The influence of nanotechnology on architectural design: An approach

This paper gives a summarized part of a PhD research, which deals with the real impact that nanotechnology and nanotechnology materials can have on all the phases of Architectural Design. The relations between our main research variables, i.e. Nanotechnology materials and Architectural design, have been approached through two main strategies. The first is through the hidden knowledge that is the “tacit” knowledge, which is highly personal and lies behind the architectural works or other forms of Art. The second strategy concerns the type of knowledge known as “explicit” knowledge, which is formal and systematic. This paper presents a broad idea of the attempt to follow the second strategy in order to test the hypothesis of the dissertation. The hypothesis states that “nanotechnology materials have a determinant impact on all the phases of Architectural design”. A special survey made via an especially customized questionnaire in order to see how a homogenous sample of people evaluate the degree of influence that nanotechnology materials have on all the phases of Architectural design, namely design, construction, life-cycle and cost of an architectural artifact e.g. a building. The research methodology is briefly presented and the results are equivalently analyzed.