Duration, density, and evolutionary form : application of biological principles to architectural surface

Abstract

Changes in the way we look at the relationship between artificial and natural in architecture lead to new design possibilities that incorporate the ideas of organic and evolutionary form. When these biological models are coupled with computational power, architectural design can begin to address the dimension of time. By dealing with the concept of duration, architecture reaches levels of complexity that match the world in which it exists. This thesis will explore the possibilities of organic and evolutionary surface in architecture and will attempt to provide a design that responds to a new understanding of duration in architecture. This thesis explores the relevance of a time-based model of architecture that draws on the concepts of organic and evolutionary form. It proposes a new understanding of architecture's relationship with time, and then uses this concept of duration as the foundation for experimental design. The goal of such an exploration is to gain a deeper understanding of the physical consequences of a new theoretical approach to architecture. A secondary goal is to demonstrate the power and necessity of computation in collaboration with biological models of architecture. The thesis includes research into nonlinearity as a challenge to the dominant understanding of the relationship between artificial and natural. From this research, the concept of duration is proposed as a new way of viewing the distinction between the natural and artificial. Duration then becomes a metaphor and guide in the design process of a studio assignment. In order to expand the possibilities of this concept, the thesis looks to ideas of adaptation and evolution as well as biological models of systems exhibiting these properties. Computation is used to model design sketches based on adaptive and genetic algorithms. Finally, a design experiment incorporates all of these ideas in an evolutionary architectural surface.