At 02:02 AM 5/22/99 -0700, Randolph wrote:
>One of the things to remember here is that the use of biological form in
>architecture is ancient; what chaos theory and fractals do is simply
>provide analytical tools which can comprehend such form. Now, this is of
>very great potential value, but that potential is far from realized.
>Meantime, I suspect that means that this "new" ideal is in fact going to
>look very old when finally achieved...like Alexander's aesthetics,
>perhaps?
Could be...Maybe it will approach true timelessness. Fractals are a tool,
but they are also a way of opearting---they do exist in nature. Chaos theory
is a way of describing things that happen in nature, but the main
principle---that non-intelligent systems can be self-organizing---has
tremendous implications for design. One day. Probably not now. :-)
>I also think you are forgetting that biological form has always been a
>pre-occupation of architects: gothic cathedrals have something of northern
>European forests in them, Greek temple columns remember bundles of reeds
>and wooden frames. Aalto was a biomorphic designer--perhaps as much as
>Gaudi. Le Corbusier was known to copy a natural form now & again. The
>only recent major designer I can think of who didn't, ultimately, deal
>with such things was Mies van der Rohe--Mr. Pure Geometry himself.
No, I wasn't forgetting at all! I was acknowledging that perhaps many others
had, though.
>All this leads me to suspect that the study of biological form should be a
>part of architectural education--that would be quite a change! Well,
>perhaps I can *make* it part of mine.
You most certainly can---and should. I think architecture students spend WAY
too much time in studio and not near enough out in the world where they have
to work. At Ball State, once I finished general studies work after second
year, I drove to campus, parked at the architecture building, and never went
anywhere else unless it was to run errands, go to lunch/dinner, or go home.
I probably suffered by not trying to jam in another unrelated course ro two,
but I was plenty busy, and wasn't seeing my family enough as it was.
But hey, at least I wasn't locked in studio 24/7!
Mark
>One of the things to remember here is that the use of biological form in
>architecture is ancient; what chaos theory and fractals do is simply
>provide analytical tools which can comprehend such form. Now, this is of
>very great potential value, but that potential is far from realized.
>Meantime, I suspect that means that this "new" ideal is in fact going to
>look very old when finally achieved...like Alexander's aesthetics,
>perhaps?
Could be...Maybe it will approach true timelessness. Fractals are a tool,
but they are also a way of opearting---they do exist in nature. Chaos theory
is a way of describing things that happen in nature, but the main
principle---that non-intelligent systems can be self-organizing---has
tremendous implications for design. One day. Probably not now. :-)
>I also think you are forgetting that biological form has always been a
>pre-occupation of architects: gothic cathedrals have something of northern
>European forests in them, Greek temple columns remember bundles of reeds
>and wooden frames. Aalto was a biomorphic designer--perhaps as much as
>Gaudi. Le Corbusier was known to copy a natural form now & again. The
>only recent major designer I can think of who didn't, ultimately, deal
>with such things was Mies van der Rohe--Mr. Pure Geometry himself.
No, I wasn't forgetting at all! I was acknowledging that perhaps many others
had, though.
>All this leads me to suspect that the study of biological form should be a
>part of architectural education--that would be quite a change! Well,
>perhaps I can *make* it part of mine.
You most certainly can---and should. I think architecture students spend WAY
too much time in studio and not near enough out in the world where they have
to work. At Ball State, once I finished general studies work after second
year, I drove to campus, parked at the architecture building, and never went
anywhere else unless it was to run errands, go to lunch/dinner, or go home.
I probably suffered by not trying to jam in another unrelated course ro two,
but I was plenty busy, and wasn't seeing my family enough as it was.
But hey, at least I wasn't locked in studio 24/7!
Mark