FROM VIRTUAL TO HAPTIC SPACE :

Computer technologies provide new means for the creation of design objects and space. This thesis explores the shifting understanding in design process and the resulting environmental qualities through the integration of digital media in design and production of form and space. The focus will be on how digital media enables us to reconsider the ways that form and space are created and rethink the ways that we relate to these forms and spaces. The changing approach in the design and manufacturing methods with the integration of digital media is evaluated by the distinction provided by Gilles Deleuze, where the concepts of ‘actualization of the virtual'' and the ‘realization of the possible'' are examined to provide the basis for evaluating the emergence of new connections. It is argued that through the use of digital media in design, a shift in the understanding of form and space emerges, which reveals alternate ways of relating to these forms and spaces through different levels of interaction. The framework for differentiating between the levels of interactivity is provided again by Deleuzian conceptual pair, ‘optic'' and ‘haptic space''.