Introduction:
Adaptative systems inherit t self organization and emergence both sound equal, but in fact those concepts express different characteristics in the behavior of a system where self organizations means, growing and arrange of structures without external influence or control. The second one doesn’t exclude the external forces; it refers to the idea of structures patterns that are not created by a single event or rule. Nothing commands the system to form a pattern. Instead, the interaction of each part with its immediate surroundings causes a complex chain of processes leading to some order. Form-finding method consists in put the self organizational characteristics of material systems under the influence of physical stimuli, to achieve optimization. Those systems often reveal emergent properties that come out from the interaction between low level entities. The goal is to master behavior to those stimuli in order to reach performance oriented designs.
Self Organization:
How multiple external factors lead the growing of a plant? Can we use this knowledge to create environmentally sensitive growing architecture? Which tools we have, and how can they be applied to architecture. Those questions are the daily work of Professor Prusinkiewicz’s team at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. There are a few articles that help to understand this concept:
1- “(Synthetic) Life Architectures: Ramifications and Potentials of a Literal Biological Paradigm for Architectural Design”: (Hensel)
Conceives the architecture as living beings, shows the consequences of applied the life concept to the architecture and also refers to the most advanced techniques in the field of artificial life research, and how can be used in designs.
2- “Self organization and structural dynamics of plants”: (Weinstock)
The main topic is the engienerieeig principles behind biological entities, the redundancy and complexity in the different hierarchies of materials that conforms the different types of living structures that can be found in the nature, and how they react to the surrounding environment. The variety in nature is not product of standardization and optimization, but by redundancy and differentiation.
The great advances made in material’s researches and innovative processes of manufacturing are changing the industry, new materials are “Grown” using the knowledge of the nature, by applying biological patterns to those designs. New cellular materials, such as foamed Metals, ceramics, polymers and glass, are examples of news materials.
Behavior:
The materials with self organizational characteristics, can adapt to the input of the changing environment. Mechanisms like irritability, helps the biological systems to react to the circumstances. Taking those characteristics to the field of architecture means that the geometries applied to the design, must absorbs those changes, while keeping the structural stability.
For that, the group SmartGeometry is working for more twenty years, using tools and cad techniques (invented by themselves)to simulate, in order to make this kind of “changing” structures real. They are working and applying their ideas to different designs, in the biggest offices in the world.
The simulation is just the mathematical representation of the interaction of real world objects. The importance of those techniques relies in the opportunity they give us to design complex materials systems, and look how they will react over time. They are used through all levels in advanced industry (marine, aerospace, automotive), to simulate manufacturing processes and to note down the behavior of a vehicle throughout his life span, for example.
Material Conditioning:
This concept refers to the “learning process” in which the behavior of an organism depends of the regular occurrence of some stimulus. Those qualities can be added to a material in its production stage and in the way the materials are assembled. All this can be achieved with the use of CAM software (computer aided manufacturing). Strategically and, to achieve materials with greater Performance. This can improve the quality of the materials, and generates a huge variety of materials for design. Right now there is some of material conditioning techniques applied in the industry of steel, timber and membrane fabrication. In material conditioning there are two key concepts:
1- Polymorphism: refers to the state of being made of different elements, or individuals, and in In biology it refers to the occurrence of different forms, stages or types in individual organisms or in organisms of the same species
2- Typogenesis: refers to the occurrence of a new type.
Many experiments conducted by Andrew Kudless, David Newton and Joseph Kellner, explains the complex interrelations in polymorphic systems, of form, materials and structure, as result of the extrinsic influences, driven up by CAM techniques. There are some texts like “material and digital design synthesis” (written by Hensel) that touches the discussion about mixing material self organization, digital morphogenesis, associative parametric modeling and computer aided manufacturing, to the design process, and how it will affect the future of architecture.
Hensel, Michael / Menges, Achim / Weinstock, Michael 2006: “Towards Self - Organizational and Multiple-Performance Capacity in Architecture” AD 76/2 = 180, p. 5 - 11
Summarized by: Esteban Pacheco
Coordination: Michael Hensel and Achim Menges Project Team: Andrea Di Stefano, Aleksandra Jaeschke, Steinar Killi, Eva Scheffler, Birger Sevaldson, Defne Sunguroğlu with Guillem Barraut, Mattia Gambardella, Pavel Hladik, Gabriel Sanchiz
Engineering Consultants: Bollinger & Grohmann Consulting Engeneers
New Czech National Library in Prague, 2006 OCEAN NORTH and Scheffler + Partner Intl. Competition Entry Project Coordination: Michael Hensel and Achim Menges Project Team: Andrea Di Stefano, Aleksandra Jaeschke, Steinar Killi, Eva Scheffler, Birger Sevaldson, Defne Sunguroğlu with Guillem Barraut, Mattia Gambardella, Pavel Hladik, Gabriel Sanchiz Engineering Consultants: Bollinger & Grohmann Consulting Engeneers Landscape Consultant: Thom Roelly Source Link: http://www.ocean-designresearch.net/index.phpoption=com_content&view=article&id=31&Itemid=93
New Czech National Library in Prague, 2006 OCEAN NORTH and Scheffler + Partner International Competition Entry Project Coordination: Michael Hensel and Achim Menges
Project Team: Andrea Di Stefano, Aleksandra Jaeschke, Steinar Killi, Eva Scheffler, Birger Sevaldson, Defne Sunguroğlu with Guillem Barraut, Mattia Gambardella, Pavel Hladik, Gabriel SanchizEngineering
Consultants: Bollinger & Grohmann
Consulting EngeneersLandscape Consultant: Thom Roelly
Source Link: http://www.ocean-designresearch.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31&Itemid=93
Example 2: World Centre for Human Concerns, 2002
World Centre for Human Concerns, 2002 Design Study Commissioned by Max Protetch Gallery, New York, USA for the exhibition "A new World Trade Center" .
Project Coordinators: Michael Hensel and Birger Sevaldson
Project Members: Lip-Khoon Chiong - Morten Gregersen - Achim Menges with Urban Office, London - Jeff Turko
Digital Animations and Video Rendering: Placebo Effects, Olso - Kim Baumann Larsen
Rapid Prototyping: Institute for Industrial Design @ Oslo School of Architecture - Steinar Killi - Are Nielsen
World Centre for Human Concerns, 2002 Design Study Commissioned by Max Protetch Gallery, New York, USA for the exhibition "A new World Trade Center"
Project Coordinators: Michael Hensel and Birger Sevaldson
Project Members: Lip-Khoon Chiong - Morten Gregersen - Achim Menges with Urban Office, London - Jeff Turko
Digital Animations and Video Rendering: Placebo Effects, Olso - Kim Baumann Larsen
Rapid Prototyping: Institute for Industrial Design @ Oslo School of Architecture - Steinar Killi - Are Nielsen
World Centre for Human Concerns, 2002 Design Study Commissioned by Max Protetch Gallery, New York, USA for the exhibition "A new World Trade Center"
Project Coordinators: Michael Hensel and Birger Sevaldson
Project Members: Lip-Khoon Chiong - Morten Gregersen - Achim Menges with Urban Office, London - Jeff Turko
Digital Animations and Video Rendering: Placebo Effects, Olso - Kim Baumann Larsen
Rapid Prototyping: Institute for Industrial Design @ Oslo School of Architecture - Steinar Killi - Are Nielsen
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World Centre for Human Concerns, 2002 Design Study Commissioned by Max Protetch Gallery, New York, USA for the exhibition "A new World Trade Center"
Project Coordinators: Michael Hensel and Birger Sevaldson
Project Members: Lip-Khoon Chiong - Morten Gregersen - Achim Menges with Urban Office, London - Jeff Turko
Digital Animations and Video Rendering: Placebo Effects, Olso - Kim Baumann Larsen
Rapid Prototyping: Institute for Industrial Design @ Oslo School of Architecture - Steinar Killi - Are Nielsen
Excerpt from:
Hensel, Michael / Menges, Achim / Weinstock, Michael
2006: “Towards Self - Organizational and Multiple-Performance Capacity in Architecture”
AD 76/2 = 180, p. 5 - 11
Summarized by: Esteban Pacheco
