An Inquiry on Analogue and Digital Making Processes in Architecture: Craft and Fabrication within the scope of Masonry Structures

This study explores the evolution of crafting and fabrication techniques, particularly focusing on the intersection between analogue and digital methods in the field of bricklaying. The inquiry seeks to address how digital advancements have influenced the way we build, comparing historical, conventional, and digital processes to highlight their similarities and differences. By using masonry, one of the oldest and most widespread construction methods, the study aims to trace the transformation of craftsmanship from fully analogue methods to digitally enriched practices. The methodology is threefold: First, a literature review is conducted to identify contemporary fabrication approaches that blend digital and analogue techniques. This review helps categorize and analyze recent tendencies in digital fabrication, focusing on the integration of real-life data, feedback loops, and geometrical investigations. Secondly, a case study investigates different bricklaying fabrication methods to analyze how these digital-analogue interactions manifest in actual practice. Finally, a focused strategy based on four workflows is presented to compare different crafting processes, ranging from fully historical to highly digitized methods. Consequently the study explores the evolving relationship between physical craft and digital environments via bricklaying techniques. Typical-conventional and semi-digitized practices seem to reduce the craftsman's intuitive decision-making role. On the other hand, the resemblance between completely digital and historical fabrication, in terms of allowing the craftsman to make intuitive decisions during crafting, is significant. The study suggests that future fabrication methods may continue to blend digital precision with human creativity, potentially leading to an archaic revival of traditional craft approaches in a contemporary context. Further research could expand into more complex volumetric structures to better understand this evolution.