The idea of performance in architecture has been
extensively debated during the last years, in example in the “Performative Architecture” symposium
organized in 2003 by Kolarevic and Malkawi (2005).
Discussion has focused on the “apparent disconnect
between geometry and analysis” despite the variety
of the available digital tools (Kolarevic and Malkawi,
2005) and on performance perceived as a qualitative
criterion in architecture. For the recipient of the built
environment and the critical thinker, performance is
an objective quality measure, which offers rationale
and clarifies the multiplicity of current approaches
and phenomena in architectural artefacts.
Performance is an important consideration in
many other industries, ranging from education to
commerce. For example, terms such as Performance
Indicators or Key Performance Indicators – although
still a jargon from industry that lacks clear definition – are “items of information collected at regular
intervals to track the performance of a system” (FitzGibbon and Tymms, 2002). From this perspective,
performance is also the success factor in design. The
design process and the design object are the two
sides of the same coin. Yet, in architecture, arguably