Hybrid Media Platform Patterns of Interaction and Integration of Analog and Digital Media in the Architectural Design Process

Designers use a variety of media to record and represent the information generated during the design process. Potentials, constraints, and programmed structures in each of the media contribute to form and represent a particular type of idea and the architectural designer develops different aspects of the design by representing the ideas through different media. Considering the design process as continuous representations of ideas through various media provides the necessary grounds for understanding the role of media in the design process. The present study specifically considers the patterns of using and integrating two important types of media, namely digital and analog media. Based on the theoretical studies, a conceptual model was developed aiming to examine, analyze, and classify the types of applications and the integration of digital and analog media. The hybrid media platform that results from the interaction of different types of media makes it possible to represent ideas through various media (according to the nature of the idea and the structure and potentials of the media) as well as the development of ideas (based on the strategies for developing and editing the ideas in the media). Additionally, the interaction of media helps the representation of ideas to be changed and interpreted by the designer on the one hand and to be pursued in another media context on the other hand. This places the designer's decisions beyond the specific constraints of a medium, in a position between subjectivity and intersubjectivity. The interactive use of digital and analog media leads to the juxtaposition or even the combination of deductive and computational strategies when representing ideas. Thus, human-machine thinking can be realized.