The Nature of Architecture (original) (raw)
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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.
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.
Integration of Bio Methodologies in Architectural Design: A Neoplasmic Spatial Experiment
INTERNATIONAL REFEREED JOURNAL OF DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE
Since the early ages, nature has been an inspiration for humanity and imitation of the nature also appears in architecture. Biology and technology are used to understand nature and with the developments in these fields; architecture is greatly affected along with others. Advances in genetics along with the digital design technology, offers new possibilities to designers for the creation process in architecture. This study explores parallelism with architectural design by exploring existing biological material and observing its dynamic structures. It is aimed to blur the boundaries between the natural and the artificial, and to think of architecture in a wider ecology. In this article, the concepts of biodigital architecture were discussed. The interaction between biology and architecture was read by experimentation on fungi. As a result, the structure that’s been observed was transferred to the digital environment and used as a methodological data to incorporate biology into archite...
2020
Analogy is a main cognitive source, which helps to understand new ideas and fosters creativity. Making analogy has a significant role in the architectural design thinking process and creating architectural concepts. The living nature has been always a great source of inspiration for the architects during history. Biological inspiration can be traced in various aspects of architectural theory and practice during the history. In the present research, different aspects of the influence of living nature and biology are investigated after an extensive literature review and classified in categories including as bio-utilization, inspiration in form, structure, mechanism, process, function, system, theory, abstract rule and concept. Accordingly, only some aspects of biological inspiration can be considered as biological analogies, including structure, mechanism, process, function, system, abstract rule and theory. Studying the history of bio-inspired architecture showed a gradual move from ...
Frontiers of Architectural Research, 2021
Certain confusion may be observed in the field of biomimetic architecture, as it emerges at the crossroad of two disciplinary domains: architectural design and biological sciences. If biomimetics is defined as a science, once it is applied to architecture, biomimetic architecture should logically be defined as a science too. This assertion collides with the nature of architectural design, which may rather be defined as a technology: its aim is to transform the world, not to explain it. On the one hand, there is no obvious relationship between architecture and life sciences. On the other hand, the biomimetic approach tends to redefine the concept of science itself by seeking to avoid the excesses of scientism. Moreover, existing applications of biomimetic design show that it is difficult to observe a genuine biomimetic architecture; most cases are closer to engineering component or urban planning and sometimes they involve little or no life sciences. The aim of this paper is to describe this conceptual confusion through two movements called "forcings", occurring between design and science. These forcings are conceptualised as shifts between constructed scientific objects and given empirical objects. Models, used in biology as in architecture, allow these shifts by virtue of their double function. They are both tools for knowledge and for design, thus they may be conceptually forced into what they are not supposed to be, particularly in the field of biomimetic architecture where design process and scientific knowledge are said to meet.
Re-understanding Computation in architecture via its Biological references.
Computation can be considered as a vital field for architectural design because of its exploratory and problem-solving nature.. This paper suggests to understand computation for architectural design in a broader sense, by investigating its relevance in biology- which is one of the major fields, and that computation has also emerged as an integral part in the past experiences closed to date. In this point of view, involving similar approaches in biology and architecture, Biomorphism emerges as the field of intersection between two disciplines. From the point of architectural design, biomorphism is mainly about the search for biological references in form generation processes. Biomorphism can be traced back into many architectural design examples involving a computational design experience, namely two of them are: Antoni Gaudi’s Sagrada familia completion project in which Mark Burry carried on the legacy of Gaudi's forms using computational tools and in Greg Lynn’s works which can be obviously deciphered to be based on direct biological references such as embriyology and growth and last the study will look into Lars Spuybroek book where he focused Miharu Morimoto’s carpet house which is another good example of a design that uses biological reference in form generation. Biology is one of the major fields in which computation is widely applicable, so by accounting and comparing the applications of computation in biology to that of architecture, it will give a better insight of its importance in the field of architecture. Keywords: Computation, architecture, Design, Biological computation, Biomorphism
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.
On the Educational Need for Researching Bioforms in Studying Architecture as an Artistic Phenomenon
2021
The paper argues on the need for educational research on bioforms in studying architectureconcerning its meaningful side and conceptual load as an artistic, cultural medium and not as a product of the mere built in the conventional architectural design terms. The focus realm of the paper and its corresponding conditional methodology is a particular niche in the immersive theoretical knowledge field of architecture. The problems concerned do question the following: why and how researching bioforms is essential; where the process of the joint educational model and its significance lies; is it obsolete as a structuralist approach in a current digital postmodern era; and what are the explicit boundaries of its theoretical scale. This paper is an integral part of a practical scientific study project (filed under contract No BN-232/20) in 2020 with academic staff from different departments of The Faculty of Architecture at UACEG in Sofia. For best results in understanding, common morphological knowledge of the highly philosophical and social studies side of architecture might be of some use along with basic theoretical training in semiotics.
Biomimetic Architecture A New Interdisciplinary Approach to Architecture
2014, 2014
As a highly interdisciplinary field, architecture is being influenced by many subjects of natural and social sciences. While many subject hold an indisputable effect on architecture, biological sciences is currently dominating the era. It is totally comprehensible for architects to observe, learn and copycat the natural phenomena on behalf of a better living. This biological framework evolved and shifted towards different approaches, especially with the advancements in the computer technologies and as a cause of this a better understanding of the nature’s production methods. Especially, for the last 10 years, as many literature published and many studies done, this subject becomes more popular amongst architects. This paper aims to understand these design methods under the name of biomimicry and biomimetic architecture by reviewing the literature and research work done and examines these approaches under three categories like; biomorphological design, biomimetic design and biodesign as pointing out the differences between each approaches..
The Routledge Handbook to Biology in Art and Architecture is co-edited by Charissa Terranova and Meredith Tromble. This anthology brings together essays from a transdisciplinary array of experts on biology in art, architecture, and design. They consider why, how, and under what circumstances artists, architects, and designers have integrated biology into their practices. The authors – artists, architects, designers, scientists, historians, and theoreticians – connect biological thought past and present, on topics such as complex systems, epigenesis, ecology, evolution, and expanded mind, to the use of living materials in art, architecture, and design. This anthology surveys the emergent field of biocreativity and outlines its theoretical foundations. The hybrid art-and-science thinking it reviews newly articulates the relationship between science and culture to meet the burgeoning needs of programs of academic study and research integrating biology into art, architecture, and design.