Emergence and Geometry

So, the concept of Emergence is really that the designer is the 'genetic engineer' and loses a lot of control over the aesthetic outcome of the complex system they create. Being the engineer means that the designer can edit a few values using sliders in the nodes to change the system and create a new unexpected form every time. I am not all that skilled with Grasshopper yet (I hope to be soon!) so my system is based on what I hope to achieve in the Assingment 3 proposal which is based on The Louvre in Abu Dhabi (pictures shown in earlier post).
I hope to incorporate emergence into this in some way, so my plan is to start with understanding how the aesthetic will be, and create according to that, and then add elements to it that that can be edited for unknown (and hopefully good!) aesthetics.

Here is the model I am working on at the moment and some screenshots of progress so far:




To create this model, first I created a series of circles, and gave the series a step size on the z-axis, which made the circles get bigger, but created an upside down dome shape. So then I reversed this to make the dome shape I wanted. Then using the original series of circles on the horizontal axis, I found points along the lines and put circles on them, then 'projected' them onto the dome below. Then used pipe to create geometry with the shapes.

Final 12 Sources for Tier 1 Submission

Baxandall, Michael. Shadows and Enlightenment. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.

Burry, Jane and Mark. The New Mathematics of Architecture. London: Thames & Hudson, 2010.

Butterfield, Jan. The Art of Light and Space. New York: Abbeville Press, 1993.

Douglis, Evan. Autogenic Structures. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2009.

Kelly, Richard. The Structure of Light: Richard Kelly and the Illumination of Modern Architecture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010.

Lahoud, Adrian. “Emergent Processes.” ARROW Discovery Service, 2007.

Markus, Lynne and Majchrzak, Ann and Gasser, Les. “A Design Theory for Systems That Support Emergent Knowledge Processes.”MIS Quarterly 26, 3 (Sept. 2002): 179-212.

Paix, David. The Design of Buildings for Daylighting. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Services, 1982.

Pepper, Stephen. “Emergence.” Journal of Philosophy 23 (1926): 241-245.

Plummer, Henry. The Architecture of Natural Light. New York: Monacelli Press, 2009.

Spiers, Mark Major Johnathan, Tischhauser, Anthony. Made of Light: The Art of Light and Architecture. Basel, Switzerland: Birkhӓuser, 2005.

Spuybroek, Lars. Research & Design: The Architecture of Variation. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2009.

Building a Lexicon

Here are some words I have been thinking about relating to the topics I have been researching:
- complexity
- emergence
- natural light
- atmospheric silence
- modulation
- evanescence
- atomization
- systems
- aesthetics
- control
- self-organisation

The New Mathematics of Architecture and Influence

The book The New Mathematics of Architecture (by Jane and Mark Burry) was really fascinating to me, and had heaps of examples of architectures that relate to certain design concepts, and one in particular caught my eye.
It was the planned design for The Louvre in Abu Dhabi.
This has not yet been built, but the images that are shown in this book are absolutely beautiful and will be a must-see place for me when it is built in the end!



One of the main design concepts behind this masterpiece is Emergence, and I hope to research this more for the essays for assignment 2.
From this building I have also become very interested in the concept of natural light in architecture, and how natural light can be utilised to create certain moods, because I think these simulations create the most beautiful atmosphere for a place and I would like to see this more in architecture that I walk around in (like in Sydney).

Influential Architectural Forms

Airspace, Tokyo
Architect: Tom Faulders


Images Retrieved from: http://loudpaper.typepad.com/loudpaper/2008/02/processors.html, Monday 4th April, 2011. And http://faulders-studio.com/proj_airspace.html, Monday 4th April, 2011.

Birds Nest, Beijing National Stadium
Herzog & de Meuron with Chinese Architect Ai Weiwei

Image Retrieved from: http://www.rechargelounge.com.au/2008/08/, Monday 4th April, 2011.

Pavilion, London
Built by DesignResearchLab (Academic Program at the Architecture Association)


Image Retrieved from: http://michaelgmccune.blogspot.com/2008/09/summer-dlab-at-architecture-association.html, Monday 4th April, 2011.

My Sources and Initial Ideas

3 Books on Design
- Ishii, Kazuo. Membrane Designs and Structures in the World. Japan: Shinkenchiku-sha, 1999.
This book shows examples of architecture that uses membrane structures, once called tent structures. They provide the same safety levels as traditional structural methods but they facilitate framing of large spaces and create bright interior spaces.
- Rashid, Hani and Couture, Lise Anne. Asymptote: Flux. London: Phaidon Press, 2002.
Asymptote is a firm that draws inspiration on from things like the organic systems of transformation, and their projects are concerned with change and fluctuating conditions, like motion, light, speed and traversing virtual boundaries. They deal with experimental and speculative works, using new technologies with "intelligent" materials with the aim to create meaningful and inspired spacial experiences.
- Randl, Chad. Revolving Architecture: A history of buildings that rotate, swivel and pivot. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2008.
This book explores the history of rotating structures and devices, which all share one general characteristic: they all turn on an upright, vertical axis. The types of buildings talked about in this text include houses, apartments, theatres and jails. The text makes the point that although the views were designed to change and the walls designed to move, up remained up and down remained down, but this may change in the future.

3 Books on More Technical Aspect of Complex Geometry
- Burry, Jane and Mark. The New Mathematics of Architecture. London: Thames and Hudson, 2010.
This was one of the most useful sources so far, and a very interesting book about several different types of mathematics in design and included architectural examples as well. Some of the topics covered are 'Mathematical Surfaces and Seriality', 'Topology', and 'Chaos, Complexity, Emergence', and the book talks about the possible future of mathematical thinking on the built environment in the years to come, showing exciting new ideas for spaces all around the world, those already built and those not yet.
- Douglis, Evan. Autogenic Structures. New York: Taylor and Francis, 2009.
"We obtain new means of inventing dwelling, new visions of the future forms of human settlements". This book explores ideas about continuity in architectural forms, instability of support to take advantage of disequilibrium and about surfaces strung together until they invert, and contains several images that catch your eye and compel you to think about how a piece of architecture might be constructed using the systems and shapes in the renders.
- Gregory, Paola. New Scapes: Territories of Complexity. Basel: Birkhauser, 2002.
The most interesting concept discussed in this book in my opinion was the chapter on Field-Scapes, The Mobius Effect, as it talked about things like the Mobius Strip and that it is assumed to be a 'non-orientable surface', and exploring the possibility of using this idea for architectural spaces, making them orientable.