versioning, an introduction by SHoP

According to SHoP architects, ‘versioning’ is a process-driven, open, and fluid shift that has occurred in both design theory and practice with the advent of technology. Its’ proponents are “second generation” architects who allow themselves to extract ideas over a multitude of disciplines in order to conceptualize how space is conceived and constructed. SHoP refers to this as the difference between “horizontal integration” and “vertical integration.”

Versioning as a design methodology relies on vector-based information, instead of pixel-based simulation. To conceptualize how this changes and challenges design-thinking, one may think of a straight line set by two CV’s in either a pixel-based or a vector-based computer application. If one of the control vertices were to exert a force (in one direction, of any magnitude) on the line, the form would change. Within vector-based programs, this mutation immediately and accurately reflects the difference between forces acting on the vertices; a new line is "drawn" according to a precise mathematical equation. Pixel-based applications are called simulations, however, because the existing line is defined in space by a series of dots instead of a finite equation between two vertices. It would be a close approximation, at best, to draw the resulting line. What’s more, the approximation isn’t even the actual line... it’s the image of where the line would be in pixels.

And this is a single line, manipulated in one direction in space by two control points. Imagine that one line was connected to a series of lines, in three dimensions. Versioning and vector-based information allows designers to quickly change geometries that adapt to fluctuating resultant forces on either one or a number of points. This allows for a non-linear, vertical process whereby information can be transformed and changed with computational power immediately.