Programming Cultures: Architecture, Art and Science in the Age of Software Development (Architectural Design July August 2006, Vol. 76 No. 4)

136 Pages·2006·15.43 MB·English

by  Mike Silver

44
Programming Cultures
4Architectural Design
Backlist Titles
Volume 75 No. 1 Volume 75 No. 2 Volume 75 No. 3
ISBN 0470090928 ISBN 047001136X ISBN 0470093285
Volume 75 No. 4 Volume 75 No. 5 Volume 75 No. 6
ISBN 0470090936 ISBN 0470014679 ISBN 0470024186
Volume 76 No. 1 Volume 76 No. 2 Volume 76 No. 3
ISBN 047001623X ISBN 0470015292 ISBN 0470018399
Individual backlist issues of 4are available for purchase
at £22.99. To order and subscribe for 2006 see page 136.
4Architectural Design
Forthcoming Titles 2006
4
September/October 2006, Profile No 183
Collective Intelligence in Design
Guest-edited by Christopher Hight and Chris Perry
Exploring how today’s most compelling design is emerging from new forms of collaborative practice and
modes of collective intelligence, this title of 3engages two predominant phenomena: design’s relation-
ship with new information and telecommunications technologies and new economies of globalisation.
Collective With the shift from the second machine age to the age of information, the network has replaced the
assembly line as a pre-eminent model of organisation. With this shift has come the introduction of
Intelligence
numerous alternative modes of social, economic and political organisation in the form of peer-to-peer
in Design
networks and open-source communities. This has radically altered conventional models of collective
invention, and has challenged received notions of individual authorship and agency, questioning the
way in which traditional disciplines organise themselves. Such reorganisation is apparent within archi-
tectural practice, as well as within its participation in a greater cultural context of increasing interdisci-
plinarity. For the design disciplines, this includes the emergence of new forms of collective intelligence
in a number of different fields including architecture, software and interaction design, fashion, typogra-
phy and product design.
Collective Intelligence in Designincludes contributions from: Servo, EAR Studio, the Radical Software
Group, United Architects, biothing, Continuum (working with the Smart Geometry Group and Bentley
Systems), Hernan Diaz-Alonso and Benjamin Bratton, Gehry Technologies (working with the AA/DRL) and
MIT’s Media Lab. Additionally, the issue features essays from a diverse pool of academics and designers,
including Brett Steele, Branden Hookway, Alexander Galloway and Eugene Thacker, and Michael Hensel,
as well as an extensive interview with Michael Hardt, co-author of two important and influential books on
contemporary issues of globalisation, Empireand Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire.
November/December 2006, Profile No 184
Architextiles
Guest-edited by Mark Garcia
This issue of 3explores the intersections between architectural and textile design. Focusing on the possi-
bilities for contemporary architectural and urban design, it examines the generative set of concepts,
forms, patterns, materials, processes, technologies and practices that are driving the proliferation of this
multidisciplinary design hybrid. Architextilesrepresents a transition stage in the reorientation of spatial
design towards a more networked, dynamic, interactive, multifunctional and communicative state. The
paradigms of fashion and textile design, with their unique, accelerated aesthetics and ability to embody a
burgeoning, composite and complex range of properties such as lightness, flow, flexibility, surface com-
plexity and movement, have a natural affinity with architecture's shifts towards a more liquid state. The
preoccupation with textiles in architecture challenges traditional perceptions and practices in interior,
architectural, urban, landscape, and fashion design. Interweaving new designs and speculative projects of
the future, Architextilesbrings together architects, designers, engineers, technologists, theorists and mate-
rials researchers to unravel these new methodologies of fabricating space. This title features the work of
Will Alsop, Nigel Coates, Robert Kronenburg, Dominique Perrault, Lars Spuybroek and Ushida Findlay. As
well as contributions from Bradley Quinn, Dagmar Richter, Peter Testa and Matilda McQuaid, it encompass-
es new projects and writings from young and emerging designers and theorists.
January/February 2007, Profile No 185
Elegance
Guest-edited by Ali Rahim and Hina Jamelle
Elegance represents an important watershed in architectural design. Since the onset of computer-driven
technologies, innovative designers have, almost exclusively, been preoccupied with the pursuit of digital
techniques. This issue of 3extrapolates current design tendencies and brings them together to present
a new type of architecture, one that is seamlessly tying processes, space, structure and material together
with a self-assured beauty.
For this title, Ali Rahim, the editor of the seminal Contemporary Processes in Architectureand
Contemporary Techniques in Architectureissues of 3, teams up with Hina Jamelle, also of the Contemporary
Architecture Practice in New York. The issue includes an extensive new essay by Manuel Delanda on ele-
gant digital algorithms, as well as contributions from Irene Cheng, David Goldblatt, Joseph Rosa and
Patrik Schumacher. Featured architects include: Asymptote, Hernan Diaz Alonso, Mark Goulthorpe of
DECOI, Zaha Hadid Architects, Greg Lynn and Preston Scott Cohen.
Architectural Design Programming Cultures:
July/August 2006
4 Art and Architecture in the Age of Software
Guest-edited by
Mike Silver
ISBN-13 9780470025857
ISBN-10 0470025859
Profile No 182
Vol 76 No 4
4
26
Editorial Offices Abbreviated positions Published in Great Britain in 2006 by Subscription Offices UK
International House b = bottom, c = centre, l = left, r = right Wiley-Academy, a division of John Wiley & John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Ealing Broadway Centre Sons Ltd Journals Administration Department
London W5 5DB Front cover: Process 6 (Image 4), 28” x 28” 1 Oldlands Way, Bognor Regis
inkjet print, 2005. Print derived from Process 6 Copyright © 2006, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The West Sussex, PO22 9SA
T: [phone] (see ‘Process/Drawing’, pp 26–33). A dense Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West T: [phone]
F: [phone] surface of circles emanate from fixed points. Sussex PO19 8SQ, England, F: [phone]
E: [email protected] The forms emerge as lines are drawn Telephone [phone] E: [email protected]
between their centre points as they expand Email (for orders and customer service
Editor outwards. Each circular element is the same enquiries): [email protected] [ISSN: 0003-8504]
Helen Castle software run with a different configuration. Visit our Home Page on
Each grows differently in response to its sim- wileyeurope.com or wiley.com 4is published bimonthly and is available to
Design and Editorial Management ulated environment. © CEB Reas. purchase on both a subscription basis and as
Mariangela Palazzi-Williams pp 34-7 © Stephen Wolfram LLC individual volumes at the following prices.
4
Project Coordinator and Picture Editor p 4 courtesy Greg Lynn FORM; pp 5-11, 13 & All Rights Reserved. No part of this publica- Single Issues
Caroline Ellerby 46-51 © Mike Silver; pp 16-17, 19 & 23-5 © tion may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval Single issues UK: £22.99
Ingeborg Rocker; p 18 © Stephen Wolfram system or transmitted in any form or by any Single issues outside UK:US$45.00
Design and Prepress LLC; p 20(t) © From Alan Turing, The Enigma, means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, Details of postage and packing charges avail-
Artmedia Press London by Andrew Hodges, published by Hutchinson. recording, scanning or otherwise, except able on request.
Reprinted by permission of The Random under the terms of the Copyright, Designs
Printed in Italy by Conti Tipicolor House Group Ltd; p 20(b) courtesy Arthur W and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a Annual Subscription Rates 2006
Burks, from John von Neumann, Essays on licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Institutional Rate
Advertisement Sales Cellular Automata; p 21 © Kevin Lindsey Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, Print only or Online only: UK£175/US$290
Faith Pidduck/Wayne Frost www.kevlindev.com; p 22(t) © Reprinted from London W1T 4LP, UK, without the permission Combined Print and Online: UK£193/US$320
T [phone] Aristid Lindenmayer, ‘Mathematical models of in writing of the Publisher. Personal Rate
E [email protected] cellular interactions in development: I. Print only: UK£99/US$155
Filaments with one-sided inputs’, Journal for Requests to the Publisher should be Student Rate
Editorial Board Theoretical Biology, Vol 18, 1968, figs 1 &2 (p addressed to: Print only: UK£70/US$110
Will Alsop, Denise Bratton, Adriaan Beukers, 286), figs 4 & 5 (p 310) & figs 6 & 7 (p 312); p Permissions Department, Prices are for six issues and include postage
André Chaszar, Peter Cook, Teddy Cruz, 22(b) © Allen Bernholtz, FRAIC; pp 26-33 © John Wiley & Sons Ltd, and handling charges. Periodicals postage
Max Fordham, Massimiliano Fuksas, CEB Reas, courtesy of bitforms gallery, New The Atrium paid at Jamaica, NY 11431. Air freight and
Edwin Heathcote, Anthony Hunt, York; pp 34-37 © Stephen Wolfram LLC; pp 38 Southern Gate mailing in the USA by Publications Expediting
Charles Jencks, Jan Kaplicky, Robert Maxwell, & 43-44 © Karl Chu; p 41 courtesy Karl Chu; Chichester, Services Inc, 200 Meacham Avenue, Elmont,
Jayne Merkel, Monica Pidgeon, pp 52, 56(bl), 57 & 59-60 © Lalvani Studio; p West Sussex PO19 8SQ NY 11003
Antoine Predock, Michael Rotondi, 53 © Milgo/Bufkin; pp 54-55 & 56(br) © England Individual rate subscriptions must be paid by
Leon van Schaik, Ken Yeang Milgo-Lalvani; pp 62-71 © Evan Douglis; pp personal cheque or credit card. Individual rate
72-81 © Alisa Andrasek; pp 82-87 © Gehry F: [phone] subscriptions may not be resold or used as
Contributing Editors Technologies; pp 88-95 courtesy Greg Lynn E: [email protected] library copies.
André Chaszar FORM.
Jeremy Melvin All prices are subject to change
Jayne Merkel 4+ without notice.
pp 98, 99 & 100 © Arup Associates; p 101 ©
Christian Richters; pp 102-103 © Arup Postmaster
Associates/Oaker; p 104(t) © Peter Cook; p Send address changes to 3 Publications
104(b) © Arup Associates/Roland Reinardy; Expediting Services, 200 Meacham Avenue,
pp 106–109 © Dine Murphy Wood; p 110 © Elmont, NY 11003
David Clifton; pp 113, 115(b) & 117(t) ©
Jordan Mozer and Associates; p 114 ©
Kingmond Young; pp 115 (tl, tr & c), 116 &
117(b) © Doug Snower Photography; pp 118-
119, 120(c&b), 121 © Philip Ruault; p 120(t) ©
Lacaton Vassal; pp 122 & 128 © FAT; pp 123-
24 &126-127 © Len Grant; p 129 © NASA; pp
130-131 © Will McLean; pp 132-134 © Helen
Peyton.
Contents
62
+
4
52
Editorial Building Without Drawings: Unified Design: Collaborative
Helen Castle Automason Ver 1.0 Working at Arup Associates
4 Mike Silver Helen Castle
46 98+
Introduction
Towards a Programming Culture The Milgo Experiment: An Interior Eye
in the Design Arts Interview with Haresh Lalvani Colors Restaurant
Mike Silver John Lobell Jayne Merkel
5 52 106+
20 Years of Scripted Space Codes, Eros and Craft: An Practice Profile
Malcolm McCullough Interview with Evan Douglis Jordan Mozer & Associates:
12 Mike Silver New American Narratives
62 Howard Watson
110+
When Code Matters
Ingeborg M Rocker All-Over, Over-All: biothing and
16 Emergent Composition Building Profile
Pia Ednie-Brown House in Keremma
72 Jeremy Melvin
Process/Drawing 118+
CEB Reas
26 Tectonics, Economics and the
Reconfiguration of Practice: Home Run
The Case for Process Change Islington Square, Manchester
How Do Simple Programs by Digital Means Bruce Stewart
Behave? Dennis R Shelden 122+
Stephen Wolfram 82
34
McLean’s Nuggets
Calculus-Based Form: Will McLean
Metaphysics of Genetic An Interview with Greg Lynn 129+
Architecture and Computation Ingeborg M Rocker
Karl Chu 88
38 Site Lines
The Crown Liquor Saloon,
Belfast
Jane Peyton
132+
Editorial
Despite 4’s long-standing association with the digital in design, this is the first issue with any reference to
programming or software in the title. This says much about architecture’s previous relationship with the computer.
At the end of the 1990s when I first started editing 4, I was often confounded by the gap between design
process and text. Why was everyone generating amorphous Maya-inspired blobs, but talking about Derrida?
Programming Cultures hails the way for a new generation of work that comes out of a pure, unadulterated
passion for software. For a young designer like CEB Reas, who has been playing with script since childhood, it is
an entirely natural creative impulse. For experienced designers like Malcolm McCullough and Greg Lynn, it has
come out of decades of pioneering work on computer-aided design. McCullough, one of the first architecture
managers for Autodesk, exhorts us that ‘all you need is the will to improvise’; Lynn enthuses ‘I love the moment
when I discover some new potential in software.’ This is all constructive play which, as described by Ingeborg M
Rocker in her interview with Lynn, adds up to ‘exhaustive exploration’. It is a not insignificant shift, which moves
architects away from being mere consumers of software towards becoming knowledgeable adapters, crafters
and, ultimately, producers. So much more than a development of architects’ technical skill bases, it is set to have
a huge impact on the culture of architecture. Could the deftness with scripting that educators and designers like
Mike Silver, the guest-editor of this issue, is encouraging in his students at New York’s Pratt Institute of
Architecture become commonplace? Could scripting become the new drawing? The potential aesthetic impact of
this way of working is anticipated by Pia Ednie-Brown’s discussion of the new compositional principles
spearheaded in the work of Alisa Andrasek of biothing. For, as Ednie-Brown points out: ‘Working with
computational algorithms as primary generative material offers a different bent to, for example, the mathematical
ratios of the Renaissance or the flow diagrams of Modernism.’ At such a nascent stage, the ultimate cultural
repercussions of a new programming era are only to be guessed at. The implications are that we could be at the
brink of an entirely new period of culture and knowledge; if so, could Stephen Wolfram be set to become the next
Isaac Newton, and Gehry Technologies’ software be about to eclipse the pattern-books of Palladio?
Helen Castle
Greg Lynn, Slavin House, Venice, California, due for completion 2007
In this project, Lynn is testing the limits of Gehry Technologies’ software. As Lynn states in his interview with Ingeborg M Rocker (page 88), the use of the
software is ‘provocative at many levels and is having a pretty significant effect on my work’.
4
Introduction
Towards a Programming
Culture in the Design Arts
In his introduction to this
issue of 4, guest-editor
Mike Silver celebrates
‘the flexible language of
commands and logical
procedures’ of computers
whose creative potential
has until now been
undervalued in
architecture. He explains
how the ‘happy accident’
of late 1990s blob
architecture is now giving
way to a focus on
programming and
composing new code,
which promises ‘to
generate new and
unprecedented modes of
expression’.
Pratt Institute School of Architecture,
Carbon-fibre chandelier studio project,
autumn 2006
In this studio led by Professor Mike Silver,
students’ bent for scripting was applied in a
project that developed new software to
coordinate the movement of a CNC
machine’s rotating bed with the controlled
trajectory of its servo-controlled hotwire.
Here, foam shapes cut on a CNC hotwire
foam-cutter were used as moulds for hand-
laid carbon-fibre panels.
5
Chandelier fabrication process using epoxy resin,
carbon-fibre and Nomex drapes over a CNC foam-
cut mandrel.
6
7