Abstract:Does the computer take over? This is at least what some of the architects and authors believe whom I came across during my research. In architecture the computer makes the creation of dynamic forms a much simpler task compared to the time of hand drafting. And that is tempting- it often results in superficial references to biological and technological concepts. The issue of mere imitation of form and appearance was not caused by introducing computational procedures in architecture, but it was clearly enhanced how ever.1

On the other hand an expanding group of architects is in search of methods to create a stronger link with natural systems, aiming to generate architecture using natures talent.

It is probably my passion for botany that made me choose this subject. I find the growth and form of plants fascinating- I think there is still a lot to learn from these silent companions.Most fundamentally I am trying to find out how this interest in natural systems could inform architectural design. The work of the engineer and architect Frei Otto embodies this idea for me and was the starting point of my engagement with the subject. During my research I found out that Otto's ideas, thirty years after his most important buildings were already completed, start to play a more important role again- this time in the realm of the computer. I will explain what this link with natural systems is -namely self-organization- and how it works. In order to enhance a better understanding of the relation between Frei Otto, biology and recent computer assisted design I will outline a rough historical context, revolving around Otto's work in the 1960s and 70s- and also mention other related people and issues, for example Stephen Wolfram, who can be regarded as pioneer in modelling self-organization in the computer.

Rather than talking too much about technical issues, I want to approach the subject on a more philosophical level, touching upon the question if the use of computers even with biological references might result in further abstraction of our build environment- if this new computer based Bionic in architecture will cause similar mistakes as the strong enthusiasm about machines at the beginning of the 20th century apparently did.

1From Interview with Ben van Berkel, DETAIL vol.12- 2007, p.1425

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Contents:

Introduction p. 3

Part 1. From Biology to Architecture p. 5-15

Leaving the Block Behind p. 6

Self-Organization and Frei Otto p. 8

Form finding p. 11

Part 2. The computer p. 16-26

Stephen Wolfram's Cellular Automata p. 17

Makoto Sei Watanabe- Induction Cities project p. 19

The growth of the organic city p. 20

evolutionary designing? p. 21

Part 3. Mind and Computing (conclusion) p. 27 - 30

Tool or Designer? p. 28

Bibliography p. 31

Illustrations p. 32

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IntroductionThe Pyramids are pyramids.It is not difficult to find that simple geometries are an established concept to architectural space and structure. Often mathematical relations determine building proportions, at least ''[s]ince the time Vitrivus and Leonardo, the sciences have served as a source for images and metaphors in architecture''2About forty years ago Frei Otto started to profoundly influence the traditional notion of geometry with regard to architecture. Otto always looked at nature as his great inspiration, developing his ideas and concepts from natural phenomena, trying to give some of their essence to our built environment. ''We need to study biological structures much more.''3 -doing so, Otto changed his idea of geometry by observation and understanding of natural processes. Nature as an inspiration for architecture is certainly not a new idea, but it is the notion of nature that developed- and thus its interpretation in design.Otto's experimental approach and research developed design and construction methods that in their combination were new to design and architecture. Rather than copying natural shapes and structures his research concentrates on form finding: material systems that self-organize into complex geometries. He showed that natural processes themselves could assist in design if applied with in-depth understanding of the mechanisms. From this point of view complex systems are no longer under the cover of randomness, and become comprehensible and useful phenomena.

In this essay I intend to communicate the principles of complex systems and their self-organization- how far they can serve as a driving idea for making architecture more 'natural.'Self-organization as a design method in this sense substitutes ordinary references to natural form.With this in mind I am going to relate Frei Otto's work to the current trend to use computer software and programming as form finding environments as represented by Makoto Sei Watanabe's research project 'Induction Cities.'

''[T]he computer has reached a cultural stage''4

''Scarcely any area of life remains unaffected by the rapid developments taking place in computer technology''5 This is certainly true in our western society, and especially in the industries. Building components manufacture and assembly relies increasingly on computer numerical controlled (CNC) robots, allowing more complex geometries to be handled.Since an increasing number of architects are used to the involvement of computer software in architectural design, buildings become fluid and amorph- through the help of Cad manipulation. Many of the architecture thus created appears to be similar of Otto's repertoire of form language. The CAD processes that result in the fluid 'Blob architecture' are in fact similar to Otto's material

2 Antoine Picon and Alessandra Ponte, Architecture and the sciences, p.123 Frei Otto. In conversation with the Emergence and Design Group, in Architectural Design May/june 2004, p.254 Lars Spuybroek. NOX, Machining Architecture, p.65 Christine Schittich. in DEAIL, vol 12, Serie 2007 editorial

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experiments6, yet usually this takes place somewhere distant from the actual design process. Complicated architectural proposals often rely on computer technologies (such as scripting and algorithms) to resolve problems that exceed the human intellect,7 but this is typically not embedded in design ideas and methodology.

In the Foreword to Kostas Terzidis' book on 'Algorithmic Architecture', Antoine Picon is interested in the question ''what ... the exact scope of the computer's involvement with architectural design''8 should be.He argues that ''typically the positions ... fall into two categories.'' For many designers ''the computer is just an advanced tool'' and although the computer ''does alter significantly... the architecture that is produced, it is not necessary or even desirable [for them] to enter into the details of its inner processes''.

On the other hand the Japanese architect Makoto Sei Watanabe's research project invests a lot of effort in this subject, with the conviction that architecture will benefit from the abilities of the computer. For them the computer offers the opportunity to create architectural proposals that derive from self-organizing processes simulated using computer software; by entering ''into the black box of programming''9

It is an attempt to make architecture more organic and natural, to find ''a new model for architecture'' by studying the ''complex and dynamic exchange between organisms and their environment, ... one that through the application of biochemical processes and the functionality of life is in empathy rather than at odds with natural ecology''10

Is the idea of using computers for design and manufacture of buildings to stop them from being machine like a sensible ambition, a possibility?I agree in this respect with Antoine Picon. It is certainly time to reflect on these developments in architecture. The next chapters will describe this design approach in more detail and give examples of work.I will try to inspire the discussion if a machine is capable of rejuvenating a bond with nature that once was broken by machines- if this revive of interest in natural processes will be actually beneficial to architecture, and to what extend these methods are useful and capable of generating practically applicable architectural proposals?

6 as in deforming, bending 3-d manipulating. The software calculates an even deformation based on mathematical formula derived from physical material behaviour. for example bending a rod. The actions of the user resemble extrinsic forces on virtual material.

7 Kostas Terzidis. Algorithmic Architecture, prologue xiii(The statement will be commented on in the conclusion)

8 Antoine Picon. Algorithmic architecture, foreword vii9 Antoine Picon. Algorithmic architecture, foreword ix10 Helen Castle. Architectural Design, March April 2006, Editorial

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Part 1. From Biology to Architecture

German Pavilion (in construction), Montreal. 1967

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Leaving the Block Behind''The theoretical basis of cultural expression in form is increasingly informed by a domain of knowledge that appears relatively comfortable with notions of generative algorithmic beauty: namely biology.''11

In other words, biology is what inspired Frei Otto's research just as it inspires architects today to work with the computer. In this case the fascination with the computer is thus a fascination with life, a fascination with the potential of the computer to 'imitate' life and especially the ability to make use of some of life's principles.

Now it is not any more the machine from a mechanical point of view that is exalted to cultural status, as a manifestation of order and simplicity exhibited by Newtonian mechanics12. In the early 20th century people were overwhelmed by the power of machines and industry. Especially architecture as a discipline that relies so much on production and material, experienced a dramatic change. For Le Corbusier, at least at some point of his career, the overtaking of machine and industry was a definite improvement. ''In nature, objectively observed, exists nothing that reaches the pure perfection of even the most basic machine.''13

That machine of modernity lost its fascination- often only the feasibility and economy of functionalism remains.''The usual result has been grey dreary groups of buildings made of prefabricated concrete sections, offering few surprises and a superfluity of right angles, (...). This sort of thing often replaced a varied and deeply textured urban scene.''14

Jane Jacobs harshly criticised the modernist notion of a city that could be divided functionally into purified parts according to a machine logic.''A city is not particularly a question of functional zoning, or dividing areas up intothe 'five functions' living, working, circulation recreation and governing, or simplicity''15.

As Charles Jencks quotes her, a city is not particularly a question of ''disorganised complexity'' or chaos either. Rather It is one of ''organised complexity''16, a growing and evolving environment that establishes its own order out of itself.The criticism to over-rationalised and standardised environments and designs of all is a typical reaction, the theorists learned from the social experiments of modernism, and understood that design is a much more difficult task than just adding functions. It becomes clear when looking at cities with intricately interwoven functionality, with no apparent simple logic to them, irregular and complex.

11 Malcom McCullough. 20 Years of Scripted Space, Architectural Design, July/August 2006, p.1512 From Charles Jencks. Architecture of the Jumping Universe, p. 12ff13 Ryszard Sliwka quoting Le Corbusier, Geometrien der Schöpfung, in Arch+, May 2002, p.8914 Edward Relph, The Modern Urban Landscape, p.145

15 Charles Jencks quoting Jane Jacobs. Architecture of the Jumping Universe, p. 6816 Charles Jencks quoting Jane Jacobs. Architecture of the Jumping Universe, p. 68

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It is a machine, the computer, but rather its inner processes than its physical components that now has 'reached a cultural stage'. Architects and urban planners dream of buildings and cities that grow out of their own constraints and functions, that evolve over time adapt and progress, simulated within the computer. The last decades revealed insight into the mechanisms of natural systems and organisms that question Le Corbusier's statement quoted before, illuminating nature as far superior to the design and creation possible to human logic. The aim to harness this potential of nature is once again an inspiration for architecture.''The true interest of this kind of crossing over between architecture and the sciences... resides in a definite and demonstrable connection, susceptible to the theoretical analysis.'' One of these connections is the ''embodiment of immaterial elements of culture'' which perhaps is, concludes Antoine Picon ''capable of producing the effect at which architecture excels- namely, the transportation and materialisation of the most original ideas of an epoch.''17

Whether for example bio-informatics and genetics are the most original ideas of this epoch shall not be further discussed. Certainly they are important, and in the 'Induction Cities' project by Watanabe these themes are transported into material reality. Designing an environment like a city, or structures that are grown, complex organizations like ant colonies -natural things in general- is practically not possible. As the next chapters will show in more detail, these phenomena emerge from the bottom up, designed not by one intelligent source but by interaction of many individual elements that self-organize into suited configurations.In the opinion of Watanabe this principle possibly is a remedy to problems and symptoms of international modernism, suggesting that simulations of evolutionary processes and growth could help to create more organic and individual environments, with plans and structures that consist of custom made elements, offering interesting and inspiring surroundings.

By encoding their design intentions into a computer programme some architects like Watanabe generate solutions that ''despite being human creations, consist of parts and relationships arranged in such complicated ways that often surpass a single designer's ability to thoroughlycomprehend them, even if that person is their own creator.''18

It is the ability the computer gives the designer to exceed his own intellect that is tempting, that may be an improvement to solving problems by the logic and rationality of a designer.''[A]rchitecture that seeks, through new scientific advances ... in understanding of natural processes and systems, to leave behind the known structural and material blocks.''19

17 Antoine Picon and Alessandra Ponte, Architecture and the sciences, p.16

18 Kostas Terzidis. Algorithmic Architecture, p. 11719 Helen Castle. Architectural Design, March April 2006, Editorial

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Self-Organization and Frei Otto So how do natural things take their shape, what helps them to assemble in the right way?The answer to this question is not completely solved yet and is not necessarily important to the design of architecture. But what has already been understood actually finds application in the design of many things, including buildings.

It is known that all 'grown things' work after a logic referred to above called self-organization. This does not imply anything else except that the individual parts find their place in a system by themselves without having the 'knowledge' or a 'master plan' of the whole. Instead they are provided with a set of far more simple rules than the systems or structures they are part of. Rules that dictate their behaviour and interaction, resulting in a pattern or network exhibiting characteristic behaviour that is observable, but not predictable. And thus as also mentioned above, not designable. They have ''properties that can not be known from analysis of the constituent elements in isolation''20. Here it is true that 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts'.

Fig.1 Scanning electron micrograph of cancellous (spongy) bone tissue

20 Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_system

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Darcy Thompson is one of the most important figures in the discovery of that principle. His book 'On Growth and Form' revolves around the idea that form is a diagram of forces that acted on it during its creation. In this respect matter self-organizes into form under the influence of extrinsic forces.An important observation was the relation between the tissue inside bones and the stress that the bone was subjected to. Here it is visible how the tissue inside the bone adapts to extrinsic forces and thus depicts a physical diagram of these forces. The location of each individual cell is not predetermined, but they all follow the same very simple rule:

A cell grows and duplicates at a higher rate if under too much stress.

This very simple behaviour creates the incredibly complex three dimensional networks of the spongy bone tissue (Fig. 1). In fact they are so sophisticated that already Professor Culmann over 120 years ago identified a diagram of lines of stress (Fig.2), or directions of tension and compression, looking at the porous networks.21

The system of a large number of interacting cells solves the problem of creating an efficient distribution of strong, stiff cell-tissue inside the bone out of itself: namely self-organization.

Fig.2 left: Head of the human femur in section, right: lines of stress after Prof. Culmann

Superficial references to this kind of natural structures were and still are a often strategy in architectural design. These forms do convey something very appealing and always provided inspiration for art and philosophy. But architecture is not just about the appearance, but also about function and an inner integrity between contradicting requirements.''The long proclaimed biological paradigm for architectural design must ... go beyond using shallow biological metaphors or a superficial biomorphic formal repertoire''22

Frei Otto said that ''[i]t is necessary that we architects try to understand living nature, but notcopy it. This is one very important task for the future.''23

21 From D'Arcy Thompson's On Growth and Form, p.232ff22 Michael Hensel. (Synthetic) Life Architectures, in Architectural Design March/April 2006, p. 1823 Frei Otto. In conversation with the Emergence and Design Group, in Architectural Design vol.74 No3 May/june

2004, p.25

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Fig.3 Radiolaria after Ernst Haeckle

An important influence on Frei Otto's work were 'Radiolaria'(Fig.3), tiny sea creatures that grow shell like skeletons to protect their bodies. Otto realised that Radiolaria, and natural structures in general are not strictly based on simple geometries. They merely appear to be. They were long mistaken as natural embodiment of mathematical order. But mathematics are a human invention, an abstraction that despite of its incredible correctness never is quite right about reality.

Frei Otto found that ''[l]iving structure is completely different to artificial technical structures that are shaped by simple geometries. The structure of living nature is very complex. In living organisms every element is different... Irregularity is important not only in biology but also in technology, and is a field that has not been researched enough''24

Micheal Hensel from the Emergence and Design Group agrees that ''the robust design of natural living systems is not produced by optimisation and standardisation, but by redundancy and differentiation.''25 This is where a different understanding of natural structures becomes apparent, regarding the ideas of modernism explained earlier.

24 Frei Otto. In conversation with the Emergence and Design Group, in Architectural Design May/june 2004, p.2525 Micheal Weinstock, Self-Organisation and the Structural Dynamics of Plant, in Architectural Design March

April 2006, p.27

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Finding FormMost of Frei Otto's work revolved around the idea of making structures more efficient. His architectural starting point was common lightweight construction, but his work clearly evolved into a new structural and theoretical realm.According to his observations and knowledge of natural from and structure his idea was that the most efficient structures would consist of materials and components that self-organize into formation in respond to extrinsic forces acting on them. All of the cable net structures and wood lattices are based on this observation.

Fig.4 Olympic Stadium, Munich. Frei Otto 1972

For the cable net structures like the roof for the Olympic Stadium for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich (Fig.4), soap film models serve as blueprints for the actual shape (Fig.5). The clue is that molecules in the soap film always contract as much as possible. This simple interaction forms minimal surfaces, distributing the tension equally throughout. This is beneficial for 'real' constructions because the net in theory is subjected to equal strain all over and avoids the need for superfluous material.

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The Stadium impressively expresses this principle. It is often associated with spider's webs, but despite the similarity it is not a superficial imitation of a spider's web shape- instead a similar principle underlies the formation of both shapes.

Fig.5 Soap film experiments generating minimal surfaces.

Wood lattices, like the 'Multihalle Mannheim' (Fig.7)are equally based on a simple form finding experiment. The Catenary curve, a curve resulting from a hanging string or chain fixed at two ends is its basis. Instead of a single string or chain, Otto used a network of chains for his experiments (Fig.6), similar to the way Gaudi determined the structure for the church Güell and Sagrada Familia. Again this is an approach that tackles the problematic of structural efficiency- the inverted Catenary results in theory in purely compression loaded vault, minimising the materials needed. In both cases the cable and lattice constructions, the structural integrity and efficiency is clearly readable as if one could almost read the stress lines within the surfaces like Culmann saw the stress lines in the tissue of a cow's hip bone.

Fig.6 Hanging Model, for structural analysis of 'Multihalle Mannheim'

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In addition, the efficient construction results in structurally aesthetic shapes, wavy and organic double curved surfaces. This is in strong contrast to opaque heavy weight construction, with hard distinctions between inside and outside. Frei Otto substitutes shape for material mass in the drive for structural stability and- the ''dematerialisation of structure''26 creates light spaces that yet appear inherently strong and stable. The experience of lightweight space is enhanced by the transparency of the building envelope. It allows the light to penetrate, creating strong outlines. The repetition of similar shapes in the complex three dimensional networks reminds of the organic textures and structures in animate and inanimate nature. This effect intentionally echoes throughout his work and is its strongest feature: the form as a diagram of force.

Fig.7 Interior view, Multihalle Mannheim, Frei Otto

However, despite Otto's intentions and experimental research, due to restrictions in buildability and feasibility his buildings are often based on square grids and still exhibit a high degree of regularity, rigidity compared to the forms created by the natural processes he aspires to mirror. His buildings already innovated new construction methods, and approached the boundaries of structural possibilities, yet he sought further, structurally and beyond.

Especially interesting in the context my considerations are the wool thread experiments for branched constructions Otto and his research team at the IL (Institute for lightweight construction) carried out in the 1970s. The experiments always aim at optimisation. The illustrated apparatus (Fig.8) was designed to generate an irregular web of thin structural members. The branches that support the top join in the middle to form bundles that separate again at the bottom, a structurally coherent system

26 Philip Drew, FREI OTTO Form & Structure, p.27

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emerges.27 It is a development of the minimal surface experiments. The cohesive force of the water pulls the threads together as much as possible. The logic is similar to the Catenary: if the system in suspension would become stiff and loaded, most parts would be in compression.

Fig.8 wet wool thread experiment, Frei Otto

The optimised path apparatus shown below (Fig.9) works on exactly the same principle as the example before- but it addresses an entirely different problem: the distribution of streets between a set number of destinations. With this experiment Frei Otto brought about a revolutionary innovation, applying the immanent virtue of self-organization to non-structural questions.

Fig.9 In this experiment a wool-thread system of direct paths (left) is loosened (8%) and then put in water. The cohesive forces acting on the threads when the system is taken out of the water organize a unique state of equilibrium (right).

27 Unlike a system of straight columns that would just as well carry the same load, the network created with the apparatus provides structural stability also against lateral forces with a minimum of extra material.

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In essence the experiments shown above are not much different from the way the cellular tissue inside the bone works. They are systems of local elements: the fibres in wool thread and water molecules- that interact according to a number of rules: the cohesive force of the water; the degree of looseness of wool thread. The process can be seen as 'analogue computing.'

The apparatus compromises between a direct and a minimal path system, or between the shortest connection and the least overall length of streets in the system. The cohesive force of the water forms minimal paths within the almost direct path system, due to a certain tolerance in the network: an over length of the wool threads. By changing the arrangement of fixed points and the degree of tolerance in the threads the apparatus can be 'programmed' to find optimal solutions for a variety of configurations.It is a prototype. Otto's intention, rather than using it to solve a problem in a build commission, is to inspire designers to make use of similar methods and principles.

Frei Otto is best described as visionary or inventor. His aspiration to find and solve ever more problems created a wide range of experimental approaches. He is in a way a scientist of design as his practical and theoretical research adopts the methods and analytic procedures of a researcher.28 ''In this respect, he bridges the gulf between science and art.''29

The transportation of form finding experiments to non-structural problems opened an entire field of investigation that would eventually thrive in new applications of computer software, and inspire architects to look once again at nature as an inspiration at the beginning of the 21st

century. This, one could say, was Frei Otto's real motivation- to have an effect on the way architecture is conceived and made.

28 Philip Drew. Frei Otto, From & Structure, p. 6ff29 Philip Drew. Frei Otto, From & Structure, p. 7

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Part 2. The computer''Physical processes are forms of computation, and no where is this understanding made more explicit than in Stephen Wolfram's formulation of the principle of Computational Equivalence. Wolfram remarks: 'All processes, whether they are produced by human efforts or occur spontaneously in nature can be viewed as computation'. ''30

Sphere based on Cellular Automata, Kevin Spides30 Karl Chu quoting Stephen Wolfram, The Metaphysics of Genetic Architecture and Computation, in Architectural

Design July/August p.40

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Stephen Wolfram's Cellular Automata

The computer proved incredible helpful in the examination and understanding of such complex systems and their self-organization. Artificial life is a term to describe computer simulations that model functionality and mechanisms of biogenetics and morphogenesis, the growth and evolution of organisms.

The self-organization through simple rules can be illustrated by an experiment with simple computer programs called 'Cellular Automata' carried out by Stephen Wolfram about 40 years ago. Wolfram criticised traditional sciences for relying on 'mathematical formalism' that often proved ''incapable of anticipating the complex behaviour of a system'';31 Suggesting that computational models are more appropriate to reproduce, analyse and understand complex systems.Cellular automaton is a program that determines its colour according to the adjacent three automatons of the previous step in a square grid as shown below (Fig.10).

Fig. 10 explaining Cellular Automata. left rule 90, right rule 30

''The picture [ Fig.11] is an example of the fundamental phenomenon that even with simple underlying rules and simple initial conditions it is possible to produce behaviour of great complexity''.

31 Ingeborg M Rocker, When Code Matters, in Architectural Design, July/August 2006, p.19

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Fig.11 progressively more steps of rule 30

Cellular Automata work together in a simple form of an algorithm. An algorithm is basically nothing more but a set of instructions and a sequence to follow.32 It is as simple as that, and even an algorithm with such a basic structure can already produce very sophisticated solutions to a number of different problems. ''it might be assumed here that the behaviour eventually would resolve into something simple, but again this is not the case''33 The pattern in Fig.11 shows a surprisingly high degree of variation and asymmetry. At both edges of the triangular shape repeating configurations can be observed but in the centre prevails no obvious regularity. The regular configurations especially on the left side keep growing, expanding as the pattern progresses. It seems as if the pattern tests configuration until they form a stable combination that will be repeated and keep expanding. The system solves the problem of finding a stable configurations 'from the bottom up' rather than being solved 'from the top down' by an intelligent designer.

This may be a very blunt description or model for the growth of an organism in whichthe rule is the 'gene' and the pattern is the actual grown body, the phenotype. The rule 30 could be the first step, the pattern of the most primitive first stage or embryo, and other progressions of rules would follow to refine the initial shape. A genetic code in this sense would be a collection of rules that are set in a sequence to form the body step by step. The 'rules' are in fact encoded in the genetic sequence as blueprints of protein chains. Once a protein is copied and activated it organises cells into formation, by only following its own rule- in contrast to the idea that every cell in a growing body finds its position and function according to pre-conceived plan of the entire organism in the genetic code.34

This is an idea that Makoto Sei Watanabe picked up for the 'Induction Cities' project. Here he finds inspiration in the most underlying mechanism of nature, here he sees the possibility to use this mechanism to generate form and organisation that is not an imitation but in analogy to its natural counter parts.

32 For example: take row one, apply rule x (if this is... than do that), take row two apply rule x,.....etc.33 Stephen Wolfram. How Do Simple Programs Behave?, in Architectural Design, July/August 2006, p.3534 Because this is not the case, in biology a distinction between phenotype and genotype is made, between the

genetic information and the organisation this information is translated to.

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Makoto Sei Watanabe- Induction Cities

''I have been asking myself for a long time whether one could create something like aSEED of architecture. A seed that spreads its roots, unfolds its leafs and blooms if itreceives water and light... The structure of stem and leaf of a plant evolves as an optimised reaction to the relative force environment... Plants generate a compromise between their own needs and constraints of their environment... If you observe this process carefully you realize that something like architecture emerges.''Makoto Sei Watanabe's research project 'Inducing Cities' revolves around the question: ''Is there a way to create something similar?''35 ;Buildings and Cities that grow according to encoded design intentions that evolve in respect to a specific environment sensitive to its characteristics?

''The Induction cities project began with our conclusion that a city cannot be designed''36

Watanabe collaborates with an international team with participants from different universities and architectural practices. The original team started in the 90's to design computer programs that generate architectural proposals; At first with the intention to find out if such an approach project was an actual possibility. Watanabe criticises the ''textbook''37 methods cities are currently designed by. ''What we need is not critical perceptions of what a city is but a methodology for creating a city as well as a set of theoretical principles to buttress such a methodology (...) a way of creating a city that embraces the dynamism of the city''38 With this in mind the project attempts to generate cities and buildings by adopting evolutionary processes, a far more ambitious strategy than Frei Otto's use of physical processes.

''Our approach may be similar to the principles of the biosystem more and more of which is being understood through research on artificial life. Living organisms are not governed by a grand designer. Why does a living thing maintain integrity despite the absence of a grand designer? What guarantees its self-organization?''39

The answer to this question also gives an inspiration on how the programmes written for Induction Cities generate design. The key lay in braking down the design problem into different individual problems that are solved step by step, comparable with proteins in a gene sequence that help assembling an organism.

35 Makoto Sei Watanabe. Inducing Cities, Arch+ may 2002 p.136 (translated by the author)36 Makoto Sei Watanabe from www.makoto-architect.com/idc2000/index2.htm accessed 03.01.200837 Makoto Sei Watanabe from www.makoto-architect.com/idc2000/index2.htm accessed 03.01.200838 Makoto Sei Watanabe from www.makoto-architect.com/idc2000/index2.htm accessed 03.01.200839 Makoto Sei Watanabe from www.makoto-architect.com/idc2000/index2.htm accessed 03.01.2008

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The growth of the organic cityfrom simple rules through a sequence to a city

What happens if the often intuitive process of designing is deciphered?

Christopher Alexander's book 'Pattern language' ''was one of the admirable precedents to the Extraction of thought.''40 It looks at how regions, cities, neighbourhoods and buildings evolve- how they form a hierarchy of patterns. The idea of 'Pattern Language' was to organize knowledge and experience about working sequences and hierarchies of patterns, to solve recurring problems. ''A sequence is like a bit of genetic code. It helps things to unfold in the right way''41 The idea was to use those sequences to assist the design of our environment, from the door step of buildings up to the complexity of cities and entire regions. In the whole Christopher Alexander found 253 of those patterns, the following examples show parts of the sequence:

The language begins with patterns that define towns and communities. These patterns can never be designed or built in one fell swoop - but patient piecemeal growth, designed in such a way that every individual act is always helping to create or generate these larger global patterns, will, slowly and surely, over the years, make a community that has these global patterns in it.

1.INDEPENDENT REGIONS

Within each region work toward those regional policies which will protect the land and mark the limits of the cities: 2.THE DISTRIBUTION OF TOWNS4. AGRICULTURAL VALLEYS5. LACE OF COUNTRYSTREETS......

Establish community and neighbourhood policy to control the character of the local environment according to the following fundamental principles:21. FOUR STOREY LIMIT22. NINE PERCENT PARKING23. PARALLEL ROADS....42

Watanabe says: ''Maybe this work was only doomed to fail because there weren't any computers yet.''43 In essence Christopher Alexander's Pattern Language is exactly what the Induction Cities project is doing. The computer programs written by Watanabe's research team automatise the design process by determining a specific sequence, a hierarchy of criteria, by programming an algorithm that works out a solution step by step. The hierarchy and its criteria are different to

40 Makoto Sei Watanabe. Inducing Cities, Arch+ may 2002 p.135 (translated by the author)41 Christopher Alexander, a childs history of pattern language. www.patterlanguage.com42 Christopher Alexander , www.patterlanguage.com, accessed on 03.01.200843 Makoto Sei Watanabe. Inducing Cities, Arch+ may 2002 p.135 (translated by the author)

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Christopher Alexander's patterns and sequence, but the algorithmic approach is the same.44 In other words Watanabe, like Stephen Wolfram, thinks that computer programs are capable of recreating complexity, on a simple level, but eventually in combination something that is similar to the complexity of a city. The algorithm has encoded design intentions, just like the genetic code of a plants contains its aim to grow, collect energy bloom and distribute seeds. For a plant the criteria of what is helpful for the plants recreation are comparably easy to find.

But what are the criteria for a good city?

For the Induction Cities project the research team developed their own set of criteria and their own sequence. In the first phase they looked at Cities and neighbourhoods, aiming at the conception of a city as a whole. What for example is a ''good street'', ''within which boundaries are slopes and changes of direction tolerable?''45. The team worked out computer programmes to address each problem individually to combine the outcome creating a complete solution.

evolutionary designing?the genetic algorithm as a model for evolution

The team developed a certain number of programmes to generate possible plans and other programmes to evaluate the output. The sequence mentioned above and thus relation between the individual programmes here is facilitated through a so called genetic algorithm.The genetic algorithm is a simplified computer model of natural evolution. It produces a population of 'codes' each of which will generate plans. After the evaluation the most successful plans are selected. The codes of these successful plans are fed back into the first stage where crossover and mutation alter the codes, to produce a new generation of plans, and the process starts all over again until a plan with satisfying rate of match to the criteria is found.

To go back to the Cellular Automata, if Stephen Wolfram would have used a genetic algorithm and his criteria would be to create the most complex configuration with the highest variety, The diagram in Fig.12 would represent this process.Comparing the figure in the third generation with the two from the second, only one part of rule (the second from left) was changed (maybe through mutation, cross over etc.). This asymmetry in the rule causes the figure in the third generation to be asymmetric, causing a high level of variety. The asymmetry in the rule would therefore be retained in all following generations as a successful 'gene', until the best combination out of the possible 256 rules emerges.

44 Algorithms are sets of instructions and a sequence to follow and existed before any computer was invented. They were performed manually by mathematicians and in ancient religious rituals. www.ted.com/talks/view/id/198

45 Makoto Sei Watanabe. Inducing Cities, Arch+ may 2002 p.135 (translated by the author)

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Fig.12 explaining a genetic algorithm with Cellular Automata

Induction Cities uses a genetic algorithm in a similar fashion.At first and most importantly the evaluation criteria have to be set. The conception of a city starts with distribution of infrastructure, work-places, residential areas, industry and other key facilities.In 'On Demand City' each of these functions is provided with an evaluation score regarding its distance to every other function. For example work and living close to each other, but main roads and industry far away from residential and recreational areas, an even network of public transport, hospitals, schools..etc. A program produces a population of plans that will be assessed and selected to produce the next generation, successful configurations are retained, the process iterated until a satisfying balance is generated (Fig.13).

Fig.13 from left to right: determine key facilities, assign scores, generate plans, find optimum. Makoto Watanabe

In the 'City of Generative Road Plan', the next step of a evolving city is made.Unlike Frei Otto's Optimised Path system (as explained a compromise between a direct and a minimal path system) here the criteria for a 'good' network of streets were chosen to be 'getting

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fast to a destination' and 'following a pleasant way'. In modern town planning streets often are made straight, even though an intricately interwoven network of streets ads to the experience of a street and gives it ''a sense of depth''46

''A perfectly straight street is tiring and just as well streets that curve in a predictable fashion are getting monotonous''47 For this reason Watanabe looked at examples of existing streets that contained positive aspects, and transported these aspects into the program to generate streets patterns that resemble the chosen positive aspects. Once again this was achieved by assigning scores to each of the former selected criteria for type of intersection, differentiation in road curvature or length of road sections.

Fig.14 generating road network using a genetic algorithm. Makoto Watanabe

An attempt to automatise the design of individual buildings or building blocks is the 'City of the Sun Goddess'.''In studying the arrangement of units for multi unit housing architecture, access to maximum sunshine for each unit is given top priority in Japan. The result is monotonous box-like housing complexes everywhere''48 says Watanabe.It is obvious that these regular blocks are not the best but only one of many solutions.

46 Makoto Sei Watanabe from www.makoto-architect.com/idc2000/index2.htm accessed 03.01.200847 Makoto Sei Watanabe. Inducing Cities, Arch+ may 2002 p.136 (translated by the author)48 Makoto Sei Watanabe from www.makoto-architect.com/idc2000/index2.htm accessed 03.01.2008

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Fig.15 generating building outlines according to sunlight. Watanabe

The subsequent criteria are very basic: each apartment had to have at least a certain amount of direct sunlight every day. With this condition only as the basis for the design the program generated a ''far more flexible plan for the arrangement of individual living units compared with conventional design approach.''49 In more detail the program cuts voids into blocks if they produce too much shade. A rugged, holey block emerges, providing a great variety of different spaces, terraces, paths and yards (Fig.15). The fitting of buildings is the last step in the programme generated city (Fig. 16). Watanabe claims that Inducing Cities is the first programme generated architecture in the world.

Fig.16 Induction City: Programme generated architecture. City design putting all individual programmes into one proposal, Makoto Watanabe

In the process other criteria could be integrated, compromises between a huge variety of different problems could be developed using this method. Frei Otto form-finding methods were usually governed by structural considerations, these could be integrated, as well as spatial and environmental ones. On the Watanabe's website (www.makoto-architect.com) it is possible to download a simple example of algorithmic software called KIRIKI.This is a pre-written set of form-generating and structural optimisation scripts that originate from 'Shin Minimata Mon' project, a built monument in front of the Kyushu Shinkansen ShinMinamata railway station (Fig.17). 49 Makoto Sei Watanabe. Inducing Cities, Arch+ may 2002 p.136 (translated by the author)

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Fig.17 Shin Minimata Mon sculpture generated with KIRIKI, incorporating structural aspects in the programme.

I tried out the software myself and generated the following form in three steps (Fig.18).By manipulating a geometrical archetype: step 1, a 'host-surface is created: step 2. The program then generates a structural pattern over the surface according to adjustable parameters step 3(number and distribution of starting points, average and variation of angle, average length and variation of members, average number of nodes...etc.). Another step is intended to optimise thethe structural members in terms of their thickness.Once a programme is written it is as simple as that. The design is not the structure, but the parameters and sequences that were written before are the actual process of generating the form. This example of a structural approach in Watanabe's work reinforces the connection to Frei Otto, and in fact a similar appearance is created.

Fig.18 generating structural object in three steps using KIRIKI

The space between the written script and the actual generated plan is filled in by the logic of the programme. ''In this sense the structures that the program generates are similar to snow flakes or butterfly wings. Even though such things appear to be wonderfully designed, they don't originate from the hand of a designer.''50 They are phenomena that evolve from the processes that create them and depict, in the sense of D'Arcy Thompson, the forces (laws) that created them. 50 Makoto Sei Watanabe. Inducing Cities, Arch+ may 2002 p.136 (translated by the author)

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''Induction City is a method to create such phenomena ...''51 Even more than in Frei Otto's work, the outcome of the project is not a literal city, a finished design that is ready to be build. At the moment it is a design approach, a theory that yet has to be verified and tested to find its place in the design world of many different strategies and methods. The very sensitive problem with this method lies in the right choice of criteria. This is critical to the success of the project. But what is a pleasant street or effect of sunlight; what other aspects should be involved and in what sequence? This is I personally think the greatest problem with Christopher Alexander's Pattern language, because it provides a finished set of patterns, rather than a platform to create or reorganise existing patterns and sequences according to changing circumstances.The perception of most questions involved in design is subjective. For that reason there has to be the opportunity to change the evaluation criteria ''according to the circumstances, like we change tapes in a 'stereo'..... Induction Cities aims at creating a 'stereo', a mechanism that plays every chosen tape''52

The description of the project in this text is simplified and omits many of the issues and details involved- my aim is not to discuss the technical aspects in too much detail.Instead I hope to give an idea of the scope of possibilities, limitations and problematic involved in this method: generated architecture.The project generates codes that work for a specific task, and can be transported and applied in appropriate situations. They work like Christopher Alexander's Pattern Language or Frei Otto's Optimised Path apparatus. The code grows configurations sensitive to its environment, it is a seed of architecture, it is a seed of a city, that can grow if it finds fertile ground.

However, it relies at its very base on the input of its designer; The right selection of criteria, the algorithms that determine the sequence and hierarchy. Even though the improvement computer hardware exhibits an impressive growth rate and is capable of achieving things that no one even thought of ten years ago, I doubt that it will ever be able to generate entire solutions of true architectural merit, based only on rules and sequences. It is probably, strictly not possible to substitute human intuition and feeling with any machine. The computer in this case takes the role of an advisor, as a point of reference, but has to be secondary.

51 Makoto Sei Watanabe. Inducing Cities, Arch+ may 2002 p.136 (translated by the author)52 Makoto Sei Watanabe. Inducing Cities, Arch+ may 2002 p.136 (translated by the author)

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Part 3. Mind and Computing (conclusion)

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tool or designer?In the introduction I said that the computer can solve problems that exceed the human intellect. This seems to be true- it can, in practical terms, probably not be denied. But if one considers the nature of a computer a different fact becomes apparent. Regarding its origin, anything a computer does could be done manually53 with not much intellect at all. In other words, the computer is essentially stupid, but it works with such an unbelievable number of stupid questions at the same time that the results seem to exceed our capabilities.This point clearly reinforces the fact that the computer could, in certain aspects, generate successful plans or find good solutions to contradicting problems- only if it was programmed by someone to do so. Saying that -an idea that I once came across- true intelligence is not to find the right answers, but to ask the right questions.

Moreover there is a certain aspect the mind that cannot be simulated, the mystery of intuition, of emotion. Stephen Wolfram said that all physical processes are computing, and so is thinking, a process of computation. Even a genetic algorithm as described above is in some way a procedurethat is not foreign to the mind,54 but I contains some irrational, an-exact aspects. In this sense I doubt that the computer can ever parallel neither the process of human nor natural design. Maybe it is too rational, numerical correct and precise.In contrast, the computing that takes place in the mind is filled with distortions and irregularities, unpredictable differences. It ''filters, edits, composes, interrogates and challenges.''55 It creates an ideal, a prototype, but on the way to the hand that will execute the plan it turns to be like all things in reality: an-exact.Thinking is much more like the computing in natural phenomena, compared to the rigidity of a machine.

What about the methods and ambitions in Frei Otto's work? For many people they are more acceptable than the computed equivalents, even though the experimental environments invented by Frei Otto allow modelling and analysis with impressive accuracy. Possibly because it never becomes abstract. The entire process in Otto's work is material based, from an initial sketch to finished building, whereas in Watanabe's approach the forces and processes are abstracted.For this reason much effort is put into making the computer less correct, or rather less abstract. Modelling growth and evolution of plants or generating objects like a birds nest originate in the strong ambition to make the virtual less virtual. Comparing the title image of this chapter with the illustrations below, One can carefully make a guess about the work that has been done compared to the aspirations that drive this search.

53 Any computer today is still based on exactly the principle of the first mechanical computing machines like Konrad Zuse's Z1 or Alan Turing's Turing Machine.

54 For example dividing a problem into a sequence and individual steps- to compare two different solutions and choose the better one.

55 Wise, Chris. Drunk in an Orgy of Technology, in Architectural Design vol.74 No3 May/june 2004, p.56

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Fig.19 Digitally simulated growth study, Achim Menges

From my point of view this is an interesting approach and an ambitious task, but does this really influence the sterile nature of its output? Or did the fascination with seductive images only cause us to believe so?Now the question is who is dominating whom. The computer offers a tempting power to archive things that wouldn't be possible without it. This power and fascination is likely to resolve into a similar overenthusiastic delusion as it, in places, seemed to have happened in early modernism - believing more in technology than in ones own intellect.''Along with power comes responsibility''. 56

There is only a fine line between getting lost in a world of technology instead of enriching the environment with interestingly varying spaces that have a hint of immanent life.

Maybe Watanabe relies too much on the potential the computer seems to have- and this might stop him from achieving a truly living design. It didn't become clear to me if the Inducing Cites project forces the image of nature onto software and whether the its mechanisms are similar in principle, or rather essentially different to natural phenomena. Certainly Watanabe has to adjust his method and parameters so that they suit an organic outcome. If the same method would be used with more economic criteria, the outcome would probably not be as exiting. Maybe the actual process thus looses its importance in comparison to the criteria- the design ambitions and intentions.

This brings us back to the point made at the beginning of this chapter. An experiment, whether analogue or computed, is a tool, maybe an extension of the mind, but certainly not a designer. The work by Frei Otto and Makoto Sei Watanabe shows a more in depth reference to natural processes, that generates form from analogy in underlying principles rather. It represents the evident counter part to the ever expanding ''form follows form''57 mentality in architecture, and in this respect is a great improvement in my mind. But it is not yet a finished method all together.56 Wise, Chris. Drunk in an Orgy of Technology, in Architectural Design vol.74 No3 May/june 2004, p.5757 Hernan Diaz Alonso. In The new LA school, Icon, October 2007 p.116

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I found that the computer will not and should not substitute our emotional and intuitive intelligence, nor do I believe that it will it become 'alive'- not in architecture or anywhere else. I believe this is the one point where both critics and enthusiasts of computer generated design would agree in.The computer inevitably will play an ever more important part- I think it is important to make this a good one. Watanabe puts it this way: ''What we should look for are ways in which the computer and the brain compliment each other.''58

58 Makoto Sei Watanabe from www.makoto-architect.com/idc2000/index2.htm accessed 03.01.2008

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Bibliography

Books:

Drew, Philip. FREI OTTO Form and Structure, Stuttgart: Verlag Gerd Hatje, 1976. published in GB, London: Crosby Lockwood Staples, 1976

Glaeser, Ludwig. The Work of Frei Otto, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1972

Jencks, Charles. THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE JUMPING UNIVERSE, London: Academy Editions, 1995

Johnson, Steven. emergence, London: Penguin Books, 2001

Otto, Frei and Bodo Rasch. Finding Form, Munich: Edition Axel Menges, (translation: Micheal Robinson) 1995

Picon, Antoine and Alessandra Ponte (editors). ARCHITECTRUE AND THE SCIENCES, New York, Princeton Architectural Press, 2003

Relph, Edward. The Modern Urban Landscape, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987

Spuybroek, Lars. NOX, London: Thames and Hudson, 2004

Terzidis, Kostas. ALGORITHMIC ARCHITECTRUE, Oxford: Architectural Press, 2006

Thompson, D'Arcy Wentworth. On Growth and Form (abridged edition, edited by J.T.Bonner), London: Cambridge University Press, (1961). unabridged version first published 1917.

Magazine Articles:

Chu, Karl. Metaphysics of Genetic Architecture and Computation, in Architectural Design, July/August 2006, p.38-45

Diaz Alonso, Hernan. The new LA school, Icon, October 2007 p.116

Hensel, Micheal (Synthetic) Life Architectures, in Architectural Design March/April 2006, p. 18

McCullough, Malcom, 20 Years of Scripted Space, Architectural Design, July/August 2006, p.15

Menges, Achim. Polymorphism, in Architectural Design, March/April 2006, p.78-87

Otto, Frei. In conversation with the Emergence and Design Group, in Architectural Design vol.74 No3 May/june 2004, p.19-25

Rocker, Ingeborg M. When Code Matters, in Architectural Design, July/August 2006, p.18-21

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Sliwka, Ryszard. Geometrien der Schöpfung, in Arch+, May 2002, p.88-92

Van Berkel, Ben. Digital Sustainability and Spaces That Follow You (an interview by Frank Kaltenbach and Sabine Schittich), in DEAIL, vol 12, Serie 2007, pp. 1424-1433

Watanabe, Makoto Sei. Inducing Cities, Arch+ may 2002 p.134-143

Weinstock, Micheal. Self-Organisation and Material Constructions,in Architectural Design, March/April 2006, p.34-41

Wise, Chris. Drunk in an Orgy of Technology, in Architectural Design vol.74 No3 May/june 2004, p.55-57

Wolfram, Stephen. How Do Simple Programs Behave?, in Architectural Design, July/August 2006, p.34-37

Websites:

www.patternlanguage.com accessed on 03.01.2008

www.makoto-architect.com accessed on 03.01.2008

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_system, accessed on 21.12.2007

Illustrations:cover: by author

title: Architectural Design, vol. 74 No. 3, May/June 2004, Emergence: Morphogenetic Design Strategies. p.4

Part 1. From Biology to Architecture

title: Glaeser, Ludwig. The Work of Frei Otto, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1972, p.44

Fig.1 Weinstock, Micheal. Self-Organisation and Material Constructions,in Architectural Design, March/April 2006, p.34

Fig.2 Thompson, D'Arcy Wentworth. On Growth and Form (abridged edition, edited by J.T.Bonner), London: Cambridge University Press, (1961). unabridged version first published 1917, p.232-233

Fig.3 Thompson, D'Arcy Wentworth. On Growth and Form (abridged edition, edited by J.T.Bonner), London: Cambridge University Press, (1961). unabridged version first published 1917, p.156-157

Fig.4 www.ce.ntu.edu.twcht/people/faculty/faculty_sur.htm

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Fig.5 Drew, Philip. FREI OTTO Form and Structure, Stuttgart: Verlag Gerd Hatje, 1976. published in GB, London: Crosby Lockwood Staples, 1976, p.15

Fig.6 Otto, Frei and Bodo Rasch. Finding Form, Munich: Edition Axel Menges, (translation: Micheal Robinson) 1995, p.140

Fig.7 Otto, Frei and Bodo Rasch. Finding Form, Munich: Edition Axel Menges, (translation: Micheal Robinson) 1995, p.142

Fig.8 Otto, Frei and Bodo Rasch. Finding Form, Munich: Edition Axel Menges, (translation: Micheal Robinson) 1995, p.68. And: http://users.telenet.be/foodfordesign/lab_wool001.htm

Fig.9 Otto, Frei and Bodo Rasch. Finding Form, Munich: Edition Axel Menges, (translation: Micheal Robinson) 1995, p.68.

Part 2. The Computer

title: Chu, Karl. Metaphysics of Genetic Architecture and Computation, in Architectural Design, July/August 2006, p.38-45

Fig.10 Wolfram, Stephen. How Do Simple Programs Behave?, in Architectural Design, July/August 2006, p.35, adjusted by author

Fig.11 Wolfram, Stephen. How Do Simple Programs Behave?, in Architectural Design, July/August 2006, p.36

Fig.12 Wolfram, Stephen. How Do Simple Programs Behave?, in Architectural Design, July/August 2006, p.36 adjusted by author

Fig.13 http://www.makoto-architect.com/idc2000/index2.htm

Fig.14 http://www.makoto-architect.com/idc2000/index2.htm

Fig.15 http://www.makoto-architect.com/idc2000/index2.htm

Fig.16 http://www.makoto-architect.com/idc2000/index2.htm

Fig.17 http://www.makoto-architect.com

Fig.18 by author

Part 3. conclusion

title: www.semcdirect.net

Fig.19 Menges, Achim. Polymorphism, in Architectural Design, March/April 2006, p.87

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