What should be done when expertise with technology no longer hinders the possibilities of what could be done? In a contemporary context where the sources for inspiration have never been greater, outcomes from this diversity require theorization. Within an era of post digital virtuosity, architecture must calibrate the value of its contributions with greater clarity. Beyond latent potential, architecture deserves results with consequence.
Benjamin J. Smith is a historian, theorist, critic, and designer. His intellectual interests center on the disciplinary evolution of architecture through pedagogical developments in education. Engaged in the progress of both academic and professional work his research locates cultural trajectories for advanced practices in architecture. Benjamin’s dissertation research at University of Michigan, “Without Walls: SCI-Arc and Los Angeles Architecture of the 1970s and 1980s,” examines the institutional history SCI-Arc and the architects who taught there. Recently, he was the 2014-2015 Design of Theory Fellow at SCI-Arc where his job advocated the necessity of theory to affect contemporary architectural design.