The Sources of Innovatory Ideas: Evolution or Revolution in Building Technology?

Mahdi Motamedmanesh¹

1) PhD student of Architecture, Technical University of Berlin.

Publication : The 4th International Congress On Civil Engineering, Architecture & Urban Development(4icsau.ir)
Abstract :
This paper deals with a long-lasting question that challenges the philosophy of technology: evolution versus revolution. At the first part of current study, a brief review of the schools that interpret the advent and growth of technology are introduced. By explaining the challenges that face scholars who interpret the philosophy of technical processes, this paper aims at throwing light on the sources of innovatory ideas in design. Therefore, with the help of historical research, one of the most novel contemporary building technologies (tensile membrane structure) is investigated and the origins of innovatory ideas of the designer, as well as the driving forces that gave birth to the advent of such structures are addressed. This study argues the pivotal role of ‘development’, and the new methods of understanding and problem solving (matrix thinking), that beyond the process of accumulating the knowledge, or putting effort in solving the scientific anomalies opened up new vistas in design.
Keywords : Building Technology Innovation Tensile Membrane Structures Frei Otto.