“Branching Morphogenesis” is at Ars Electronica, a museum of digital and media arts, in Linz, Austria

‘… the form of an object is a ‘diagram of forces’… D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson

Thompson described growth and form in relation to the study of organisms. He emphasized the evolution as the fundamental determinant of the form and structure of living organisms. He asserts structuralism as an alternative to survival of the fittest in governing the form of species.

According to him Darwinism is not adequate explanation for the origin of new species. He regarded natural selection as a secondary to the origin of biological form.

The text is basically lays on the associated repercussions of environmental pressures and geometrical formations. He established mathematics and physics to map these repercussions. It is described as a means for deciphering an individual course of development or growth. The interpolation between multiple morphometric mappings was outlaid as a means to project potentials in form. This sets two fundamental branches of a conceptual framework for computational geometry. These are parametrics and homologies. A parametric equation is defined as a constant equation in which relational parameters vary. It results in producing families of products where each instance will always carry a particular commonness with others. Thompson defines these embedded relationships as homologies . The framework that emerges encapsulates, within formal rules for geometric organisation, the capacities of form, in physical stature and robustness, and their transformation through external influences.

Similarly, computer-aided design is capturing the geometric relationships that form the foundation of architecture, building upon now-established practices of form-finding and finite element analysis (which breaks down a continuous structure into many simple, linked elements in order to find optimal thicknesses and arrangements of supporting elements). New developments in parametric modeling permit control of design through models that can coordinate and update themselves. These systems can automatically update the entire model or drawing set based on changes as small as a joint or as large as the entire floor plan, offering flexible design of deeply nested relationships. In much the same way that mutations in nature generate biodiversity, individual variation in architectural components can be achieved economically. Parametric design practice employs ‘dependency’ networks similar to the complex process diagrams used to express relationships in natural systems, offering increasingly fine-tuned approaches to building component design. Using these tools, architectural disciplines are poised to work with increasing effectiveness in responsive, interactive systems.

I find this possibility really interesting. In particular I have always been interested in evolution, and the history of the Earth millions of years ago. Perhaps mathematical form is an element of the missing map, or perhaps this idea could be applied to filling in some of the gaps. It has exponential possibilities in the world of parametric design, and the possibility of the built form. We are increasingly interested in achieving organic form, and perhaps this better understanding of nature and mathematics will help us.

My possible personal research topic: How does the architectural discourse engage in a recovery of ecology in its original framing in the context of morphology? The Morphological Context of Environmental Architecture

 

Paths formed by livestock over time are an example of the natural formation of optimised detour path networks.

Schumachers’ Parametricism – A new global style for Architecture & Urban Design (2008) is an interesting text covering many of the broader topics of Parametricism. It provides the reader with a brief insight into the world of parametricism, it’s history, and it’s real world feasibility & applications.

 The initial paragraph deals with the lead up to Parametricism, claiming that it “closes the transitional period of uncertainty that was engendered by the crisis of modernism”.

This introduction provides us with an insight as to the role Schumacher envisions for parametricism in the 21st century. He talks of parametricism as the new style, to follow from post-modernism.

Parametricism is the great new style after modernism

From here, Schumacher talks about the benefits afforded by Parametricism in the post-fordism age. The ability to customise every object at the same price of mass production and repetition has lead to a “heterogenous society of the multitude, marked by proliferating life-style and career differentiation.”

The following definition of parametric sensibility leaves the reader with an insight as to the fundamentals of parametric design being employed to agglomerate complex features into a uniformed solution.

Aesthetically it is the elegance of ordered complexity and the sense of seamless fluidity.

The various taboos (rigid geometry; simple repition; juxtapositions of unrelated elements or systems) are explored, and compared to the  dogmas of parametricism (malleable forms; differentiation; inflections and correlations). From this comparison we begin to see that Schumacher stresses the point of parametricism being not about spaces themselves, but about the laws surrounding spaces. This is emplified by the tests undertaken by Frei Otto – tests that can be applied to any space and project, with an infinite number of outcomes and solutions.

The next topic covered is the relationship between modernist urbanism and parametricism. The comparison made is between Le Corbusier’s  limitation of only seeing order in strict geometry, as opposed to that of Frei Otto, whom sees order in natural complexity through the laws that govern the spacial qualities and forms.

Le Corbusier’s limitation is not his insistence upon order but his limited concept of order in terms of classical geometry. Complexity theory in general, and the research of Frei Otto in particular, have since taught us to recognize, measure and simulate the complex patterns that emerge from processes of self organization.

Schumacher provides numerous examples of Otto’s work, including the Magnet and Polystyrene chip test, and the wool thread model test. The latter test provides us with an brief explanation of optimised detour path networks, one of three fundamental types of  network configuration in Otto’s experiments -

Direct Path Networks; Minimal Path Networks; Minimizing Detour Networks.

From here, we are given an introduction into the laws controlling the relationships in design. Schumacher talks of Relational Fields, and the subsidiary layers creating these fields. The conclusive notion here is that patterns of occupation directly correlate to patterns of connection, and it is the relationship between these two patterns which can define a design.

To conclude his text, Schumacher provides us with the case study of a project being developed by his firm, ZHA. The Kartal-Pendick Masterplan, in Turky (2006), is an excellent example of the optimisation of path networks, and the habitation of the space provided by these networks. The seemingly complex masterplan is grounded by deep relationality.

”Ordered complexity here replaces the monotony of older planned developments and the disorienting visual chaos that marks virtually all unregulated contemporary city expansions.”

ANALYSIS

Schumacher deals well with the idea of Parametricism as a style which governs the laws of object, spacial and network design. He makes a strong comparison between Le Corbusier and Frei Otto, and their very different opinions of order and structure. Firstly Le Corbusier is used an example to the forces against parametricism. However, Schumacher provides us with a limit to this implied ignorance, by quoting Le Corbusier:

Nature presents itself to us a chaos… the spirit which animates nature is a spirit of order.

A major theme explored  is the adaptability of parametric design laws to any project. This theme however is limited in that once a project is constructed, the form cannot be changed, and hence a design must be layed out to accommodate various uses over a projects lifecycle.

The use of variations of path networks, and their relationships to the final form, are incredibly important in this text and evidently in Schumacher’s work.

Although the text provides us with a strong insight into parametricism, Schumacher attempts to explore and define too many topics in too little space. The result is that the text is very inconsistent in its exploration of the themes, and finally appears to be very broad and lacking of depth.

T6. Parametricism- A new Global Style for architecture and Urban Design

 T6. Individual Summary

Parametricism as an increasingly dominant new style among architects, it is rooted in digital animation techniques and it succeeds modernism as a new long wave in systematic innovation. This is how Schumaker introduces this “new” style in the former document.

With the new incoming technologies, Parametricism is turning into the most implemented style among emergent advanced architects all around the world. It´s the new area of study in which the architect designs the most efficient connection between the project itself and the society, depending on the scale, location and environment.

Along this text Schumaker emphasize that each style has it´s hard core of principles and a characterized way of tackling design problem tasks. In which we could find negative (avoid rigid geometry primitives, juxtaposition and repetition of single elements) and positive heuristics (all forms are parametrically malleable, gradually differentiated and systematically correlated).

The implementation and differentiation of the sub-systems within the whole system is basic during all the design process of the project, integrating object parameters, ambient parameters and observer parameters into the system.

The comparison with Le Corbusier´s Modernist urbanism is perfectly explained with the metaphor of the human and the donkey, in which he explains that the human as a superior being, walks in a straight line to reduce distance and time, while the donkey walks in a undefined curvy line avoiding the sun and different obstacles. This is exactly the difference between parameticism and modernism, where one style tries to design in a ordered and humanly logical way, and the other works with the path/line of less resistance.

As a way of trying to explain these donkey path connections, the author uses Frei Otto´s experiments and experience while showing the three fundamental types of configurations, which are, direct path networks, minimal path networks and minimizing detour networks, which somehow explain how nature itself creates its own connection in a different way as modernism does, and these is exactly what parametricism tries to achieve, creating more organic designs for the emergent projects and mostly urban territories.

Text relationship with other groups Topics during final debate

All articles involved in the debate had in one way or another, a relationship with the studied digital logics.

-          Theory of transformation.- talks about how all forms and shapes have a relationship with biological/ nature structures and their mathematical explanation, giving the architect the freedom to create biomimetic shapes and understanding how it works.

-          Deluce and genesis of forms.- criticizes the western way of thinking in which form is as it is for no explainable reason and says that the importance of the shape is in the process in which it becomes like that, in where the external factors directly affect the final form.

-          Rhizome.-  uses a philosophical approach to explain the connection between the roots and the log of a tree, and then again the branches to the tree itself. Here we see a connection with the previous text, understanding that the externalities define the final shape or form.

-          Towards a theory of architecture.- explains the idea of a visionary architect who many years ago proposed the creation of machines that can learn, from their errors and experience while being operated by a parent machine and yet so by humans. Being able to create capacities such as heuristic processes, learning from memorizing, maping information, understanding externalities and conditions and having the ability to forget non-useful data.

Personal Research Topic

How can rigid geometric primitives interact and help us architects create more efficient parametric designs?

This question is trying to plunge in the parametricism way of designing without leaving aside modernism as we know it, in which the architect while merging both ideas and styles can find the perfect solution for upcoming developments and territories. Is it possible to find a bonding line between both ways of thinking, or one them is the main character of this tale called “Creating spaces as nature does”.