Modifactured : hacking the tools of architectural design

This thesis considers the numerous, complex, and sometimes redundant

tools of architectural design and attempts to unify them with a hacker

approach. A hacker mentality allows one to consider the problems of design

from the tools outward. Focusing on the ‘how’ instead of the ‘what’ to design,

a hacker reconsiders the existing methods and concepts and recombines

them to find new potential.

Three hacker projects of architecture are considered: Katalogos, a tool to

map and archive Internet media and references, nTerface, a hybrid drawing

interface, and the Modifacture Machine, a fabricating instrument. Each ‘toolhack’

flows directly into the next, resulting in a critical practice that

incorporates the best of human- and computer-assisted design in a singular

process.

Hacking the tools of design and manufacturing then becomes a way to reevaluate

the looming challenges of energy generation and transportation. The

hacker becomes a key individual in a de-globalized world.