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The Alphabet and the Algorithm, by Mario Carpo

October 25, 2011 by Fosco Lucarelli Leave a Comment

Mario Carpo‘s work focuses on the relationships between architectural theory, cultural studies and media technologies.

Head of the Study Centre at the Centre Canadien d’Architecture in Montréal between 2002 and 2005, he just published a new book called “The Alphabet and the Algorithm”, (The MIT Press) which has been reviewed by Pier Vittorio Aureli on the Oct 2011 issue of Architectural Review.

Watch here the presentation of the book by Mario Carpo on Sept 29 at the Van Alen Institute, including a preview of his essay to be published in forthcoming Log 23, “Digital Style,” with editor Cynthia Davidson.

From the video’s footnotes:
His book compares digital craftsmanship to traditional hand-making, and to the cultures and technologies of variations that existed before the coming of machine-made copies. Carpo suggests a new agenda for architecture in an age of variable media, generic objects, and participatory authorship.


A reconstruction of a drawing device following Leon Battista Alberti’s ‘scripting’ method. Communicating space through notation rather than representation protected the architect’s control and prevented drawings from being reproduced with errors.

Read more:

“Digital Neofeudalism:” Notes on Mario Carpo’s The Alphabet and the Algorithm, by Amir Djalali, on The City as a Project.

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