Higher Integration in Morphogenetic Design
The production of architecture, both intellectually and physically,
is on the brink of a fundamental change. Computational design
enables architects to integrate ever more multifaceted and complex
design information, while the industrial logics of conventional
building construction are eroding rapidly in a context of
increasingly ubiquitous computer-controlled manufacturing and
fabrication. A novel convergence of computation and materialisation
is about to emerge, bringing the virtual process of design and the
physical realisation of architecture much closer together, more so
than ever before. Computation provides a powerful agency for both
informing the design process through specific material behaviour
and characteristics, and in turn informing the organisation of
matter and material across multiple scales based on feedback from
the environment. Computational design and integrated
materialisation processes allow for uncovering the inherent
morphogenetic potential of materials and thus are opening up a
largely uncharted field of possibilities for the way the built
environment in the 21st century is conceived and produced. In order
to effectively introduce and outline the enabling power of
computational design along with its inherent relationship to a
biological paradigm, this publication looks at formation and
materialisation in nature, integrative computational design, and
engineering and manufacturing integration.
- Architectural contributors include: Cristiano Cecatto, Neri
Oxman, Skylar Tibbits and Michael Weinstock.
- A scientific perspective by Philip Ball and J Scott
Turner.
- Features: Buro Happold's SMART group, DiniTech, Foster +
Partners' Specialist Modelling Group, the Freeform Construction
group and Stuttgart University's Institute for Computational
Design.