Towards self-organisational and multiple-performance capacity in architecture (original) (raw)
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Historically, architects used to draw what they could build, and built what they could draw. The straight lines and circular arcs drawn on paper using straight edge and compass have been translated into the materials made by the extrusion and rolling machinery. This reciprocity between the means of representation and production has not disappeared entirely in the digital age. With the introduction of the first programming languages in the late 1940s and the early 1950s, design methodologies have undergone several evolutionary changes, which provided opportunities for building more multifaceted and complex forms. Moreover, this has radically shifted our conception of the design process, as well as our understanding of geometrical forms as a function of performance instead of finite positions in space. However, the materials perspective in these digital technologies has not yet been explored on the basis of the new possibilities disclosed by these very same tools; material considerations have almost exclusively focused on construction -techniques or as a post-rationalization design input. So far, the materialization of formal expressions instigated by such processes is primarily based on techniques of assembly, which do not negotiate the inherent morphological and performative capacities of the employed material systems that the tools put forward, resulting in a style driven or decorative computational form making processes.
ABSRACT: Design methodologies have radically shifted our conception of the design process, as well as our understanding of geometrical forms as a function of performance instead of finite positions in space. However, the materials perspective that digital technologies has not yet been explored on the basis of the new possibilities disclosed by these very same tools; material considerations have almost considered as a post-rationalization design input. So far, the materialization of formal expressions instigated by such processes is primarily based on techniques of assembly, which do not negotiate the advanced levels of material complexity that the tools put forward. This lack of materialism limits the value of the design tool and the exploration of the design space, resulting in a style driven or decorative computational form making processes. This work lies on the premise of investigating modes to address an emergent rather than imposed materiality of distributions, instigated by computer-generated processes. It introduces a sustainable design approach that draws on evolutionary concepts or 'Biogenesis' of natural forms, from their material properties and from their adaptive response to changes in their environment. Instead of looking at the macro level of a building (Formal expression), this paper investigates assemblies at the domain of Material microstructures as a function of structural and environmental performance that generates design form.
BIOMIMICRY AS A TOOL FOR SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN TOWARDS MORPHOGENETIC ARCHITECTURE
Biomimicry is an applied science that derives inspiration for solutions to human problems through the study of natural designs, systems and processes. Nature can teach us about systems, materials, processes, structures and aesthetics (just to name a few). By delving more deeply into how nature solves problems that are experienced today, timely solutions could be extracted and new directions for our built environments could be explored.
Towards Morphogenesis in Architecture
International Journal of Architectural Computing, 2009
Procedural, parametric and generative computer-supported techniques in combination with mass customization and automated fabrication enable holistic manipulation in silico and the subsequent production of increasingly complex architectural arrangements. By automating parts of the design process, computers make it easier to develop designs through versioning and gradual adjustment. In recent architectural discourse, these approaches to designing have been described as morphogenesis.This paper invites further reflection on the possible meanings of this imported concept in the field of architectural designing. It contributes by comparing computational modelling of morphogenesis in plant science with techniques in architectural designing. Deriving examples from case-studies, the paper suggests potentials for collaboration and opportunities for bi-directional knowledge transfers.
Adaptive Morphologies: Toward a Morphogenesis of Material Construction
Architectural discourse has recently suggested a new material practice derived from advances in the field of synthetic biology. As biological organisms can now be designed and engineered for specific purposes, it is expected that, in the near future, it will be possible to program even more complex biologically based systems. One potential application is to literally grow buildings by programming cellular organisms to fabricate and deposit material into architecturally relevant patterns. Our current design methods do not anticipate the potentially challenging material practice involved in a biologically engineered architecture, where there is a loose and emergent relationship between design and material articulation. To tackle this conflict, we developed SynthMorph, a form-finding computational tool based on basic biological morphogenetic principles. A reflection is offered on its use, discussing the effect of multicellular morphogenesis on the production of shape. We conclude that such a strategy is an adaptive design method in two ways: (a) the mechanics of design using morphological constraints involve a practice of dynamic and continuous negotiation between a design intent and material emergence, and (b) the proposed design strategy hints at the production of a biologically produced architecture, which would potentially behave as an adaptive organism.
Self-Organization and the construction of materials influencing Form-finding in Architecture
New strategies for form finding have emerged in recent years requiring new techniques of creating materials and mega structural systems based on biological models. Nature is studied to find solutions to design problems. That's where inspiration comes from. This is done by picking a solution that is already spotted somewhere in the organic world, and closely resembles a design problem, to be used in a constructive way. First, examining it, disassembling it, sorting out conclusions and ideas discovered, then performing an act of 'reverse engineering' and putting it all together again, in a way that suits our design needs. Very simple ideas copied from nature, produce complexity and exhibit self-organization capabilities, when applied in bigger scale and number. The research aims to discuss and analyze the concept of self-organizational cellular materials and its reflection on architectural form finding. To understand how these strategies fit within a broader context of architectural practice. The research begins with an introduction discussing the processes of self-organization based on a biological paradigm and its historical background, then it discusses the term "Tensegrity" and analyzes the cellar materials in general. Then it focuses on the Construction of polymer cellular foams. The research ends with examining their use for architectural design in a constructive way through analyzing two projects, the water cube in Beijing and excremental project, skyscraper in Berlin-Germany.
2021
Nature has been around and perfected the cycles of growth and development through billions of years. When looking for inspiration or for answers, it is a well cultivated library that has many of the answers for us. Michael Palwyn argues “If biomimicry increasingly shapes the built environment – and I feel it must – then, over the next few decades, we can create cities that are healthy for their occupants and regenerative to their hinterlands, buildings that use a fraction of the resources and are a pleasure to work or live in, and infrastructure that becomes integrated with natural systems” (Pawlyn 8). The use of this natural library can help to cultivate the tools we use to in our own building library, and create a more efficient, sustainable, and forward-thinking environment that does not waste the resources we have but use them to our advantage. Throughout the research of this thesis, studies of the evolutionary successes that biology has to offer will present us with powerful te...
Morphogenetic Engineering: Reconciling Self-Organization and Architecture
Understanding Complex Systems, 2012
Generally, phenomena of spontaneous pattern formation are random and repetitive, whereas elaborate devices are the deterministic product of human design. Yet, biological organisms and collective insect constructions are exceptional examples of complex systems that are both architectured and self-organized. Can we understand their precise self-formation capabilities and integrate them with technological planning? Can physical systems be endowed with information, or informational systems be embedded in physics, to create autonomous morphologies and functions? This book is the first initiative of its kind toward establishing a new field of research, Morphogenetic Engineering, to explore the modeling and implementation of "self-architecturing" systems. Particular emphasis is set on the programmability and computational abilities of self-organization, properties that are often underappreciated in complex systems science-while, conversely, the benefits of selforganization are often underappreciated in engineering methodologies.
Computational Organicism: Examining Evolutionary Design Strategies in Architecture
Nexus Network Journal, 2010
The diverse forms of nature, in particular and biological forms, have long been a preoccupation of the architect. As a special category of natural form, biological organisms exhibit extraordinary levels of design adaptability across multiple generations based upon the inherent 'intelligence' of the evolutionary mechanism. Evolutionary design theory in architecture seeks to harness this generative intelligence as the foundation for a new architectural design process. This paper investigates the lineage of evolutionary thought in architectural design, paying particular attention to the current trend towards experimentation with generative algorithmic procedures and the theorization of an evolutionary architecture. Only nature is inspiring and true; only Nature can be support for human works. But do not render Nature, as the landscapists do, showing only the outward aspect. Penetrate the cause of it, its form and vital development… Charles L'Eplattenier, 1906, quoted in [Le Corbusier 1925: 198] Underlying the many visible elements of animal form are remarkable processes, beautiful in their own right in the way that they transform a tiny, single cell into a large, complex, highly organized, and patterned creature, and over time, have forged a kingdom of millions of individual designs. Sean B. Carroll [2005: 4] The idea of evolution as we understand it today-a process of natural selection operating within a population of variable replicators-was first introduced to the scientific community by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace at the Linnean Society of London in 1858, and was given its first public exposure the following year with the publication of Darwin's book On the Origin of Species. In this seminal work, Darwin lays bare for the first time the mechanism of design in the biological world. Then, just four years later, the Revue Générale de l'Architecture coined the term
This paper introduces and elaborates a specific approach to architectural design entitled 'performance-oriented architecture' based on a redefinition of the concept of 'performance' in relation to the discipline of architecture and set within a biological paradigm. The concept of 'performance' evolved out of a series of intellectual efforts that had broad consequences, bringing about a paradigm shift in the humanities referred to as the 'performative turn'. These efforts commenced in the 1940s and 1950s and had significant impact also on the sciences, deriving what is referred to as the 'performative idiom'. Here the question is raised as to what 'performance' in the context of architecture may entail. The approach introduced contrasts previous ones that focused either on questions of representation and meaning in architecture, or, alternatively that have treated performance as synonymous to function placed in the context of post-design functional optimisation. Contrasting these previous efforts performance is here reformulated as a driving concept for design that helps re-consolidate form and function into a synergetic relation with the dynamics of natural, cultural and social environments, and in so doing, locate performative capacity -' active agency' -in the spatial and material organisation of architecture, in the human subject and the environment through the dynamic interaction between these four domains. In pursuing this approach the potential of a close disciplinary affiliation between architecture and biology is examined, so as to locate a suitable paradigm for performance in the discipline of biology and its various sub-disciplines, in its various foci and modes of inquiry, and, moreover, in biological systems.