The effect of digital environment on format in architectural design

The general aim of this study is to investigate the direction and change of architectural form from traditional environments with the effect of digital design environments and digital media possibilities. The concept of form which is one of the important elements of architecture under the influence of developing technology, together with its elements such as design process, technology, materials, space and aesthetics, goes beyond the stages after digitalization and focuses on the change and development. Design is defined as a problem solving activity in the literature. While reaching these solutions, the design goes through different stages. The design process is important as it determines the quality of the final product. The tools used in the design process also affect the design process and the quality of the final product. Due to the problems encountered in traditional design environments, the development of technology has led architects to use digital design environment tools. These tools directly affect the design process. With technology, digital design environments have started to replace traditional design environments and the number of architects' design production environments has increased and differentiated. It is known that digital design environments bring new perspectives to architects in their designs. Traditional design and digital design processes differ from each other due to the cooperation established with the tools used. For example; In digital design, the performance of the building and its response to nature can be simulated, spaces can be experienced virtually, or many alternatives can be produced. Thus, design has become an environment that covers all the stages that develop simultaneously. Design also affects the quality of the product, design process and the environments. It is known that the systems used in the design phase also provide convenience in production. In the design process, digital design environments provide the designer with all the alternatives that the designer can think of, creating non-Euclidean geometry, where the form becomes dynamic and flexible. The influence of traditional or digital design environments in the design process is important in shaping the form of the final design product. In order to understand the effect of digital design environments which offer a new ground compared to traditional design environments, on architectural form, a survey was conducted with 40 architects who have registered offices in Antalya and have experienced both environments in their professional life. The use of traditional design environments when the architect is not using digital design environments and then starting to use digital design environments is important in terms of comparative evaluation. IBM SPSS 26 data analysis program was used to evaluate the survey data. Graphs were obtained with the analysis results. These graphs formed an infrastructure for evaluation. As a result of the data obtained, they stated that the digital design environment is predominantly used by architects with 0-10 years of professional experience and that these architects are slow to transfer their design ideas to the traditional design environment. Despite this, it has been understood that they use more traditional design environment than digital design environment in the production of irrational forms, and the use of digital design media is less in the form creation process. It is seen that architects with 20 years or more professional experience need a digital design environment in today's conditions and they meet this need by getting services from their own staff or from outside. It is seen that architects with 10 years or more professional experience rarely prefer irrational forms in their designs and they can prefer digital design environment in their production.