The Digital Representation of the Architecture : Subject, Phenomenon, Model

The paper presents a reflection on the nature of the architectural digital model, both considering its epistemological fundaments and the consequences related to its use. Actually, the surveyed object is itself a phenomenon without absoluteness. In fact the representation (ie the model) is the reproduction of the phenomenon, an image that resemble the thing, an intentional observation of the real object made by the conscience, also when it is absent. Every model of the reality – from the iconic to the most abstract or formal one – not implies a complete and faithful transcription of the represented object, but a selection of some characteristics or aim of it. The model, as mediator between the intellective category and the sensible reality, is the tool by which the observing subject organize its mental representations of the perceptible phenomenal reality. Today the model configures as a digital replica, with an own autonomy, with likelihood characteristics and immersivity potentials that can induce a doubt on its feature to be an integral substitute of reality in the cognitive process.