In nature, form is the result of several forces acting over an object. When the study of nature was done trough mere description by using words, in On Growth and Form (1917), D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson developed an analytical and mathematical method that allowed the study of organic morphology. He introduced a theory of transformation and a way of studying nature that was ahead of his time. The biologist and mathematician proposed a method using the coordinate system and the laws of mathematics to understand the process of growth and form. Using this method, objects could be drawn in a grid and transformed into other similar objects through the distortion of the system. The lines change from their original place, however, the relation between them remains. Using this method, he was able not only to study a range of organism, but also to interpolate evolution and even found missing steps into it.
Through the study, the transformation was seen as a causal process resulting from the application of specific forces, and this last could be found by analyzing the transformation. This means that, for instance, depending on the environment, an specific object would get a shape adapted to the forces presents in it. In this sense, Thompson’s theory looks for understanding where the shapes in nature come from, always studying general cases by saying “keep the type in mind and leave the single case with all its accidents alone”.
In spite of the lack of accuracy and the limitations in the method, where only objects from the same family can be studied together, Thompson’s work can be considered as a major contribution in Architecture: The basis of parametric design have been started establishing centuries ago.
In an era where every discipline is influenced by a number of doctrines, architecture is every day more outright influenced by biology and the natural process and how these can be a model of new patterns, shapes and functions in the manmade structures. By understanding the complexity of basic functions in nature, this first can be reproduced and adapted for a more efficient design. The idea of multiplicity described by Thompson can be perfectly related with the parametric design where, just like objects in nature are modified according existing forces in a determined environment, a design can be adapted and transformed to comply site parameters.
In the previous decades more and more buildings are being designed following parameters. However, with the popularization of the technique and the form-finding method, there are some that only succeed creating a parametric “facade”. The Watercube, constructed for the Beijing’s Olympic games (2008) by following a sophisticated procedure for form-finding achieves the individualization of parts in its structure made of 22.000 individual pieces, algorithm relations by the use of Euclidian’s units and variation on 12.000 joints. It is true that it innovates in structural design and has minimal operational costs because of its sustainable design, nevertheless, it is an imposed voronoi-square shape whose materials, make it sustainable and unsustainable at the same time. ETFE, used for the entire facade, in spite of capturing solar energy, does not match Beijing’s pollution, being too expensive to be cleaned. In my opinion the basic parallelepiped shape was not submitted to the right parameters or to any parameter at all.
As a personal research, I am interested in studying known cases on parametric design, placed in different environments, by using digital tools to, instead of using the 2D, generating a 3D coordinate system and understanding the forces of parameters that originated the different forms.
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