(Bassil Taleb, Sequential Transformation)

D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson  

”On the Theory of Transformations” (“On Growth and Form” , 1917)

D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson wrote his book in the beginning  of XX century, in 1917. He was one of the first scientists that explored the connection, and tried to blur the boundaries between biology and mathematics. Large part of “On Growth and Form” is devoted to transformations of biological shapes and forms viewed  as mathematical and physical methods. This chapter is highlighting mathematical descriptions of  how physical processes affect biological changes.

Thompson uses grid systems and presents us his theory of coordinates. This theory expresses that transforming the grid we can see  a mathematical logic in the evolution and biological growth. Thompson gave a lot of examples of forms represented nature: bones, leaves, skulls and so on,  and explanations  of changing shapes of one species according mathematical system of coordinate. Some images he used was taken from the artist and mathematician Albrecht Dürer’s work on proportion: “De Symmetria Partium in Rectus Femoris Humanorum Corporum Libri”.   D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson uses four basic types of deformation of the Cartesian grid of coordinates to learn the development of the biological shapes:

In the chapter «The Conditioned Outdoor Room» extracted from the writing «Behind The Picture Window» Bernard Rudofsky provides a survey about the position of outdoor space in people’s life. Rudofsky starts his analysis describing that the comfort of human beings nowadays has been changed in contrast with the history. Thanks to social, economical and technologycal advancements we now belive that we conquered the inconviniences of climate. But we have to remember that human beings are still part of the nature.

Rudofsky is critisyzing the contemporary garden: «No other civilization has produced gardens as melancholy as ours» ; «Backyards are a gigantic waste of potencial outdoor living space». He addresses to the paradigm of Pompeii and the Japanese garden. Comparing and analyzing Rudofsky makes us understand that the modern American garden is an unoccupied space. We understand that the American outdoor works as a fencing between houses or between a house and a public space.

Taking a look at the phenomenon of the wall Rudofsky decides that a wall could become a solution. Building a wall could be a way to transform the contemporary garden from a waste of space into an outdoor living space. A wall could play a role of a sculpture with any defined function, but it will make the outdoor space habitable. It provides shade, protects us from noise, wind and animals and finally becomes a peace of art in our garden.

Continuing the indoor space, by building a “conditioned outdoor room” that gives the feeling of comfort and privacy, we could make our living space completed and harmonious.

Reading this topic i concluded that contemporary architects and designers should strive to renew and renovate the relationship between human beings and nature, that we’ve lost . I am very interested in finding a way to change the concept of a  living space fundamentally. I think that now, when technologies and  society are changing so fast, is the perfect time to change our understanding of the idea of space using, making it more “flexible” and “closer” to nature. I would like to research about how in theory we can use technology and all the historical background we have to make our lives more related to nature and consequently more qualitative.