In this rapidly changing world, people more and more often notice that we are not so different from our planet’s species. After analyzing Sendai Mediatheque by architect Toyo Ito and studying the text of Steven Johnson “Emergence – the connected lives of ants, brains, cities, and software” I found a lot of similarities.
At first it doesn’t seem like this two projects: one being a building and the other a book, could have something in common. When we look at the Sendai Mediatheque by Toyo Ito, we see that it has three main components: skin, plate and tube. Every one of these elements by itself does not create a structure or a building, but when they are put together, they create a revolutionary, transparent cultural media center with unique engineering systems and aesthetics. In the “Emergence…” by Steven Johnson we can find similar concepts, where one component/element/creature can still exist on its own, but multiple can create a solid structure/organism or life.
Here author relies on the life of ants, and how they create this ever changing organism where each “social citizen” knows what he or she is supposed to do in order for their colony to survive. He also mentions DNA and how every piece of it is essential to the organism. By removing something in it or simply changing it, will change the organism itself. Just like in Toyo Ito’s cultural media center where every floor is designed in the way that they have their purpose within the building. It acts as an organism – architectural organism, meaning if you ever to change the function of one floor, it will automatically change the whole purpose, flow or functionality of the building.
After reading text by Steven Johnson and analyzing Sendai Mediatheque by Toyo Ito, I found it very helpful in order understand that we, architects create these organisms, but in different scales. Starting from the smallest – a building, then neighborhood and finally – city. So I guess my personal research/project that I would like to develop in the future will be creating and studying these organisms. I would also like to create them in the way where every element/component I use will have a purpose.