This research paper attempts to approach the issue of locality in architectural design, during the age of information. In order to do so, it initially studies the theoretical framework of critical regionalism and summarizes its basic principles.
It then approaches the fundamental elements of digital design and mentions its basic aspects, along with the two phases that defined it, in the two decades of its prominence.
After the crisis of the digital turn, an increasingly more scenographic dimension started undertaking architecture, known as the “Post- Digital” Turn. As a response to that reaction, the paper suggests the need for a more realistic approach in design.
It finds this in-between alternative within the concept of digital regionalism. That being a hybrid term that incorporates the values of critical regionalism with the condition that the digital turn brought upon on the design, social and cultural level.
The essay concludes that the search for localities might pose theoretical and practical challenges. However, seeking for place and identity remains a timeless process that always tries to integrate the global with the site-specific condition of each era.
