UNIT II

ASPECTS OF DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE

CONTENTS

• Aspects of Digital Architecture

• Design and Computation
• Difference between Digital Process and Non-Digital Process
• Architecture and Cyber Space
• Qualities of the new space
• Issues of Aesthetics
• Issues of Authorship
• Increased Automatism and its influence.
ASPECTS OF DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE

Digital architectures refer to the computationally based processes of form origination and transformations.

Several digital architectures are identified based on the underlying computational concepts such as:

i. TOPOLOGICAL SPACE (TOPOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURES)

ii. ISOMORPHIC SURFACES (ISOMORPHIC ARCHITECTURES)

iii. MOTION KINEMATICS & DYNAMICS (ANIMATE ARCHITECTURES)

iv. KEYSHAPE ANIMATION (METAMORPHIC ARCHITECTURES)

v. PARAMETRIC DESIGN (PARAMETRIC ARCHITECTURES)

vi. GENETIC ALGORITHMS (EVOLUTIONARY ARCHITECTURES)

Euclidean and Non-Euclidean geometries
 TOPOLOGICAL SPACE (TOPOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURE)
Topology:

According to its mathematical definition,

Its the study of geometrical properties and spatial relations unaffected by the continuous change of shape or
size of figures.

for example, A circle and an ellipse, or a square and a rectangle, can be considered topologically equivalent,
as both circle and square could be deformed by stretching them into an ellipsoid or rectangle, respectively. A
square and a rectangle have the same number of edges and the same number of vertices, and are, therefore,
topologically identical.
 i. TOPOLOGICAL SPACE (TOPOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURE)

• In ―architectural curvilinearity‖ Greg Lynn offers examples of

new approaches to design that move away from
deconstructivism‘s ―logic of conflict and contradiction‖ to
develop a ―more fluid logic of connectivity.‖

• This is manifested through folding that departs from

Euclidean geometry of discretevolumes, and employs
topological, ―rubber-sheet‖ geometry of continuous curves
and surfaces.

a donut is topologically equivalent

to a coffee mug.
Non-Uniform Rational B-splines. NURBS.

In topological space, geometry is represented by parametric functions, which describe a range of possibilities.
The continuous, highly curvilinear surfaces are mathematically described as NURBS – Non-Uniform Rational
B-Splines. What makes NURBS curves and surfaces particularly appealing is the ability to easily control their
shape by manipulating the control points, weights, and knots. NURBS make the heterogeneous and coherent
forms of the topological space computationally possible.

Forces/weight

Control point
The control lattice for a NURBS surface
EXAMPLE
Mobius house, Gooi, Netherlands 1993-1998. by
Architect Van Berkel.

The concept of this project is based upon the

Mobius strip, which is derived from the topological
forms.

Creating the main diagram as the concept of

design. It describes the existence and
interconnection between two people living in
the same house.

The concept of the project was embodied in the

Mobius band..

Analysis and zoning of the form took into

consideration the function.

Examples for Topological architecture:

The application of the Mobuis strip as a concept fulfills the following
points in the design :
• Creation of shared and separate spaces that intertwine.
• Linking the internal spaces with the external landscape
surroundings.
• Transformation of the interior and exterior structures. Many parts of
the building flow into or issue out of each other; Concrete structure
becomes furniture, Glass facades turn into inside partition walls.
ISOMORPHIC SURFACES (ISOMORPHIC ARCHITECTURES)

Blobs or metaballs, or isomorphic surfaces, are amorphous objects constructed as composite assemblages
of mutually inflecting parametric objects with internal forces of mass and attraction.

Meta ball

Blob models
 ISOMORPHIC SURFACES (ISOMORPHIC ARCHITECTURES)

A blob is defined with a center, a surface area, a mass

relative to other objects, and a field of influence. The field
of influence defines a relational zone within the blob will
fuse with, or will be inflected by other blobs. When two or
more linked blob objects are proximate, they will either

i. Mutually redefine their own surfaces based on their

particular gravitational properties.

ii. Actually fuse into one adjoining surface defined by the

Mutual forces between two blobs.
interactions of their own centers and zones of inflection
and fusion.
 Examples for Isomorphic architecture
The "bubble", BMW's exhibition Pavilion, Frankfurt, Germany, 1999. by Architect Bernhard Franken

water with its two drops as the main concept for the pavilion.

A drop simulation computer program was used to create this shape. The Bubble was one of the first structures
in the world which was completely created with digital means, from the design through to construction.
steps for simulating the water drop as an isomorphic surface. The architect studied the mutual forces
between the two drops and there resultant form, which was later on his main form.

complex studies for the form created, and the study of the structural system used, which is based on the same
idea of polysurface.
Bubble, BMW-Pavilion by B. Franken, 1999

“Due to the influence of surface tension, the drop aims to achieve a spherical shape. However, its viscosity,
torpidity, atmospheric friction and other external forces prevent this, so that it warps through a slightly
oscillating drop into a spherical form.”
MOTION KINEMATICS & DYNAMICS (ANIMATE ARCHITECTURES)

Animation software is utilized as medium of form-

generation.

Animate design is defined by the co-presence of motion

and force at the moment of formal conception.

Force, as an initial condition, becomes the cause of both

motion and particular inflections of a form. While motion
implies movement and action, animation implies evolution
of a form and its shaping forces.

The types of motion-based modeling techniques are

• keyframe animation,
• forward and inverse kinematics, dynamics (force
fields) and
• particle emission.
 MOTION KINEMATICS & DYNAMICS (ANIMATE ARCHITECTURES)

Kinematics are used in their true mechanical meaning to study the motion of an object or a hierarchical system
of objects without consideration given to its mass or the forces acting on it.

As motion is applied, transformation are propagated downward the hierarchy in forward kinematics, and upward
through hierarchy in inverse kinematics.

"House Prototype in Long

Island" by Gerg Lynn, skeletons
with an envelope are deformed
using inverse kinematics under
the influence of various site-
induced forces.
 MOTION KINEMATICS & DYNAMICS (ANIMATE ARCHITECTURES)

DYNAMIC SIMULATION:
It takes into consideration the effect of forces on the motion of an object or a system of objects, in creating the
project form.
Physical properties of objects, such as mass (density), elasticity, static and kinetic friction (or roughness),
are defined.
Forces of gravity, wind, or vortex are applied, collision detection and obstacles (deflectors) are specified, and
dynamic simulated computed.

The "Dynaform", BMW pavilion, Auto show in Frankfurt, Germany, 2001. architects Bernhard Franken and ABB
Architekten
 KEYSHAPE ANIMATION (METAMORPHIC ARCHITECTURES)

Metamorphic architecture represents the concept of

creating a simple form, and then selecting the suitable
transformation modifier, such as bending, torsion, lattice
box, morphing, etc, to change the form.

This modifier is selected according to the concept.

By adding a fourth, temporal dimension (time) to the
deformation processes, animation software adds a
possibility to literally express the space and form of an
object's metamorphosis, and then select the best frame
during the animation.(KEY-SHAPE ANIMATIION)
For instance, Gehry's Ostra Office
Building in Hanover, Germany has
a simple prismatic form, which twists
in the direction of the nearby open
park area.
Metamorphic generation of form includes several techniques for deformation, such as modeling space around
the model using a bounding box, a spline curve, or one of the coordinate system axis or planes, and path animation,
which deforms an object as it moves along a selected path.

Examples of different types of Metamorphing objects with different modifiers ;

1-Morphing:

Dissimilar forms are blended to produce

hybrid forms that combine formal
attributes of the "base" and target‖ objects.
As shown in the figure the frames of
transforming a box to sphere.

A process of morphing a box into a sphere.

2. PATCH DEFORM:
A process of deforming an object, by making it moves on a surface of another object. The deformation of the first
object depends on the topological surface of the other one. As shown in the figure a torus moves on surface of a
plane.

A torus deforms due to its movement on a surface of a plane

3. PATH DEFORM:

it is a process of deforming an object by making it moves along path. As shown in the figure an object moving
along a spline.

An object is deformed by making it moves on a path.

LATTICE BOX:

The main form is surrounded by a virtual box, which is represented as points, by moving these points the
main form is modified.

A process of deforming a sphere by lattice box modifier.

ARONOFF CENTER FOR DESIGN AND ART, BY PETER EISENMAN.

The design of project started with a basic form like box, which was
then transformed or modified to create a new form generated by
metamorphic methods
(Like path deform, bending).

the steps of
metamorphing.
4. KEYSHAPE ANIMATION:

Key frame animation is a technique that works a little like storyboarding (a comic strip series of images
illustrating a sequence of events). It enables us to choreograph and build an animation by arranging objects and
taking snapshots of them at key moments during a sequence of movement or change. These key moments or
key frames become the fixed points in time through which the animation passes.

OFFICES OF BFL SOFTWARE LTD. BY PETER EISENMAN

 PARAMETRIC DESIGN (PARAMETRIC ARCHITECTURES)

In parametric design, it is the parameters of a particular

design that are declared, not its shape.

By assigning different values to the parameters, different

objects or configurations can be created.

Equations can be used to describe the relationships

between objects, thus defining an associative geometry.
That way, interdependencies between objects can be
established, and objects‘ behavior under transformations
defined.

Parametrics are particularly useful for the modeling of

complex building forms.
The term "parametric design" is probably the most suitable term for this kind of design, by changing any
parameter in the equation new forms, and new shapes, could be created. The parameters are not just
numbers relating to Cartesian geometry-they could be performance-based criteria such as light levels or
structural load resistance, or even a set of aesthetic principles.
 PARAMETRIC DESIGN (PARAMETRIC ARCHITECTURES)

Parametric design often entails a procedural, algorithmic description of geometry. In this ―algorithmic
spectaculars‖, i.e., algorithmic explorations of ―tectonic production‖ using mathematical software,
architects can construct mathematical models and generative procedures that are constrained by
numerous variables initially unrelated to any pragmatic concerns. Each variable or process is a ‗slot‘ into
which an external influence can be mapped, either statically or dynamically.
THE CONGA ROOM BELZBERG ARCHITECTS
a ceiling that acts as a very present character and that
morphs in shape throughout the space while employing
acoustical isolation and prescribed sound absorption.
GENETIC ALGORITHMS (EVOLUTIONARY ARCHITECTURE)

Evolutionary architecture proposes the evolutionary model of nature as the generating process for architectural
form. The key concept behind evolutionary architecture is that of the genetic algorithm

Genetic Algorithm is an artificial intelligence procedure. It is based on the theory of natural selection and
evolution.
Genetic algorithms were developed in an attempt to explain the adaptive processes of natural systems and to
design artificial systems based upon these natural systems.

Evolutionary computation has its roots in computer science and evolutionary biology.

The genetic algorithm resembles natural

evolution more closely than most other
methods.
GENETIC ALGORITHMS (EVOLUTIONARY ARCHITECTURE)

Basic Description

Genetic algorithms are inspired by Darwin's theory of evolution. Solution to a problem solved by
genetic algorithms uses an evolutionary process (it is evolved).

Algorithm begins with a set of solutions (represented by chromosomes) called population.

Solutions from one population are taken and used to form a new population. This is motivated by a
hope, that the new population will be better than the old one. Solutions which are then selected to
form new solutions (offspring) are selected according to their fitness - the more suitable they are
the more chances they have to reproduce.

This is repeated until some condition (for example number of populations or improvement of the
best solution) is satisfied.
EXAMPLE Nathaniel Louis Jones used
GAs as a evolution tool to
create the fitter generation of
houses, which are ranked by
the lighting, heating and
functional criteria. ―After a few
runs of algorithm, the
architect has many fit design
options to choose from… A
few solutions discovered by
the GA are notable for their
display of machine creativity,
adaptations that seem
particularly well thought-out
even though no human
intelligence is behind them.
OPTIMIZATION EXAMPLE OF A HYPOTHETICAL TOWER MADE BY K. BESSERUD.

In order to maximize solar radiation for a 300-meter tower, the designer used GAs to get 75 different tower
forms by 75 generations. Later, he used the floor and skin area as the second criteria to find the optimal shape
from them. Additionally, he also texted the lighting and thermal values with the simulated day-night and season
changing that are dynamic, in order to realize a complete optimization.
Evolution of tower form with no
adjacent context; Generations 1,
5, 11, 31, and 101

Results from 2nd run

Evolution of tower with adjace
contextual shading;

Optimum form
analyzed using
ecotect software
tower positioned within context
INTRO TO DESIGN PROCESS

Design Process : Geoffery Broadbent

Design Methods, Nigel Cross
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
DIGITAL PROCESS AND
NON-DIGITAL PROCESS
predictability unpredictability

standardization customization

normative individualistic

Linear process Non-linear

Modern (non-digital) digital design

design
It bridges the gap between designing and producing that opened up when designers began to make drawings.‖

Modern design process Digital design process

Linear process Non-linear Interactive process

Analysis > synthesis> design > construction
DIGITAL DESIGN AND FABRICATION

―Integrating computer-aided design with computer-aided fabrication and construction [...]

fundamentally redefines the relationship between designing and producing.

It eliminates many geometric constraints imposed by traditional drawing and production processes—
making complex curved shapes much easier to handle, for example, and reducing dependence on
standard, mass-produced components. [...].

It bridges the gap between designing and producing that opened up when designers began to make
drawings.‖

-Mitchell, W. and M. McCullough. (1995). Prototyping (Ch. 18). In Digital Design Media, 2nd ed., 417-440. New
York, Van Nostrand Reinhold.
INTEGRATED DIGITAL DESIGN PROCESS
―Integrating computer-aided

design with computer-aided

fabrication and construction
[...] fundamentally redefines the
relationship between designing
and producing.
DESIGN AND
COMPUTATION
DESIGN THINKING in
DIGITAL DESIGN MODELS

Representative model

Dual-Directional Model

Formative/
Generative
model
DESIGN THINKING in
DIGITAL DESIGN MODELS

Representative model

Dual-Directional Model

Formative /
Generative
model
DESIGN THINKING in
DIGITAL DESIGN MODELS

Representative model

Dual-Directional Model

Formative/
Generative
model
GENERATIVE COMPUTATIONAL MODELS

Generative design is a technology that mimics nature‘s evolutionary approach to design. It starts with your
design goals and then explores all of the possible permutations of a solution to find the best option. Using cloud
computing, generative design software quickly cycles through thousands—or even millions—of design choices,
testing configurations and learning from each iteration what works and what doesn‘t.

The process lets designers generate brand new options. Most generative design, in which the output could be
images, sounds, architectural models, animation etc., is based on parametric modeling. Beyond what a human
alone could create, to arrive at the most effective design.
Typically, generative design has:

A design schema
1. A means of creating variations
2. A means of selecting desirable outcomes

Some generative schemes use genetic algorithms to create variations. Some use just random numbers.
Generative design has been inspired by natural design processes, whereby designs are developed as genetic
variations through mutation and crossovers.
Types of Generative systems:

1. L-systems: L-systems are recursive string

rewriting systems. They consists of two part: a
generative and an interpretative process. In general
the two parts can be coded to generate branching
structures , truss geometries and surface
deformations.

2. Shape grammar: Shape grammars employ

visual mode of computational design, working on the
rules that can be derived from the shape directly. Shape
grammars have been used in the visual medium - in
painting, sculpture, engineering design , product design
apart from architecture.

3. Parametric design: In parametric architecture,

it is the parameters that are declared , not its shape.
Based on parameters, different configurations and
hence different patterns or objects can be created.

4. Cellular Automata : An automaton is a self

operating machine, in essence an algorithm, a cellular
automaton is a system composed of an array of cells.
GENERATIVE DESIGN

L-systems:
Tote on the Turf,
Mumbai,
Serie Architects
Shape grammars in computation are a
specific class of production systems that
generate geometric shapes.

A shape grammar consists of shape

rules and a generation engine that selects
and processes rules. A shape rule defines
how an existing (part of a) shape can be
transformed

SHAPE GRAMMAR
 Re-birth Store, Mumbai
Nuru Karim

PARAMETRIC PATTERN
Out of the Box -Cadence
CELLULAR AUTOMATA

Cellular automata is the computational method

which can simulate the process of growth by
describing a complex system by simple
individuals following simple rules.
The concept gained greater popularity when
Martin Gardner described John Conway‘s ―Life‖, a
game that generated two-dimensional patterns.

The connection to architecture is the ability of

cellular automata to generate patterns, from
organized patterns we might be able to suggest
architectural forms. Cellular automata, viewed as a
mathematical approach, differs from a traditional
deterministic methods in that current results are
the basis for the next set of results.
 Cellular Automata and Self Organization
Cellular Automata (CA) are simply grids of
cells, where the individual cells change Local Rules/Global
states according to a set of rules. The CA
may be one dimensional, or linear, like a Behavior
Optimal Local Rule Set
string of cells in a row (below), or two
dimensional, like a checkerboard Survival Rules – 2/3 a live cell survives to
the next generation if at least 2 but no more than three
of the surrounding 8 cells are alive. Less than 2 and it
dies of loneliness; more than 3 and it dies of over
1 2 3 crowding.-

8 ? 4 Birth Rules – 3/3 a dead cells comes alive the

next generation if 3, any 3, of the surrounding 8 cells
7 6 1
5 2 3 are also alive.

8 4

7 6 5
 Three-dimensional cellular automata

The three-dimensional universe, of cellular automata

consists of a unlimited lattice of cells.
Each cell has a specific state, occupied or empty,
represented by a marker recording its location.
The transitional process begins with an initial state of
occupied cells and progresses by a set of rules to each
succeeding generation. The rules determine who
survives, dies, or is born in the next generation.
Architectural interpretation

An example of a cellular automaton program, used to generate a random formation of cubes. A CA program uses
a set of principles that guide the repetition and formation and assembly of each cube

The cells are stacked over each other to create a vertical connection without a vertical displacement between
layers of cells.
the vertical aspect of the stacked cells was considered as
primary after the basic horizontal connections were made.

Cells as vertical volumes

In this case, called retained growth, in each generation Cells with retained growth
when a cell survives, it increases in size. This approach
considers the actual growth process in the cellular
automata and interprets it directly.
 An example of a cellular automaton program, used to generate a
cellular automaton random formation of cubes. A CA program uses a set of principles
that guide the repetition and formation and assembly of each cube
Conway's Game of Life

Rules
1. Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies, as if caused by
underpopulation.
2. Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next
generation.
3. Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies, as if by
overpopulation.
4. Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell, as
if by reproduction
ARCHITECTURE AND CYBER SPACE

―Cyberspace is a globally
networked, computer-sustained,
computer-accessed, and computer-
generated, multi-dimensional,
artificial, or ‗virtual‘ reality.
In this reality, to which every
computer is a window, seen or heard
objects are neither physical nor,
necessarily, representations of
physical objects but are, rather, in
form, character and action, made up
of data, of pure information.
This information derives in part from
the operations of the natural,
physical world, but for the most part
it derives from the immense traffic of
information that constitutes human
enterprise in science, art, business
and culture.‖
CYBERSPACE IN ARCHITECTURE
Cyberspace, as the information space
is called, has become accessible in the
past decade through the World Wide
Web.

And although it can only be

experienced through the mediation of
computers, it is quickly becoming an
alternative stage for everyday
economic, cultural, and other human
activities.

As such, there is a potential and a

need to design it according to place–
like principles.

"Cyberspace can be seen as a vast

virtual laboratory for the continuous
production of new architectural
visions."
CYBER SPACE & liquid architecture

Marks Novak argued “liquid architecture in

cyber space is an architecture which has
no material. It is a type of an architecture
which changes repeatedly with its abstract
elements and it has an inclination for
music”.

The term cyber space provides an image

in which technologies can be considered
like an environmental existence.
Characteristics of cyber space:

• Cyberspace has four dimensions, length, breadth, height

as well as a time dimension.
• Cyber space is not static, it is active and has an active
influence on the space and form of cyber architecture
• Complex virtual space of networks is available for
everybody. This space in networks is being formed like a
territory between mind and world, while it is like a new
connection between personal minds of individuals. Individual`s
mind is connected to each other through virtual space to other
people`s mind. Virtual space which is like neural system of
human and exists under the skin of culture is a space as well,
since it has one internal and external part, the section sent is
against the section which was not sent (it has a multilayer
depth).
Architecture is a
cyberspace which is
created in a digital
environment and has some
ideas of new movements in
digital architecture.

In other words, ―digital

architecture‖ is considered
creation of space using
technology and graphic
complex facilities in PC
which can help architects
create virtual nature without
using physical models or
drawings so that imagining
and conception of space
can be possible to a high
level.
Marcos Novak and cyber space:
• Marcos Novak may be introduced as the father of
researching on cyberspace.
• He defined architecture in a digital field and raised
liquid architecture theory.
• He introduces himself as an idealist architect, since
his architecture designs are created via PC and are
designed for a virtual field.
• In liquid architecture he suggested an architecture
which avoids accepting logical forms, perspective and law
of gravity.

Novak mainly considers a type of architecture cut loose

from the expectations of logic, perspective, and laws of
gravity.

He believes that architecture today is actually the product

of the convergence of science and art, of technology and
art. He uses terms such as ―liquid architectures of
cyberspace‖ and ―transarchitectures‖ to address spaces
that are conceived specifically for a virtual domain, one
that does not exist in a physical world.
Liquid Architecture

―A liquid architecture is an architecture whose form is

contingent on the interests of the beholder;

it is an architecture that opens to welcome you and closes to

defend you; it is an architecture without doors and hallways,
where the next room is always where it needs to be and what
it needs to be.

It is an architecture that dances or pulsates, becomes tranquil

or agitated.

Liquid architecture makes liquid cities, cities that

change at the shift of a value, where visitors with different
backgrounds see different landmarks, where neighborhoods
vary with ideas held in common, and evolve as the ideas
mature or dissolve."
QUALITIES OF
NEW SPACE
QUALITIES OF NEW-SPACE

New Design Sensibilities

While the feasibility of complex projects has become exponentially more manageable, the
ability for limitless design via the computer has lead to a globalization of design sensibilities.

loss of perspective, the collapse of depth, the premium of the surface.

1. Non Euclidean Geometry
Developments in digital technologies lead to design dynamic forms in architecture.

Architecture is detached from the tactility of paper and depend more on software‘s, computer screens and the
virtual environments. The resulting space has different qualities in contrast to the Euclidean Cartesian space of
Modern Architecture.

Arnhem Central Transfer Terminal / UNStudio

dramatic twisting structural roof geometry

Reference from KLEIN

BOTTLE
2. Innovative Geometries:
Geometry is one of many systems which are responsive to modeling. The digital architectural design
process exploits the new potential available in computing. To the new generations of designers, engineers
and architects, mathematics and algorithms are becoming as natural as pen and pencil.

Architectural geometry is influenced by following fields: differential geometry, topology, fractal geometry,
cellular automata, etc. Free form curves, faceted surfaces, blobitecture, fractal geometry are all the
result of innovation in the architectural geometry by the use of computational tools.
3. Surface as Architecture:
With the digital revolution, architectural space can be manipulated by using a surface. Architects are going
beyond merely painting or applying a surface coating or facing. Architectural surface can literally become
three dimensional spaces. With digital media, motion can also be applied to such surfaces, giving
space more depths and varying dynamic movements.
4. Structure as Ornament:

Ornament in contemporary architecture emerges as an elaborate medium of consumption and production by

means of new tools, methods, and techniques.
With new methods of design and fabrication. Ornament has become an integral part of the structure itself. Unlike
the pre-modern era, where ornamentation was applied on the surface, ornamentation in the digital era is
both structural and functional.
Eg. Bionic Tower, by LAVA, LABORATORY FOR VISIONARY ARCHITECTURE.
The Bionic Tower unifies structure, space and architectural expression similar to naturally occurring systems of
organization.
ISSUES OF
AESTHETICS:
Vidler, Anthony in the The Architectural Uncanny; 1992 discusses the design sensibilities of contemporary
architecture that can be disorienting, un-settling and can cause anxiety.
As follows:

Architecture Dismembered
The idea of an architectural monument as an embodiment and abstract representation of the human body, its
reliance on the anthropomorphic analogy for proportional and figurative authority was, abandoned with the
collapse of the classical tradition and the birth of a technologically-dependent architecture
… In this context it is interesting to note a recent return to the bodily analogy by architects as diverse as Coop
Himmelblau, Bernard Tschumi, and Daniel Libeskind, all concerned to propose a re-inscription of the body
in their work…

But this renewed appeal to corporeal metaphors is evidently based on a ‗body‘ radically different from that at the
center of the humanist tradition… (a body in pieces, fragmented, if not deliberately torn apart and mutilated
almost beyond recognition)… This body no longer serves to center, to fix, or to stabilize. Rather, its limits, interior
or exterior, seem infinitely ambiguous and extensive; its forms, literal or metaphorical, are no longer confined to
the recognizably human but embrace all biological existence from the embryonic to the monstrous…
Losing Face

In a recent article on the architecture of James Stirling, Colin Rowe observed that the new State gallery in
Stuttgart is comparable to Schinkel‘s Altes Museum, but ―without a façade.‖

According to Rowe‘s terms, there is a lack in an essential ingredient of representation.

Like the face, the façade operated for Rowe as ―a metaphorical plane of intersection between the
eyes of the observer and… the ‘soul of the building’”… This lack of interest in the face, Rowe has
consistently argued, has been a continuous failing of modern architecture.

Once the horizontal slab on columns, permeable to light, air, and space, had technically and polemically
replaced the vertical load-bearing wall, the façade was inevitably at risk (as expressed in the
prototype of Le Corbusier’s Maison Domino, the emphasis on the horizontal, on the interpenetration of
inside and outside, had created the means for a ‗free façade‘; and this, for all intents and purposes, was
no façade, in the traditional sense, at all)…

Source: Vidler, Anthony in the The Architectural Uncanny; 1992

James Stirling, Stuttgart State Gallery

Altes Museum, SCHINKEL

Dark Space

In the contemporary discourse, architecture as in lived experience, has taken on an almost palpable
existence. Its contours, boundaries, and geographies are called upon to stand in for all the contested
realms of identity… In every case ‗light space‘ is invaded by the figure of ‗dark space‘, on the level of
the body

… In the elaboration of the complex history of modern space, historians and theorists have largely
concentrated their attention on the overtly political role of ‗transparent‘ space . Transparency, it was
thought, would eradicate the domain of myth, suspicion, tyranny, and above all the irrational…

the moment that saw the creation of the first considered politics of spaces based on scientific concepts
of light and infinity also saw… the invention of a spatial phenomenology of darkness…

Source: Vidler, Anthony in the The Architectural Uncanny; 1992

Steel house, Libeskind
Innovative Geometries & The Depreciating Value Of Form In The Age Of Digital Fabrication

Source: FREEDOM OF FORM: ETHICS AND AESTHETICS IN DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE, MICHAEL J. OSTWALD
Innovative Geometries & The Depreciating Value Of Form In The Age Of Digital Fabrication
Culture And Context

While this kind of flexibility of architectural expression of cultural associations is possible with digital
architecture, increased formal explorations on the other hand disassociate form from meaning.
ISSUES OF
AUTHORSHIP
A U T O M AT I S M :

Artistic expression in a hypnotic or trancelike state, recording their train of mental associations without
censorship or attempts at formal exposition

In fine art, the term "automatism"

most often refers to a technique of
subconscious drawing in which the
artist allows his unconscious mind to
take control.
It is associated with modern artists of
the twentieth century

Automatic Drawing. (1924).

Museum of Modern Art, New York.
By Andre Masson.
Eg: The Psychogram in the Architecture of Coop
Himmelblau

• COOP HIMMELB(L)AU one of some influential deconstructivist

architecture firm.

• founded in Vienna in 1968

• by Wolf Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky and Michael Holzer.

• Coop Himmelblau‘s design method has long revolved around the

creation of an ideographic sketch that they call a psychogram.

• The rationale behind the psychogram is that it captures the perfect or

unsullied, subconscious desire of the architect.

• The psychogram acts in much the same way as the surrealist game the
Exquisite Corpse (Sorkin 1991).

• The themes expressed in the psychogram then become more legible as

they are developed in increasing detail although the original
psychogram remains sacrosanct. (holy)

• Between 1990 and 2000 Coop Himmelblau have described the

formation of their theoretical position almost entirely in terms of the
construction of the psychogram.
EXQUISITE CORPSE GAME
 More radically put the studio‘s ‗Architecture must blaze‘
manifesto from 1980, stated that:

―We want an architecture that has more to offer. Architecture

that bleeds, exhausts, that turns and even breaks […]
Architecture that glows, that stabs, that tears and rips when
stretched. Architecture must be precipitous, fiery, smooth, hard,
angular, brutal, round, tender, colourful, obscene, randy,
dreamy, en-nearing, distancing, wet, dry and heart-stopping.
Dead or alive. If it is cold, then cold as a block of ice. If it is hot,
then as hot as a tongue of flame. Architecture must blaze!‖ –
Wolf D. Prix (b. 1942)

For Coop Himmelblau the act of drawing the psychogram is ―the first capturing of the feeling on paper‖.
GRONINGER MUSEUM
-
THE EAST PAVILION

In Netherlands
It is designed to house the museum collection which ranges from 16th
Century to Contemporary Art

“Concept for the east pavilion was based on the idea of

unfolding positive and negative space, and extending
the rooftop structure over the water to the canal bank:
effectively extending the museum towards the city.”
• The concept‘s intention is to establish different
levels from which to experience art.

• The "inside skin" of the flexible exhibition system,

as well as the varying levels of the circulation allow
the exhibited art to be observed from different
points of view.
The design process
involved overlaying three-
dimensional studies of
volumes of natural and
artificial light with the
original sketch drawing of
the pavilion concept.

This process of layering

resulted in a sketch model
that used the power of the
first emotional imprint, or
psychogram of the concept,
to dissolve the space.

The design process further

attempted to capture the
random liveliness of this
sketch model and
translates its sculptural
details to the scale of the
actual building.
a process of digitizing was
employed which allowed us to
maintain the original gesture of the
sketch model and fix it precisely
within a 3-dimensional grid. This
digital model was then enlarged
step-by-step in order to consider
structural and spatial details, and
ultimately was used directly in the
production of the Pavilion parts.
Due to increased automatism,

True consequence of automatism can be chaos.

The production of the psychogram, it is argued, is not the record of chaotic or random emotion for the purpose of
achieving indeterminacy rather it is for the purpose or rendering the building metaphorically organic and defined in
terms of an amorphous but distinctly human condition.

There is no linear process in design namely analysis, synthesis, evaluation and design. Instead there is a non-
linear, form-finding process as a result of the designer‘s interaction with the interactive visual media, because of which:

• there is a disconnect between form , function, and structure (non-vitruvian triad) function becomes ambiguous (open
to more than on interpretation) with new spaces (hybrid space, event space, )
• Formalist turn in design and production, resulting in innovative geometries
• Movement towards a visual culture
• Digital form-finding has zero-tolerance meaning anything that can be visualized can be constructed the same way.
• Because of which there can be an exhaustion of forms constantly trying to achieve unprecedented forms.
ERICH MENDELSHON

Einstein tower

Departmental store, Breslau

LOW TOLERANCE FROM SKETCH TO FORM
• there is a disconnect between form and function: function not
defined, left to the users interpretation

COOP HIMMELB(L)AU, OPEN HOUSE

CELLULAR AUTOMATA
 CASE STUDY : The Empirical Tower
Empirical Tower seeks to experiment on Cellular Automata concept which based on cellular entities whose states
depends on their previous state and on the one of their neighbors to perform complex outcomes by implementing
simple set of rules that affect only local relations of their components.
 CASE STUDY : The Empirical Tower
The Empirical Tower is a speculative project based on Mapping the programmatic distribution incorporating several
functions to produce a system for the production complex mixed-use high-rise building as new solutions of habitation
for the area of Greenwich.
The New (90 M) high mixed-use tower , made of (27M) wide and (36M) long volume , the scheme proposes varied
programmatic elements , from Commercial to Residential, public areas and office spaces , it tends to become a new
landmark of the area.
CASE STUDY : The Empirical Tower
CASE STUDY : The Empirical Tower
 CASE STUDY 2 : MULTI-USE BUILDING IN FARGO
multi-use building in Fargo,
North Dakota.
CASE STUDY 2 : MULTI-USE BUILDING IN FARGO
 CASE STUDY 2 : MULTI-USE BUILDING IN FARGO
There are two main ideas to work on in
this project.
Connectivity and distribution.
These came together under the general
topic of reticular networks.
These networks are connective tissues
that form fine mesh works around bodily
organs.
For this building It was interested to
know how to combine and connect the
different programs of office, housing,
retail, and public spaces.
The programs became the organs inside
the body of the building

The connective tissue became a diagrid

structure that wrapped around different
zones. At certain points these zones
are joined by bridges
CASE STUDY 2 : MULTI-USE BUILDING IN FARGO

The distribution of the program was done using cellular automata.

This is mathematical process that has gained some attention within computational design.

It is a rules based system that are governed by on/off states of neighboring cells. This can be used to control
density and create interesting patterns.
CASE STUDY 2 : MULTI-USE BUILDING IN FARGO

Here there is two sets of rules.

One for the base where the density needed to be higher and a different set of rules for the towers.

Based on different starting configurations and variations on the rules ,created a large repertoire of options from
which to develop a final design.

The seeming random patterns created by the cellular automata were perfect fit for the desire to develop public
spaces through out the site.

Different opportunities presented themselves as the units varied on different levels. These spaces emerge from
the process and provide the type of unexpected results that computational design can achieve.
 CASE STUDY 2 : MULTI-USE BUILDING IN FARGO

Another aspect of cellular

automata : to take advantage of
is its modularity. Because it is
based on repeating of the same
unit through multiple iterations,
therefore wanted to combine this
with modular apartment types.

After developing several

apartment types we wanted to
see how these could fit into the
the structure produced by the
cellular automata towers.
CASE STUDY 2 : MULTI-USE BUILDING IN FARGO
CASE STUDY 2 : MULTI-USE BUILDING IN FARGO
THANK YOU