White space and digital remediation of design practice in architecture: A case study of Frank O. Gehry

Abstract

The digitalisation of architecture has intensified the entanglement of digital materiality and design practice due to the process of remediation, which comprises both conceptual and organisational processes. The analysis of remediation demonstrates the ways in which advanced technology enables architects to explore white spaces, defined as the open-ended, unmapped, in-between, and not yet realised territories of conceptual, organisational and physical spaces. Consequently, the process of remediation changes both design practices and the experience of physical spaces. This paper investigates the case of a leading architect, Frank O. Gehry, who has pioneered the digital remediation of architecture. The premise of this paper is that sociomaterial entanglement is an experience idiosyncratic to individual architects, who can escape the determinism of digital materiality by developing their unique digital tools. This paper also stresses the importance of power relations for the construction of digital materiality, which, in turn, influences design practices and innovation in architecture.