Week 8 Readings

In Snooks article Self Organised Bodies, he explores “Swam Matter” and “Woven Composites”. “Swam Matter” is the exploration of ornamental generation. It investigates the relationship between shifting lines, components and surfaces. According to Snooks “while there is no hierarchies encoded into the “Swarm Matter” project, hierarchies arise as an emergent property of the system.” From this quote it can be extracted that through ornamental design and the application of complex geometries, there is a hierarchy that develops through the deliberation of the design.

“Woven Composites” is the exploration of complex topology, and woven fibre surfaces. In order to generate these kinds of topology, a multi-agent algorithm was developed. Linking bodies together can create a woven fibre structural core. This can be seen as an example of the shift from the consideration of surfaces being a uniform structure to surfaces being an assembly of different bodies.

Picon’s The Surface as Architecture, navigates through the idea of a hypersurface, a term coined by Architect and theorist Stephen Perella. Hypersurface is the term that describes the convergence between cyberspace and architecture considered as a surface of projection. Picon dwells in to the variation of hypersurfaces. In parts he compares them to signage and cultural factors such as fashion, evoking a sense of superficiality.

Furthermore he investigates George Liaropoulos – Lengendre’s opinion on surfaces and how they bear a form more so than a volume. As well as his view on surfaces “challenging the traditional more of presence of architecture… “Through this, Picon expresses that surfaces are challenging the idea of the interior and exterior. He claims that surfaces do not define a space when becoming enclosed, but holds potentials to create volumes as the surface flows along its varying inflections. 

Through the two articles it can be concluded that both Snooks and Picon see surfaces as a design element that holds a monumental amount of potential in its form, structure, design and ability to create space.

Readings:

Snooks, Roland/Kokkugia, “Self-Organized Bodies,”* in Architecture in Formation, edited by Pablo Lorenzo-Eiroa and Aaron Sprecher (2013) 

Picon, Antoine, “The surface as Architecture,”* in Digital Culture in Architecture: an Introduction for the Design Profession (2010)