Week 5 - 6 Sources of complex geometry

- Architecture is not an art like painting or sculpture . . . It is a science whose essential aim is to construct solid buildings which deploy the finest of forms and the aptest of dimensions to unite all the parts necessary for their purpose.

- Architects stand to gain much from study of the spectacular advances in geometry in recent decades, such as the growing understanding of cellular patterns in space, tiles, nets and curved surfaces. Some examples of those advances are discussed in detail. I conclude that both architecture and geometry would benefit from a renewed mutual interest.

-The extraordinary structural complexity and economy of construction of materials in living systems, such as the silica skeleton of marine diatoms (Fig. 1(a)), or a wing scale in a butterfly (Fig. 1(b)), remains an ideal for modern materials design that scientists have yet to approach.

Contemporary geometry for the build design

. By: Hyde, Stephen T.. Architectural theory review: journal of the Department of Architecture, the University of Sydney, 2010 Aug., v.15, n.2, p.110-124. (journal article) (English)

- Although there were ‘‘moments of glory’’ along the way, and certainly an amazingly useful ‘‘learning curve’’, in the end I was not able to get beyond the fundamental conservatism that dominates protocol, methodologies, and the limited design visions that constrain the design of buildings in our culture.

- Our thesis is that geometry in this era is no longer pure or static, but should be considered as dependant upon, and constitutive of, a composite of discontinuous and non-linear informatic flows and contingencies: geometry has become contingent.

- This is clearly appropriate for mathematics or physics. However, it is something of a problem for design, in that systems for design must be differentiated from problem solution engineering, and require a flexible and opportunistic relation to the formulation of the state space itself as part of an iterative design process. Rather, it is the generative capacity and acceptance of complexity across multiple registers of design (material, structural, spatial and so on), and importantly their operation within unstable ‘‘contingent environments’’ that is the goal of emerging intelligent design systems.

Contingent geometries: developing design strategies for complex systems

. By: Burke, Anthony. Architectural theory review: journal of the Department of Architecture, the University of Sydney, 2010 Aug., v.15, n.2, p.201-209. (journal article) (English)