Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2
Contents
Acknowledgements …. 4
List of Plates …. 5
Chapter 1 …. 5
INTRODUCTION
1.1 What? .… 8
1.2 Need Identification .… 15
1.3 Objectives .… 17
1.4 Scope …. 18
1.5 Limitations …. 19
1.6 Methodology …. 20
Chapter 2 …. 23
MORPHOGENESIS AND THEORIES OF EMERGENCE
2.1 What? …. 24
2.2 Process and Form …. 26
2.3 Pattern, Behavior and Self Organization …. 30
2.4 Geometry and Morphogenesis …. 33
2.5 The Dynamics of Differentiation and Integration …. 37
2.6 The Genetics of Collective Behavior …. 40
2.7 Architecture and Emergence …. 44
Chapter 3 …. 50
DATA, GENES AND SPECIATION
Chapter 4 …. 69
BEHAVIOR, MATERIAL AND ENVIRONMENT
CONCLUSION …. 87
BIBLIOGRAPHY …. 91
3
Acknowledgements
…At the end, I shall thank Mr. Dissertation for getting over, finally!
4
List of Plates
Fig.8. A coneflower
Fig.18. Nanogears
5
A life full of contemplation,
Said Aristotle1,
Contemplation,
A diminution, an accompaniment.2
6
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
“We are everywhere confronted with emergence in complex adaptive systems – ant
colonies, networks of neurons, the immune system, the internet, and the global
economy, to name a few – where the behavior of the whole is much more complex
than the behavior of the parts.”
1.7 What?
1.9 Objectives
1.10 Scope
1.11 Limitations
1.12 Methodology
7
1.1 What?
Fig.2
Cross-section of
Asparagus
stem.
Source: Author
Section through the stem of asparagus shows close packed bundles of differentiated
vessels and specialized cells. Geometrical arrangement and close packed integration
produces a complex structure which is strong but flexible and capable of differential
movement. All the cells in the stem have a structural role in addition to other functions
and structural capacity emerges from their interaction. Xylem vessels (which transport
water and nutrients from root to other parts) are reinforced by spiral helices of lignin –
the geometry of spiral helix allows elongation for growth without loss of strength.
Similarly there are phloem cells (which transport hormones and carbohydrates etc.)
Parenchyma cells (on the perimeter) are thin walled and flexible and can increase or
decrease in size by taking or losing water. These changes cause deformations which is
how the plant achieves movement like bending towards light or around an obstacle.
Arrangement of cells of different sizes and orientations constrains the movement of the
plant in a particular direction. The stem is enclosed with epidermis (a double layer of
8
Introduction
anatomy and the botany formed the basis for both his art and inventions.
This contrasts sharply with the first half of the 20th century when the
Fig.3. Fig.4.
Da Vinci’s Flying Machine Corbusier’s Car
Source: Author Source: www.solohabita.it
design becomes largely intent on the production of the single, polished set
object. What mechanical systems can, after all, compare with the
9
‘Emergence’ is a scientific mode in which natural systems can be explored
produce forms and complex behavior, and perhaps even real intelligence4.
notion of architectural form – one that could perhaps define new levels of
Weinstock points out, emergence has previously only ever really existed
cannot be deduced from its parts. Emergence can perhaps be most simply
evoked in the natural world by the example of ants, which display far
three parts –
10
intertwined. As used in the sciences, the term refers to the ‘emergence’ of
forms and behavior from the complex systems of the natural world. A
and mathematics.
and have spread to other domains where the analysis and production of
Morphogenetic strategies for design are not truly evolutionary unless they
bodies but complex energy and material systems that have a life span,
11
In chapter three, a case for a morphogenetic strategy in the design study
are proposed, flexure and stiffness are explored, and models taken from
Fig.5.
An emerging nerve cell
Source: Author
12
processes that work upon successive versions of the genome and the
entirely local and global behavior is the product of local actions, with a
material behavior that enables adaptation are examined and the case for
presented.
13
and tools, and this in turn demands the seamless integration of digital
dome of the German Reischstag, the roof of the Sony Centre in Berlin and
certainly we can achieve the target of actually growing the buildings not
only in the design but also in construction. And this seems possible using
Nanotechnology.
Fig.6.
How to build such
complex designs?
Source: Author
14
1.2 Need Identification
15
hence opening a brand new dimension of architecture with a
manufacturing processes.
16
1.3 Objectives
architecture.
manufacturing processes.
17
1.4 Scope
field of architecture.
18
1.5 Limitations
19
1.6 Methodology
its goal. In simple words, the goal is to put forward an idea that ‘we
they have been put to test is described, then the statement simply
20
described stepwise. Relevant examples along with photographs and
be used promptly. Two examples which can fulfill the third objective
description for the fifth objective and authors own comments shall
also be included.
21
References
5. Ibid
6. Ibid
22
CHAPTER 2
Michael Weinstock
Emergence and Design Group
2.8 What?
23
2.1 What?
instruments of science.
said to be the properties of a system that can not be deduced from its
environment.’1
us as designers.
24
i.e. we have to search for the principles and dynamics of organization and
interaction, for the mathematical laws that natural systems obey and that
25
2.2 Process and Form
breeding success and in turn, their off springs will have greater
26
The convergent lines of thought between biology and mathematics
various, but there are underlying relations that do not vary – the
“homologies”.
27
Figure: 7
A D'Arcy Thompson
transformational diagram. The
shapes of two species of fish
have been plotted on
Cartesian grids. Fish B could
have evolved from Fish A by
changes in growth patterns
corresponding to the
distortions of axes.
Source:
www.blackwellpublishing.com
around them.
is interesting:
28
• The organism has a capacity for maintaining its continuity and
mathematically.
The ideas are particularly relevant for us because in recent years both
environments.
29
2.3 Pattern, Behavior and Self Organization
environment.
aimed at the point where a target would be. The control system could
record and analyze the data from a series of such experiences and
optimized.7
30
“Feedback” is understood as a kind of steering device that regulates
biological systems.
Prigogine’s Arguments:
maintain equilibrium.
• A new order emerges from the chaos of the system at the point
of collapse.
31
moment of collapse in the equilibrium of systems extends
SYSTEMS9
32
2.4 Geometry and Morphogenesis
environment.
description of the fully developed form but also as the set of boundary
dynamic systems.
informing geometry, the cylinder, and a set of local rules for lattice
nodes.
Turing had life long interests in the morphogenesis10 of daisies and fir
33
of leaves on the stem of a plant and of the formation of patterns such
as spots or stripes.
Fig.8
A coneflower with 55
spirals towards the edge
and 34 at the centre.
Appearance of Fibonacci
Series in Nature.
Source:
www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk
(morphogens) over time, as the chemicals react and diffuse into each
34
While Turing’s model operates on a single plane or a flat sheet of cells,
Cummings’ argument:
• Folding and buckling of flat and curved sheets of cells are the
35
morphogenesis. Computational models of morphogenesis can be
36
2.5 The Dynamics of Differentiation and Integration
transformation in geometry.
37
the approach to computational modeling and simulations. It is
and culture.
many simple units that interact with each other such as atoms,
molecules or cells.
integration.
38
EVOLUTION PRODUCES DIFFERENTIATION AND INTEGRATION IN
39
2.6 The Genetics of Collective Behavior
Fig.9
A school of Fish
Source:
www.keeters.com
40
The study and simulation of co-evolution and co-adaptation is
mutation, varied offspring are generated until they fill the population.
All parents are discarded, and the process is iterated for as many
41
and organs in models, and Kauffman20 argues that the self
42
not a single system but distributed or parallel, with multiple systems
all self organizing systems are organized not just by themselves but
environment.
43
2.7 Architecture and Emergence
local and global role in the interrelated dynamics of pattern and form in
The systems from which the form emerges, and the systems within
energy and information through the system. The pattern of flow has
emerging at a higher level – and what is ‘system’ for one process can be
44
Emergence is of Momentous importance to architecture, demanding
and the industrial logic of production available in CNC and laser cutting
lifespan, sometimes of many decades, and that throughout that life they
have to maintain complex energy and the material systems. At the end of
their life span they must be disassembled and the physical materials
of distributed systems.
45
individual building to its environment. Each building is a part of the
We are within the horizon of a systematic change, from the design and
46
References
11.
2. Ibid; pp 12
1938, pp 334.
Press, 1961.
the Animal and the Machine; MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 1961.
11. Ibid.
47
12. Christopher J Marzek, Mathematical Morphogenesis;
1990.
2002.
48
21. Francis Heylighen, Self Organization, Emergence and the
pp 17.
25. Ibid.
49
CHAPTER 3
50
3.1 Fit Fabric
design of structure:
1. Stiffness
2. Efficiency
do not easily bend, and the members are arranged into whole
that the central core supports much of the weight of the structure and its
imposed load. Floor plates and beams connect the central core to
the ground and preventing the building from overturning or sliding when
51
exposed to strong lateral forces such as wind or earthquakes. The
horizontal structure of the floors braces the entire building by tying inner
Analysis of the collapse of World Trade Center towers reveals that while
the steel - mesh exterior was highly robust, the steel trusses that
supported the floors may have been more fragile, and that the central
core was not designed to handle very strong lateral forces. Another
failure was the intense heat of the fire that broke out, which softened and
deformed the floor trusses. And a further study pointed out that all these
conclusions did not take into account the effects of torque, and that
buildings could have toppled at the moment of impact if their frames had
not flexed to absorb much of the energy of the impact. It seems likely
more difficult to model than has been previously assumed, and the
more beneficial for structures than had been previously assumed. The
combination of the need for flexure and sufficient stiffness for stability
structures that exhibit the ability to flex without collapse exist in human
and natural artifacts. Baskets, for example, can accept several local
52
disruptions without collapsing globally. Baskets have a high degree of
loads, and rely on friction in place of joints. All living structures have a
mainly within the skin without any internal ribs and columns. These
assemblies, despite the fact that fibres have low compressive strength
that have central regions thousands of light years across. Helices are
53
oceans, in the dynamic vortices of hurricanes, tornadoes, storms and
whirlpools. In living forms, helices are found in, for example, the
sunflowers and the florets of broccoli. Xylem vessels in plants are the
slender tubes that transport water and solutes up from the roots into the
stem and leaves. Spiral bands of lignin reinforce xylems, and the spiral
geometry allows the tubes to elongate and grow. In many plants the
Fibonacci number sequence, which optimizes the space available for each
The evolutionary process of the Emergence and Design Group began with
section of a steel tube 150mm in diameter. This was swept along a helix
for a tall building. The single helical tubular member was ‘bundled’ by
In the next generation four bundles were selected, each with its outer and
54
arranged in two concentric contiguous layers. Forces were applied to the
single form with the base and top flared, and the waist slightly narrowed,
was selected.
rule of parallel construction planes for the inner and outer layer of helices.
the outer helices, which evolved in curved planes with non uniform
intersect, wrap around each other, bundle and unbundled. The complexity
enabled by the phenotype. Floor plates, for example, may be more three
55
distribution of loads – not speciation but variation within one population of
geometries.
The building envelope was developed from a digital study and finite
The skin of the fruit must maintain its structural integrity, resisting the
pressure of the swelling material inside. The panels all have same form
but the size varies, and tessellation results in a surprisingly low number of
similar logic to the differentiation of the helices – all have the same form
and geometric logic but the size is varied through a limited number of
parametric changes. These few parametric changes allow the form of the
geometry.
pneumatic articulator cells that are distributed between the inner, center
56
change from convex to concave geometry by the differential expansion
inner and outer membrane and the insulating volume of the enclosed air
space.
Fig. 10
Proposed Double Helix
Tower Design.
Source: Author
Alternating the changes to the geometry of the lower and the upper half
can be collected from the entire surface and used to feed the
57
microprocessor that produces the air pressure of the pneumatics actuator
cells in each half panel. All the energy necessary to maintain the air
supply, which increases the reliability and efficiency of the system and
passage of light, heat and air through it in both directions, and managing
individual panel, and multiple links between them provide the means for a
subtle surface.
helices yields the potential for change to the spatial organization by the
58
ability to accept relatively free distribution of floors. The responsive
both in response to the diverse needs of the inhabitants and to the overall
59
3.2 Artificial Life in Architecture
from the generative processes that work that work upon successive
this instrument as a generative design tool that can produce complex and
Dr. Una-May O’Reilly and Martin Hemberg were part of Emergent Design
CAD system.
60
Integrating evolutionary computation, generative computation and
Fig.11
A complex emergent form
developed using Genr8 as a
plugin to Maya.
Source: www.archinect.com
61
that mimics organic growth. Initially every surface is an equilateral
seed of the form and rewriting rules that specify how elements of the
than incrementally, since all parts of the surface are modified during the
which all parts respond to local interactions and the environment. The
edges, vertices and regions. Since all edges can be rewritten throughout
the entire growth process, all parts of the surface change continuously.
62
the context of a virtual environment – in the case of Genr8, one that has
the environment prior to using the tool, and this has a significant impact
individual designs can be generated and tested to find the fittest of these,
fitter are more likely to be chosen as parents of the next generation. They
evaluation criteria are explicitly quantifiable and capture local and global
(IEC), the user regulates the fitness function by assigning fitness values
63
automated fitness ranking. This opens up the possibility for another, more
resumption (IIR) function. The IIR creates the feedback between the
the evolutionary search at any time. At this point, the designer is free to
environment. Finally the user can resume the evolutionary search where
external processes.
Genr8 has three key innovations. First, the representations the software
uses for the surface as both a genome (a HELMS) and a phenotype (the
64
integrated process of evolutionary adaptation, continuous evaluation and
processes.
fitness criteria. The experiment was based on the understanding that the
65
A number of geometric constraints were established, including the local
evolution tool that evolves within a feedback loop of form generation and
external analysis.
Fig.12
Part of the
Complex Surface
Developed during
the experiment.
Source: AD
May/June 2004
varies while indexing across a range map) defined the position and
66
many populations. The guiding geometric relations were relatively simple,
system ready for immediate manufacturing with the laser cutter. The
articulations that are coherent within the geometric logic of the relevant
material and the structural system. This is the convergence of the digital
achievable7.
67
References
Academy; pp 39.
1990.
York) 1966.
68
CHAPTER 4
Johann Sischka
Waagner Biro Construction.
69
4.1 Beauty of Biological Systems
certainly made rapid advances in the last decade, but they function as a
computer that receives data from remote sensors and sends back
Natural systems are quite different. Most sensing, decision making and
reactions are entirely local, and global behavior is the product of local
actions. This is true across all scales, from small plants to large mammals.
When we run for the bus, we do not have to make any conscious
70
has been little systematic engineering study of dynamic systems in
turgor pressure (when plant cells take in water by osmosis they start to
swell, but the cell wall prevents them from bursting. Plant cells become
hydrostatic pressure, and turgidity is what makes green parts of the plant
kinds of movements. Many animals with flexible skins, such as worms and
flaccid and which, owing to their shape and mutual interaction, translate
local deformations to global ones and are capable of generating very high
stresses.
71
Fig.13
Venus Flytrap (a carnivorous)
plant – capable of making
movements as quick as blinking
of the eye.
Source:
www.bestcarnivorousplants.com
Biology makes use of remarkably few materials, and nearly all loads are
biology, and they have much lower densities than most engineering
materials. They are successful not so much because of what they are but
because of the way they are put together. The geometrical and hierarchal
Fig.14
Collagen Fibers in Muscle tissue.
Source: Author
72
Fiber composites are an-isotropic, a characteristic that can provide higher
and magnitude of the loads applied. It is growth under stress; the forces
wood, with a different fiber orientation and cellular structure from normal
Fibers are most efficient when they carry pure tensile loads, either as
73
stability, and change the fiber orientation so that compressive loads do
populations.
There are several examples of this in biology that offer interesting models
sea cucumbers and also at the base of spines in sea urchins. In this
system, the collagen fibers are embedded in a matrix that can be changed
74
from rigid to nearly liquid. In the liquid, low stiffness state the collagen
fibers act as uncoupled elements and do not have any reinforcing effect.
When the matrix is hardened by the release of calcium ions, the efficiency
of load transfer between matrix and fibers increases and the composite
becomes rigid. The sea cucumber goes soft when threatened and flows
away; the sea urchin softens the anchorage of its spines when it wants to
Fig.15
A sea urchin, anchored.
Source:
www3.bc.sympatico.ca
The study of biodynamics offers models for dynamic material systems and
The geometrical organization and fiber patterns are scaleable, and with
75
4.2 Limitations of Contemporary Construction Practices
performance of the structure and must be induced into the system in its
construction.
76
conventional approaches to manufacturing and construction. Johann
Sischka, MD, Waagner Biro discusses some of the problems they faced
“The biggest problem was the spiral ramp. This was the first really
complex geometry project, as the curve has no constant radius and very
little support, just a few pins outside of the ramp. We began to run two
approach. All the steel plates that the ramp is made of are twisted, and
with no constructed precedent it was not obvious what the best approach
towards rationalizing the geometry would be. Each section of the ramp
together and then it was ‘folded back’ for the flat plate to be cut.”11
Fig.16
Ramp at German
Reichstag.
Source: Author
“There was a very complex ‘stem’ line, or organizational line, for the
geometry of the ramp and the section of the ramp was also complex in
77
form; it also had its own inclination within the ramp and the floor does
not have a constant relation to the other pieces of the section. The
question was how to put up the ramp together in the most effective way?
Fabricated jigs were set out to line up with the internal stiffeners of the
ramp pieces, which were used for positive location. The coordinates of
setting out were checked and pieces pre-assembled and tack-welded. The
make sure that no kinks occur when the whole ramp is put together. The
built on site, and then the 18 pieces of the ramp were lifted into place and
welded together until the whole ramp was complete. Next the vertical
members of the dome were put up and fixed to the temporary structure,
and then the horizontals were put in place and welded to the verticals
before the ramp was fixed to the completed dome structure. Finally the
“proof” was the calculation of the completed structure, but the process of
individual sections looked very odd and to the human eye it was very
difficult to see how they fitted together. The client, the site architect and
our selves were rather nervous about the possibility that the components
might not fit together, but finally they did. We learned from this
78
experience that a different sensibility is needed to be able to tell whether
roof for the British museum is a steel lattice grid over a square plan. It is
process was rather complex, as grid shells don’t have any structural
from the circular reading room to the square courtyard perimeter, Buro
transition from the shorter perimeter of the reading room to the longer
ensure that the structure would be both strong and sufficiently ductile.
scaffold deck, where the construction took place and which had to hold up
79
the weight of the roof during the assembly process. Our policy was to
Fig.17
Roof of the Great
Court at British
Museum, London.
Source:
www.courses.arch.
hku.hk
chose the members to be complex and the node to be simple. The 4,878
steel members that make up the grid are therefore all different and
straight from the digital model. The members have a constant width, but
the depth varies from member to member, and also 30% of the members
are tapered. During the cutting process the machine also marked the
element number on to the upper side of each plate and market center,
80
“The manufacturing sequence was the same as the installation sequence,
and there was no lead time. Steel and glass were manufactured
trusses upto10 metres in length. These were delivered to the site and
lifted onto carefully placed props. The position of these props was critical
for the precision of assembly. The next step task for us was the assembly
of the ladder trusses into lengths that could span from the reading room
“The deflection of the scaffold deck due to the 500 tons of steel, needed
The maximum tolerance between each structural node was only 3mm.
Once the 152 ladder trusses were installed, the double-glassed panels,
each of them a unique triangle, were placed. Now weighing 800 tons, the
entire roof was still resting on the props. Finally the props were carefully
During this process the roof was constantly being monitored to check its
actual deformation against the anticipated one. The roof dropped 150mm
81
and spread 90mm laterally as it settled. In other words, the structure was
built in one shape which was then ‘relaxed’ into position. Since the
exterior walls of the surrounding buildings could not receive any lateral
forces the engineers at Buro Happold decided too rest the roof on sliding
parapets of the façades. The sliding bearings avoid the transferring of the
lateral forces into the façade and so the weight is only transferred
vertically. The reading room itself could not accept any lateral or vertical
construction, and these will not be identical to the balanced forces in the
82
have also seen how, after getting the feedback and passing through the
selection processes one after the another, the species and the individuals
forms using the available laser sheet cutting technology? And the answer
precision. But as far as the buildings are concerned and that too
them on site. We have seen in the Double Helix Tower Project (Ref. Fit
Fabric) that we were able to evolve design of the building and model it
which not only evolve in their design and data content but also they
algorithms.
83
So can the construction processes, materials and technologies be
evolutionary as well? If they can, only then we can have evolutionary and
morphogenetic architecture.
Fig.18
Nanogears, no more than
a nanometer (millionth of
a meter) wide could be
used to construct a matter
compiler, which could be
fed raw material to
arrange atoms and build a
macro-scale structure.
Dark balls-Carbon atoms
Light balls-Hydrogen
atoms.
Source: Author
84
References
4. Archer, op cit.
2000.
85
12. Ibid
14. Ibid
16. Ibid
86
Conclusion
“A technician observing living nature just can not grasp living objects
technical activity is. Both recognize today that technical and biological
objects will never be the only optima, which can be thought of but only
Form+Zweck(Berlin), 2000.
through skin. Biological evolution began with non stiff structures. The stiff
structures came much later, and they are usually just stiffening parts of
infinite variety of ways. The skin is made up of fibres, a thin net. Fibres
You can not tear a living skin, but you can tear a well woven cloth. Living
87
structures do not tear easily. This is the beauty and sophistication of
nature.
Mankind has always sought inspiration from nature for its inventions, and
now its time to inspire architecture. Its time that we find alternative to
‘friendly’ and beneficial to the human beings and on the other hand will
experimented that emergent designs with all the required qualities are
very much possible, through rigorous code writing. But truly emergent
manufacturing possible.
88
“…Sir, I’m a student of Architecture and wanted to know whether Nanotechnology could
prove helpful for Architecture…”
“It is interesting to see that you are here. Well…as I have already pointed out
in my talk... nanotechnology can make amazing structural materials.”
“Yes…Yes!”
“…It can make structural materials separately and materials with inherent
memory separately”
“……!?!”
89
“This is an exercise in fictional science, or science fiction, if you like that
just science, if you agree fiction is part of it, always was, and always will
much too small to hold all the facts of the world but not too idle to
Valentino Braitenberg
90
Bibliography
Transactions, 1952.
1990.
91
17. Biology of Fibrous Composites, Cambridge University Press,
1986.
92