ARCHITECTURE GAMES
VIDEOGAME AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR RAPPRESENTATION AND DESIGN IN ARCHITECTURE by Matteo Lo Prete
The architectural methodologies, in the course of time, have abegged many transformations. This is due not only to a continue modifying of building techniques that succeed, but also thanks to the constant research of humans in such determinate theme, developed through the refinement of instruments capable to predict the final realization of the architectural object. This long journey abides a decisive turn during the course of Italian Renaissance, period in which the birth of perspective constitutes an important revolution by the way of conceiving the opera, determining substantially the birth of “project” as nowadays we know it. Although perspective representation was known already centuries before, first of Brunelleschi’s coming, so much to be shortly becked in De Architettura by Marco Vitruvio Pollione, is only during this particular historical period than can be developed, bringing the architectural project to be auto-significant: in few words architectonic project reaches his own autonomy, identifying itself exactly with the conclusive representation of what the architect has labored thanks to his thought, avoiding this way successive realization, which is no more necessary to show the opera in its entirety. Starting form this point design techniques experience further develops, equally with the constructive ones, passing through the method of section, of orthogonal projections and axonometry. All these systems have all along comprised not only a representative device, but also a system used by the architect to constantly verifies his work, becoming integral part of the design process which today is numbered in the architectonic tradition. Starting form fifties of the past century electronic begin to gradually conditions the world of science, while some decades beyond Digital Revolution (what can be call so) come into being. Thanks to the arrive of personal computer the world abides an incredible array of changes, that assail all possible fields, both civil and military at any level. Also architectural design has been naturally achieved by this great innovation: in the ateliers design boards have turned in desks for personal computers and come into life the first plotters, that digitally satisfy to the production of drafts used in practice by an architect. This process continues to develop till when, at the early nineties of the past century, some architects started to avail aided design software not merely as representative instruments, for the realization of drafts that can be defined “traditional”, that is what mentioned before. These architects take advantage of commands and settings not yet explored, reaching therefore and innovative develop of forms and complexities yet unexpected. To take some example is sufficient we can refer to the architect that, first of all, has directed his walk along the computer aided design, which is Frank Owen Gehry, author of the most famous Guggenheim Museum situated in Bilbao. In these first years of the third millennium professional ateliers that use software of advanced modeling to project buildings are a big number, also if unfortunately Italy remained astern in this race to the use of digital devices in architecture. The reasoned use of software is starting to take part into larger circle of architects all over the world. But now rises naturally the question on how is possible, also considering software as instruments for architectural design, uses a videogame to reach the same aim. First point to consider in order to find a really correct answer stays in the comprehension of how videogames have changed during the passage of time. Is natural indeed find a bare relation between this kind of gender and architecture, if we consider for example some title of the last decade. Only in the last period graphic interface of videogames has reached a sufficient

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