects pushed the boundaries of architecture—and how their technological experiments pushed the boundaries of technology. What did computational, cybernetic, and artificial intelligence researchers have to gain by engaging with architects and architectural problems? And what was this new space that emerged within these collaborations? At times, Steenson writes, the architects in this book characterized themselves as anti-architects and their work as anti-architecture. The projects Steenson examines mostly did not result in constructed buildings, but rather in design processes and tools, computer programs, interfaces, digital environments. Alexander, Wurman, Price, and Negroponte laid the foundation for many of our contemporary interactive practices, from information architecture to interaction design, from machine learning to smart cities.
+Alexander used computation and structure to visualize design problems, more than a decade before ''A Pattern Language'' appeared in 1977.<ref name="mit" /> Wurman popularized the term information architecture.<ref name="mit" /> Price designed some of the earliest intelligent buildings.<ref name="mit" /> Negroponte experimented with how people experience artificial intelligence at architectural scale.<ref name="mit" />
-Link: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262546782/architectural-intelligence/
+Steenson runs the question in both directions. She asks what these architects did to the boundaries of architecture, and equally what computation, cybernetics, and artificial intelligence researchers had to gain from engaging with architects and architectural problems.<ref name="mit" />
 [[Category:Books]]

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	Link: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262546782/architectural-intelligence/		Link: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262546782/architectural-intelligence/

	[[Category:~~Book~~]]		[[Category:Books]]

Caseorganic: Created page with "{{stub}} Architectural Intelligence How Designers and Architects Created the Digital Landscape by Molly Wright Steenson Paperback ISBN: 9780262546782 Pub date: November 1, 2022 Publisher: The MIT Press ==Description== Architects who engaged with cybernetics, artificial intelligence, and other technologies poured the foundation for digital interactivity. In Architectural Intelligence, Molly Wright Steenson explores the work of four architects in the 1960s and 1970s..."

2025-09-17T22:26:39Z

Created page with "{{stub}} Architectural Intelligence How Designers and Architects Created the Digital Landscape by Molly Wright Steenson Paperback ISBN: 9780262546782 Pub date: November 1, 2022 Publisher: The MIT Press ==Description== Architects who engaged with cybernetics, artificial intelligence, and other technologies poured the foundation for digital interactivity. In Architectural Intelligence, Molly Wright Steenson explores the work of four architects in the 1960s and 1970s..."

New page

{{stub}}

Architectural Intelligence
How Designers and Architects Created the Digital Landscape
by Molly Wright Steenson

Paperback
ISBN: 9780262546782

Pub date: November 1, 2022
Publisher: The MIT Press

==Description==
Architects who engaged with cybernetics, artificial intelligence, and other technologies poured the foundation for digital interactivity.

In Architectural Intelligence, Molly Wright Steenson explores the work of four architects in the 1960s and 1970s who incorporated elements of interactivity into their work. Christopher Alexander, Richard Saul Wurman, Cedric Price, and Nicholas Negroponte and the MIT Architecture Machine Group all incorporated technologies—including cybernetics and artificial intelligence—into their work and influenced digital design practices from the late 1980s to the present day.

Alexander, long before his famous 1977 book A Pattern Language, used computation and structure to visualize design problems; Wurman popularized the notion of “information architecture”; Price designed some of the first intelligent buildings; and Negroponte experimented with the ways people experience artificial intelligence, even at architectural scale. Steenson investigates how these architects pushed the boundaries of architecture—and how their technological experiments pushed the boundaries of technology. What did computational, cybernetic, and artificial intelligence researchers have to gain by engaging with architects and architectural problems? And what was this new space that emerged within these collaborations? At times, Steenson writes, the architects in this book characterized themselves as anti-architects and their work as anti-architecture. The projects Steenson examines mostly did not result in constructed buildings, but rather in design processes and tools, computer programs, interfaces, digital environments. Alexander, Wurman, Price, and Negroponte laid the foundation for many of our contemporary interactive practices, from information architecture to interaction design, from machine learning to smart cities.

Link: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262546782/architectural-intelligence/

[[Category:Book]]