Word - Technology Definition - The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes
Image of what could be done with the current technology.
Short animation.
Theoretical Context.
The word that summarized the prescribes text is the word technology. This word encapsulates the text as the talks about how machines were introduced into the design of buildings, the text starts to describe endless possibilities that technology has created that changed the way we design buildings. The explains how the introduction to machines have shaped the way we design buildings, it allowed people to create form that couldn't be possible or took longer to make with human labor.
The prescribed text indicates that machines transformed the way of designing, the Form Idea or conceptual design did not match the final product as a quoting from the text " Form Idea was nothing but a set of geometrical, proportional operations to male the product an opus perfectum (perfect state)" (pg.5) and another line below it says "The form of the product was determined by matter, that is by material and physical size" (pg.5).
The 'form Idea' describes a set of guidelines for the machines so that they could create forms based on the machines capabilities, so the final form of the product was produced by the machines and that the the form idea was just a little push to get the machines started.
Quotes that support the word technology are:
"the idea of design was nothing but the pattern of the physical object constrained by its natural attributes". (pg.5)
"Its form did not follow the idea; instead it was determined by the behavior of the matter. The shape of its components depended on their material, their composition and their size". (pg.7)
References
Definitions of technology - Dictionary.com accessed 28-07-11
Provided Text - "The Machine in Architectural Thinking"
