The project is open and broad, which was a necessary condition for demonstrating the power of the turn brought about by digitalization. Most studies on the digital phenomenon carried out in the context of the discipline are focused on itsmore technical aspects, with expert discourses based on the standpoint of the optimization of existing processes. This project was inspired by a concern and a certain discomfort with respect to those positions, which are often underwritten by a positivist vision of reality. This concern gave way to the idea for a study rooted in a cultural approach to the phenomenon. Given the general tendency toward creating experts—a phenomenon that, on the other hand, is not exclusive to the field of architecture—and encapsulating knowledge, this text is meant to be based on a transversal vision, which can help non-specialist readers to understand certain complex phenomena.

Lluís Ortega is an architect with a PhD from the ETSAB-UPC, a degree in philosophy from the UB, and an MS.AAD from Columbia University. At present, he is associate professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and visiting professor at the Universidad Torcuato di Tella in Buenos Aires. Previously, he was teaching at the University of Illinois at Chicago, at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, the Universidad de Alicante, Harvard University, and the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Wien. He cofounded F451arquitectura in 2000, rebranded as Sio2arch in 2014, with Santiago Ibarra, Xavier Osarte, and Esther Segura. He was the editor of several specialized publications, including Quaderns d'Arquitectura i Urbanisme (2003–05), 2G 14 with Gustavo Gili, Saques de Esquina in Pretextos (with Moisés Puente) and Platform GSD (2008), with Actar. In 2013, he was awarded a Graham Foundation grant for his work with Ciro Najle, Atlas of Suprarural Architecture (Actar, 2016).